Extremist Israeli Rabbis promote self hatred in lesbian and gay people.
In Israel, within the west bank there is a new and frankly Pythonesque solution to Gay and Lesbian people. This solution roughly means that gay and lesbian people get married for the purposes of having a family. I’m still kind of wrapping my head round it because in many ways its more honest than the ex-gay and ex-lesbian sex-free marriages you hear about because it admits you can’t change orientation, but to then convince them to live unsatisfying lives to keep within arbitrary social norms feels cruel beyond belief.
The Architect, Rabbi Areleh Harei
Effectively the people who are subjecting themselves to this travesty have realized who they are but have been brainwashed into believing that the only way you can be accepted is to live a lie. They talk about therapy and counselling for the couples, which is only going to consist of being told strategies to deny one’s true feelings.
The true insanity of the situation comes to the fore when you realize the remaining mechanics of the situation. The couples lie to everyone that they are a “normal” family, including to their children. Those children are generally produced through artificial insemination, to avoid the fact that there is no sex between the couples. To top it off, in a situation akin to catholic priests having affairs with the widows in his parish, its “acceptable” and “understandable” that once every few years one of them may feel compelled to “cheat” on their “spouse”…
Apparently the concept has a high failure rate, already out of the 11 faux-couples 2 have already started divorce proceedings…
Judaism unlike Christianity is generally a religion filled with logic and common sense, with scholars and teachers recognizing the changes of the world and reinterpreting rabbinical law to suit situations. I always remember being told of the “Universal Get out Clause” for pretty much every law in the Torah, which is “If its an emergency, ignore this law” which can vary from anything as simple as kosher food, to the requirement of not doing “work” from sundown to sundown on the sabbath. So even in these extremely conservative jewish communities why can not Rabbis such as Areleh Harel say “Look people are gay, lesbian, and trans, we have to accept it, rather than forcing them to live miserable lives” that would be the true enlightened stance rather than this insane proposition that is no more realistic than Exodus’s ex-gay movement.
Found via One News Now
“Judaism unlike Christianity is generally a religion filled with logic and common sense, with scholars and teachers recognizing the changes of the world and reinterpreting rabbinical law to suit situations”
I see you have a very complex and well-thought-out understanding of Christianity. For someone who is against bigotry you come dangerously close to committing it yourself.
Also– as a Catholic, do I agree with the Church’s stance on homosexuality? Not necessarily, but I most certainly understand it. Catholic doctrine basically asserts that you shouldn’t have sex unless your intent is procreation, so pretty much every Catholic is a sinner in that regard. Homosexuality is therefore, while not inherently sinful, sinful when acted upon. This may seem to be a backwards interpretation to the modern, sexually liberated individual, but in a tradition whose focus is the glorification of God this makes a lot more sense. Love for God should be the focus of our attentions, not sex or lust or even our love for our partners. This is true for all people regardless of orientation. I personally feel that LGBTQIA people should have equal rights in society and not be singled out for condemnation by religious officials. By this logic, as I mentioned, all of us are pretty equally “sinners” and whatnot.
However, for practical purposes (acknowledgement that people will probably have sex without intending babies) I think this message still applies. We should be responsible with our relationships and, if we are religious, make sure that they are completely healthy and do not interfere with our relationship with God. That’s the main point of all of this stupid controversy: God comes first, and if any of your relationships, gay, straight, or sexually neutral, interfere with God coming first in your life, they should be reassessed. That’s basically it.
I should point out that I consider the maxim “I’ve got no tolerance for Intolerance”.
To me what you are talking about is not putting God first in your lives, its putting the church first in your lives which is a very different situation.
Jesus as he was in the bible was one of tolerance and love, he limited his judgments to hypocrites.
As far as my statement
“Judaism unlike Christianity is generally a religion filled with logic and common sense, with scholars and teachers recognizing the changes of the world and reinterpreting rabbinical law to suit situations”
Christian traditions do not have the respect of thinkers and philosophers the way that Judaism and Islam do.
I find the statement:
“Christian traditions do not have the respect of thinkers and philosophers the way that Judaism and Islam do.”
extremely offensive. I’m actually Jewish; I appreciate your respect for my religion, but not your apparent disrepect for Christianity. In both religions, there is a strong tradition of education and logic which is used to derive laws and understand the Bible.
Besides for the importance of acknowledging the positive aspects of all religions, as well as demonstrating tolerance for their rituals and practices – I think that it is also important to try to understand the current dilemmas facing modern religious leaders, who wish to stay true to their ancient beliefs but also to be tolerant and empathetic to all people in all sorts of situations. Whether Rabbi Harel’s approach is a real solution or not is irrelevant; he is still engaging in the debate and attempting to find answers! I think that that in itself is commendable.
As far as your comment about “exemptions” goes; that exemption only applies to emergencies, as you said – but that really means life and death situations; for example, if a Jew is about to starve, and the only available food is pork, then they are permitted to eat it and ignore the laws of kosher food. However, the same does not necessarily apply when it comes to lifestyle choices (not that sexual oreientation is a choice; but any person can choose whether or not to act on their desires).