Original Torah: Ancient Words in a Modern Light

The third tractate we studied was Sanhedrin. By April 1999 we had reached Sanhedrin 7:4 which contains a list of those offences whose punishment (under appropriate circumstances) is death by stoning. Among the items in that list is copulation between two males. Now the participants in the Rabin Mishnah Study Group are not just passive learners; they ask questions and make comments. On April 16th 1999 I wrote in my daily shiur:

I do not recall a topic discussed on RMSG that has produced so much in my mailbox as our present discussion on homosexuality… I cannot possibly answer all this mail personally, nor can I utilize it all as part of our discussion. Therefore, I shall continue my rather elaborate response to the original question … and I hope that most people will find in my response some of the clarifications they are seeking…

As far as one subscriber was concerned my judgement against personal correspondence was firmly ignored. Via e-mail, David [this is not his real name; he has a right to his privacy] introduced himself to me as a young gay man (he was about 20 at the time). He came from a committed Conservative Jewish family in the USA and was himself religiously observant. He told me that he laid tefillin every day, never rode on Shabbat, never ate anything but kosher outside his home and so forth. He and his sister often read from the Torah in their local synagogue. No one knew of his sexual orientation, not even his close family, and despite my urgent prompting he refused to approach his local rabbi to open this discussion with him.

Out of my e-mail discussions with David (with a few from Jonathan added in for good measure) has grown this paper. David and I have never met and for all I know we never shall. But he has bared his soul to me, and I hope that through the rabbinical “jargon” the anguish of his tortured soul is to be perceived. David was not interested in platitudes and generalities. He wanted to know what classical halakhic Judaism had to say and to what extent a modern Conservative understanding of halakhah could accommodate him, if at all. David was interested in “shas and poskim” rather than re-interpretations of biblical texts. This suits me!

This paper consists of two parts. Part one was written with David (and Chérie) in mind; part two is addressed more to my rabbinical colleagues. Part one is addressed primarily to David (and Chérie) with my rabbinical colleagues reading over their shoulders; part two is addressed to my rabbinical colleagues with Chérie and David reading over their shoulders.

Read the rest!