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Healing heterosexuality within Jewish people
by Rabbi Dr. Einat Ramon Special to WJW
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As dean of the Schechter (Masorti) Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem, I recently announced my decision to accept only students who believe in the importance of the intimate relationship between a man and a woman in the confines of the Jewish institution of marriage and to serve, to the best of their ability, as role models in that regard.
My decision reaffirms two halachic rulings rendered by my teacher, Rabbi Joel Roth for the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards, in 1992 and in 2006, concerning matters of student admissions, training and ordination. In my decision-making process, I was guided by the legacy of the spiritual founder of our movement, Rabbi Zecharias Frankel, the head of the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary in the 19th century, who wrote:
"Not all streams of influence of the times have their source in the divine; we do not wish to slight the spirit of our time, but neither do we want to ignore its shortcomings; concessions are made mainly because of passing impressions, or temporary pleasures, and in our haste we lose much of the exalted, that which could enable us to attain a deeper understanding."
Judaism has always been clear and unambivalent toward the centrality of the heterosexual family. According to modern biblical scholarship, the most egalitarian heterosexual text in the Torah, the creation story of Genesis 1:26-27, was written by the priests who also wrote the prohibition against various acts of male homosexuality in Leviticus.
Both texts convey the ideology that the image of God in Judaism is male and female with the implication of the ideal (not necessarily the reality) of the heterosexual, monogamous family. This ideal was later reaffirmed by the prophets Hosea 2:18 and Malachi 2:14-15 and by the rabbis.
Whereas there are no precedents for homosexual marriages or homosexual unions in Jewish sources, there are quite a few precedents for female religious and even legal leadership in the Torah and in the Talmud (Deborah, Hulda, Miriam, Bruriah, etc.).
Discrimination against women in the written and oral Torah often reflected the surrounding cultures, and was less severe than in other cultures. For women to teach, preach and rule on Jewish Law were never a religious problem. Thus, it is not surprising that all Jewish legal changes involving the broadening of women's participation in the synagogue have been based on clear and documented precedents. (See professor David Golinkin's responsa, www.responsafortoday.com.)
In contrast, the rejection of homosexuality as the norm was part of a Jewish polemic with the pagan world. Ancient sources indicate that homosexuality was not necessarily associated with idolatrous cults, but simply reflected a free and diverse view of sexuality, whereas Jewish sources continuously pushed for a family arrangement wherein a man and a woman parent a child together, as covenantal spouses.
The biblical prohibition of male homosexual relations was broad (it refers to a plurality of sexual acts in the plain reading of Leviticus 18:22; 20:13) and was later included by the rabbis in the seven (universal) Noachide commandments expected of all monotheists. Prohibitions on lesbianism and on same-sex marriage were also added. However, the sages (who were aware of the fluidity of human sexuality) found ways not to persecute those who continued to practice homosexuality while never turning that practice into a norm.
Should we, then, deviate from the longstanding and clear perspective on the issue presented by Jewish law and theology? The answer is positive only if our vision is to transcend sexual differences between men and women and blindly follow the modern reality and ideology of gender and family fluidity. As long as there are Jews who advocate that view, they deserve to be able to make their spiritual homes at various rabbinical schools and congregations that promote such an ideal.
Yet, will the spiritual home at Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, for those of us who believe in the complementary difference between men and women, as an opportunity for deeper intellectual and spiritual family and community bonds, be likewise respected by our colleagues in the long run? We hope that the value of unity ‹ not uniformity ‹ of the people of Israel has not disappeared in the face of different ideologies of gender.
Einat Ramon is dean of the Conservative movement's Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem.
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«.....חזרה לדף מאמרים
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