Jerusalem – In an unusual move, a body of Orthodox rabbis on Sunday night took a step toward encouraging the acceptance of homosexuals within their communities.
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At a conference titled “Halacha and containment – the religious community’s relations to homosexuals” in Ra’anana, rabbis from the nonprofit Beit Hillel presented a document urging greater acceptance of homosexuals within the Orthodox realm.
While the document stated that the “Torah prohibits homosexual acts,” the paper penned by the rabbis stressed that Orthodox communities should be more accepting and socially inclusive.
The rabbinical document called for greater “flexibility” in regard to gay and lesbian members of the Orthodox community, and stated that “homosexuals are obliged to fulfill the Talmudic obligations and serve in any communal capacity.”
“Every Jew is included in the covenant between the Almighty One and the Jewish people and its realization must be acknowledged,” it read. “The right to shelter under the wings of the Divine Presence is absolute and there is no need to place guards at the entrance to the Beit Midrash (Jewish study hall) or the synagogue. It is not our duty to inspect the tzitziyot (ritual tassels) of those who come to pour their hearts out to Our Father in Heaven.”
While the document, which refereed to “people of homosexual orientations,” presented an alleged step in the direction of Orthodox acceptance of homosexuals, it also provided significant mention of “the halachic prohibition against homosexual relations.”
“According to the Torah and halachah, the [homosexual] acts are forbidden and not the orientation, and therefore people – men or women – who are prone to homosexual orientations are not flawed or immoral; they must fulfill the commandments of the Torah,” the opinion stated.
“Throughout the ages there have been explanations of various phenomena of homosexuality, and the tendency of the orientation to grow for some without free choice. In this regard, it is impossible to condemn the inclination or its order.”
Prior to the document’s release, Beit Hillel director Rabbi Shlomo Hecht on Friday said his group stopped short of endorsing rabbinical officiation of any ceremonies that would, in the eyes of mainstream Orthodoxy, violate halachah, including gay marriages.
“We’re not recognizing any sort of homosexual unions – I mean, they exist, we don’t deny reality, but we don’t sanction them in an official form in the document,” he said. But the document does specify a number of halachic principles related to the need “to contain homosexuals within faith communities and make them feel at ease in their community.”
He said the document was created in response to the fact “that homosexuals choose increasingly to remain within faith communities, which in the past they would leave because of their orientation. It used to be that you were either religious [Orthodox] or homosexual, but now you have both.” This change “creates a need for a halachic document that cements some principles for the relationship.”
The founding director of Beit Hillel, established in 2012 by religious Zionist rabbis, was Rabbi Ronen Neubert, who also worked for the Tzohar rabbinical group, which aims to make Orthodox Judaism more accessible to secular and progressive Israelis.
thats so gay
M’Doraisa he punishment for breaking Shabbos and homosexuality is the same, yet no-one makes a fuss about their relative breaking Shabbos, but if they are gay then they never speak to them again.
“We’re not recognizing any sort of homosexual unions – I mean, they exist, we don’t deny reality, but we don’t sanction them in an official form in the document,”
What does that mean? That there exists legal meaning to same gender relationships? What might that be, pray tell me?
Would these gentlemen be so accepting of pedophiles and rapists if a predisposition towards that behavior could be shown? I think not. I think they would suggest that one should not act on that predisposition, and that one who does is criminal. If so, why ought homosexuality be different?
Methinks this stance of adjusting Halacha is what Rabbi Sampson Rephael Hirsch z”l fought against, it was the current thinking at his time. He suggested re-dedication to Halacha on our end, rather than dedicating Halacha to ourselves…
I can’t comment on the document because I have not read it all. However, I will point out that this statement comes a few days after the Pope issued a similar statements for Catholics. This is bothersome. There is an old saying in Yiddish, “Azoi vee as goyisht zich, azoi yiddisht zich.” While the expression is awkward, it basically refers to a phenomenon whereby the Jewish world is influenced by the non-Jewish world around it. I hope this statement is not proof of that.
This break-off of Yahadut is also going to go the way of the Karrites, the Sadducees, the reform, and the conservative: A footnote in history. We are to change our lives, or societies, and our perceptions to fit the Torah, not the other way around.
Two points.
1)Homosexuality is not a choice, and it has no “cure”. Between 3-10% of all people are.
2) This article ought to have stated that these rabbis are affiliated with Tzohar in the first paragraph, otherwise it is a bit misleading. Unless a kol koreh like this is signed by a Gadol like R’ Chaim Kanyevski for example, it doesnt have much significance.
If my suspicions are correct, we will never see a gay friendly Mea Shearim.
Hashem outlawed homosexuality. How can someone declare himself something the Torah forbids? Is an adulterer someone who has adorations for married women? No, it is someone who practices adultery. A homosexual, even though he may call himself or herself gay or queer, practices homosexuality. Hashem should help thegm have a refuah shlaima.
Who ARE these rabbis? How can you a supposedly Charedi web site print such a report without comment, as if this is an halachically authentic position
A tzibur is tzadikim, beinim, and reshoiim.
The other week you had some kind of “orthodox” “rabbi” who “prided” himself with being an immoral homo. Is this a group of “orthodox rabbis” homos that have the chutzpah to condone something that Hashem clearly loathes?
its a difficult issue..a social sin than breaks apart our world- our family unit and many say is a disease. Unfortunatley , Its old hat now with this new transgendering which is even more bothersome..oy.
but Lets get a handle on this religiously- Everyone should look into the Meor Enayim on this weeks Parsha-
He says and I will paraphrase, but he says it sharper.. That Hashem gets an unbelievable Oneg from every jew even a Rasha gadol..
When we speak Loshen Hara on our fellow jews we Kaveyachol change the oneg to Negah and we are as it were, metzaehr HKBH.
Take from this what you want regarding this issue.. But one thing I think no one can argue with (that is if you respect the ME) is that Hashem loves and gets Hanaeh from every jew regardless of his actions..
This idea needs to be chazered over by everyone, myself include, several times a day..
its a tough world out there – but we must approach it with our mesorah- and that is not to hate one another..
Firm and solid disagreement, yes, Hate , no..
Have a great day.
BTW that goes for all you MO and Zionist bashers.. your boat left a long time ago.. get a life..
AR
Get over it….we don’t have to “approve” or “endorse” those who characterize themselves as homosexual or lesbian yidden. We simply have to accept the reality they are part of our society, are yidden just like our children even though misguided. The sinas chinam expressed against them is certain to rebound against the haters and they are more likely than not to suffer the same fate they wish on the gays.
So now these rabbis feel prey to the idea that homosexuality is something someone is born with and can not over come.
The first man to do the giant study on sexuality was a pervert. He himself also believed that incest and bestiality were ok. He skewed his research, but interviewing male prisoners to prove that homosexuality was normal. Do your own research. Alfred Kinsey was one sick puppy, who had an agenda. He wanted his religious father to accept him as normal.
Congratulations Rabbis! Next up, why don’t you accept pedophiles as an alternative life style. Make sure to live near these sickos, and let them watch your kids.
Lastly, as a religious Jew, does anyone here honestly and truly believe HKB”H would give someone a taiva, give them no physical or mental way to stop it, and then asur it????? That would be just plain cruel, and Hashem is NOT cruel. If Hashem made it asur, then these people HAVE to be able to overcome this difficult nisayon Hashem has given them.
Rather than work on themselves, they fall victim to their lust and desires. Accepting them as is is the wrong thing, imho. No different than accepting an anorexic; it’s just how Hashem created her, let her starve herself….
The problem is not with us adults but with our children. Let us stop talking in wishy washy terms about homos. They are sodomites. If our children see that we are washy washy about sodomite perverts, it sends a message that perversion may be wrong but not that wrong. Sodomy is absolutely ossur min HaTorah. Period.
whichever ‘rabbi’ believes this way should have his smicha revoked,as no rabbinical authority deemed half normal should promote homosexuality. acceptance, in my mind, is promotion.
what’s next? aliya to the shul’s pedophile? incest farbrengen, chas veshalom?? COME ON!!! this is tumah, PERIOD!!
The pride is the problem. We all struggle with some aspect of being shomrei Torah u’mitzvos, whether it’s lashon hara or kavana or whatever, but we don’t walk around advertising ourselves as sinners. Who marches in a parade to celebrate chilul Shabbos? It would be a lot easier to have compassion for homosexuals if they would stop flaunting their status and demanding that we accept them.
What about environmental influence? The environment influences people and if we are openly accepting and welcoming anyone who openly violates Torah, we are weakening ourselves and our children.
When someone who isn’t frum comes to a shul because he wants to become more aware of Judaism, we welcome him, as he is open to our influence, and it is a mitsva to help him out. But if a reform rabbi were to come, and he has no interest in becoming orthodox, and declares he’s not stopping to drive to shul, I think we should ask him to go somewhere else, shouldn’t we?
These Rabbis don’t seem to make a distinction to what are the intentions of the homossexuals, if they want to hold back or not, if they are open or closed about it. That’s wrong, because there should be a distiction. One homosexual can be an upcoming baal teshuva and another a Rasha; one could be receiving our influence, and the other giving theirs…
Having a violent temper or trying to harm oneself may not be a choice – a person may be born with such predispositions, but society tries to rehabilitate them. A person may be born or grow up with feelings of homosexuality and society should try to rehabiliitate them. Unfortunately, society has accepted this abberent behavior as normal.
There’s no halachic prohibition on homosexuality as log as they are celibate. They do, however, miss out on Puro U’revuhu.
Two of my neighbors sons committed suicide because they are gay. They left a beautiful note. I guess Vin posters are happy to have two less frum boys.
not rabbis and not orthodox
הרב שלמה אבינר: “ארגון רבני בית הלל מייצג את עצמו, לא את ההלכה היהודית”
Without taking sides one way or another the fact remains that thousands of Heimeishe Yidden are either married to one to have one as a child.