Thursday, September 25, 2014

Can Jews Be Gay Or Are They Prohibited

By Karina Frost


If one would ask a Jew what his view on homosexuality is, he would most likely say that God is against it because it is something that it not natural and is not something that was made during creation. However, more and more people are accepting the fact that gays are actually born and usually not made. So if this is the scenario, can jews be gay or not.

Now the main teaching of the Rabbis when it comes to homosexuals would be the fact that the religion itself does not condemn gays at all. What they condemn would be homosexual actions like erotic acts of people that are of the same sex. So in a nutshell, a person can be a homosexual but they are just not allowed to perform homosexual acts as this is considered a sin.

Of course before anyone would make any comment on this, one would first have to take a look as to what the basis of this teaching is. Of course the first place to look would be the Bible and the verse that teaches this is found in Leviticus chapter eight. Now if one would read it, he will find a verse that says that a man cannot lie with another man otherwise it is a sin.

Now while there is no actual explanation as to why God made this commandment, many Rabbis did have their own interpretations. The most common one would be that when God created the world, he only created man and woman. So naturally, homosexuality is something that is unnatural to creation.

Of course since this claim had no basis, people were not convinced of its validity at all. Now Bar Kaparrah tried to make a conclusion about this issue in Talmud by stating another teaching in the Torah. He claims that the Torah emphasizes the importance of marriage and procreation with homosexuality posing as a threat to it.

Basically, the Torah strictly states that a man cannot be with another man as this is an abomination. So this might strike a question as to how they treat lesbians. Since the Torah only mentioned the union and sexual acts between two men, then most people would assume that lesbianism is allowed.

Now Judaism does not condone to homosexuality as a whole so this includes both gays and lesbians. Of course for the lesbian couples, they would also use the Talmud interpretation wherein procreation is a must. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, they are not as strict.

So in a nutshell, Judaism permits homosexuals to exist but does not permit the acts. Now the rabbis believe that some of them are actually born gay. What the rabbis do not allow is that they would carry out sexual acts with those of the same sex. To sum it all up, a Jewish gay can be like that provided he does not commit a homosexual act otherwise he will be sinning.




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