As homosexuality is being more and more accepted in the community these days, there are still some groups that do not accept homosexuals because of the culture of the group. One of the groups that do not condone to homosexual acts would be the Jews. So the main question of the issue would be can jews be gay or not.
Now one thing to understand would be that Judaism does not have anything against homosexuals. What they do not condone to would be homosexual acts which means the erotic acts that a person will do with another of the same sex. In other words, there can be homosexuals but they cannot act upon their homosexual urges as it is the acts that are considered as sins in the faces of the Rabbis.
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 with this issue, the Jews also prohibited acts of lesbianism among their fellow females. The reason would also involve the teaching of having a family and procreation. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah like how gay men are mentioned, the Rabbis are not as strict.
So basically, what their teaching about homosexuality is simply that they do not allow the act. The rabbis do acknowledge the fact that homosexuals are actually born that way. However, what they do not allow is the act of homosexuality between two people of the same sex. So if one is Jewish but is also a gay or a lesbian at the same time, then he or she does not need to worry as he or she can keep his or her orientation but is safe as long as he or she does not act upon it.
Now one thing to understand would be that Judaism does not have anything against homosexuals. What they do not condone to would be homosexual acts which means the erotic acts that a person will do with another of the same sex. In other words, there can be homosexuals but they cannot act upon their homosexual urges as it is the acts that are considered as sins in the faces of the Rabbis.
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 with this issue, the Jews also prohibited acts of lesbianism among their fellow females. The reason would also involve the teaching of having a family and procreation. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah like how gay men are mentioned, the Rabbis are not as strict.
So basically, what their teaching about homosexuality is simply that they do not allow the act. The rabbis do acknowledge the fact that homosexuals are actually born that way. However, what they do not allow is the act of homosexuality between two people of the same sex. So if one is Jewish but is also a gay or a lesbian at the same time, then he or she does not need to worry as he or she can keep his or her orientation but is safe as long as he or she does not act upon it.
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