One of the core precepts of Reconstructionist thought is that Judaism is always evolving in response to times and circumstances–and thank God for that!
If Judaism had remained static, then our religion would have died out 1,900 years ago when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and we could no longer offer sacrifice. It is precisely Judaism’s ability to adapt and evolve that has kept it living and vibrant, rather than becoming stagnant. Whatever our attempts to convince ourselves to the contrary, Judaism was not handed to us in fixed and final form; rather, Judaism continues to evolve as successive generations of the Jewish people try to understand their obligations to God and to the world.
Homosexuality is one area where Judaism must change, as it has organically in so many other areas down the millennia. Certainly there are verses (two of them) in Torah that condemn homosexual behavior; but many of the standards of ancient Israelite society that we no longer would countenance are likewise enshrined in Torah. Slavery, stoning, vengeance killing–all of these practices are accepted or even promoted by the Torah. And yet we have no problem categorically rejecting them, saying that they no longer conform to a Jewish vision of a just and well-ordered society. Why should homosexuality be different?
It is clear to me that what many people think about gays and lesbians informs the way they read the Bible, rather than the Bible informing what people think about gays and lesbians. In other words, a general societal bias has emphasized–and politicized–this particular prohibition when so many others have, appropriately, been either discarded or reinterpreted.
Judaism provides a framework for formalizing and celebrating loving relationships through kiddushin, marriage. Gay and lesbian couples deserve to be affirmed both civilly and religiously, acknowledging the couple’s legal rights and also the holiness that exists in nurturing and mutually supportive relationships.
A growing number of rabbis see celebrating same-sex marriage as supporting core Jewish values and extending their promise to those who have been unfairly marginalized. It is through simple steps in the name of justice and love that the next chapter in the unfolding narrative of the Jewish people may be written.
Evolving Judaism & Homosexuality
Wednesday May 3, 2006
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About Virtual Talmud
This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Judaism in our Judaism forums.
Brad Hirschfield currently blogs on Windows and Doors.
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism. Listed as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek, and a regular commentator on Court TV, he is the creator of the popular series, Building Bridges, airing on Bridges TV, and the co-host of the weekly radio show, Hirschfield and Kula.
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Do any of you homophobics actually know any gay people? Any of your family members gay?...co-workers? You have no idea how agonizing it is to spend years studying God's word and trying to live a pleasing life to Him and find out that your precious child is gay. What then? Do you disown your own flesh and blood? Do you tell them that the places they've entered over the years to worship God are no longer a place welcome to them and that the loving God of their youth now considers them an 'abomination'? I am a Christian and I'm finding it difficult to find compassion regarding homosexuality among Christians and Jews alike. So where are the homosexuals supposed to go? Are they not to practice a religion at all and be considered pagens or heathens now? Mark I. and Amanda B. I thank you. After so many years of wrongfully judging others and thinking I know my religious ground I'm pulled back and humbled to the realization of what the true meaning of God is.....God is Love; Love for All, PERIOD! -- Lisa
I have no problem with accepting gays into marriage covenant etc but why is it cited here as part of "core Jewish values" when you note that much earlier in history it was not? Do you make "core" whatever you decide fits your vision of things as they ought to be? I do have to admit, theat as an old guy, I got used to 3 brancesh of Jewish service: orthodox, conservative, reform What, please tell me, is Reconstructivist? Sounds like a building in collapse needing lots of work to bolster it. Write me, please. postroad[at]hotmail.com
I was once married to a gay guy. I think I have as much insight into this as anyone. Gays are born gay.
And, I certainly agree with the bloggers who said that G-d made Gays gay. Are you going to say that G-d was wrong when he made whites, Jews, Muslims (well...don't push me on that one), black basketball players, children with dyslexia...good grief...if you are going to block out gays because they are "bad, sinful" for being born gay, that doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense. I think some of you are keeping to the "letter of the law" without keeping to the spirit of the law (Torah).
There are many phrases from the Torah. There are contradictions. On which phrases are you going to concentrate your life's energy?
I don't believe that everything in this world is totally black and white. I don't believe that every idea in the Torah is black or white. Use your head. What if a man lusted after men, but slept only with women? What is that? Well, it's neither black nor white; neither straight nor gay. Sinful...yet not sinful? Well, pretty much everything in THIS world consists of shades of gray. Tall, short, mousy, beautiful...there are shades to everything. The only black and white in this world created by G-d is: breathing, not breathing.
I find it astonishing that some people claim to understand things that probably cannot be understood by anyone but G-d. We can all give it our best shot, but none of you know for certain whether God thinks homosexuality is a sin. Did you see G-d write the Torah? Maybe the part about stoning people, or homosexuality, was added somewhere down the line...
PS I consider myself a conservative Catholic/Jew. No, I don't want to get into that one...it goes with my heritage. I raised my children as Jews...so I am not a Nazi. However, I wish that the liberal bloggers would stop blaming everything on conservative Christians.
Those of us who wish to hold to the commands should look at themselves. There are many things that we do that are commanded against. Not to wear sha'atnez, a cloth woven of wool and linen Deut. 22:11. How many of us follow this. We must remember that sin is sin. No sin less than the next. If we are to take part in tikkun olam then we must constantly question. It is our greatest commandment as Jews. No to question is a sin as well. To judge homosexuality as morally corrupt without examining, without questioning it is not a transgression toward man but G-d. We are all made in the image of G-d, all. This is to say that we like no other creature can ration. If we do not use what we have been giving to repair this torn world, then how do we expect to see the world to come? It is a hard slap in the face of our G-d to be full of kava, and have no kavanah. In the structure of the commandments there has to be an intent to go good. If those among us are LGBT how can we take from them the traditions we have been passed? How can we said to them that they are not fit to participate in what we all, regardless of theology, are apart. Do they take a back set and watch as the rest of us continue to dig ourselves in to a hole? No, they are required to do work as we are. They are require to question. To stand on the shoulders of gaints. To build upon the traditions we have, to enrich them. Our traditions have evolved. We can not continue to block evolution. We mustn't. All love is of the Lord. All. Any one that says other wise is in misunderstanding of what love is. Love is blind to the "Adam and Steven" argument. Who we love has been determined by nature. And there is room to improve in everyone.
As I read all the comments posted I can not believe my eyes. I am a senior in high school. Everyday I go to school with homosexuals, I however am not. But I realize that they are the same as everyone else.
Have you ever told a kid not to judge someone because of their color, gender, or religious preference? Well let me explain how a deragatory comment against gays works. It goes against everything you said to that child. Sure at first its only homosexuals that they single out but before long it's everyone. I have meet white people who are racist against whites and blacks who are racist against blacks, is that the message you want to send kids, to hate their own kind? Do you remember when inter-racail marriages were introduced. It was consitered a crime, a sin, and morrally wrong. Can you see the difference?