-Caveat Lector-
It's interesting that those who trot out Lev. 18 to try to lend some
veneer of credibility to their homophobia, conveniently neglect to follow
all the other commandments and prohibitions laid out in that book.
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Bible Review, December 1993, p. 11
DOES THE BIBLE PROHIBIT HOMOSEXUALITY?
Jacob Milgrom
The biblical prohibition is addressed only to Israel. It is incorrect to
apply it on a universal scale.
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This past Yom Kippur, September 25, 1993, my synagogue invited me to
explain the afternoon scriptural reading, the list of forbidden sexual
liasons in Leviticus 18. I chose to focus on what is today one of the
most frequently quoted passages in the entire Bible, "Do not lie with a
male as one lies with a woman, it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).
What I said may be both good news and bad news to my Christian friends,
depending on their position on gay and lesbian rights. This biblical
prohibition is addressed only to the Jews. Non-Jews are affected only if
they reside in the Holy Land, but not elsewhere (see the closing
exhortation in Leviticus 18, verses 24-30). Thus, it is incorrect to
apply this prohibition on a universal scale.
But I spoke to my fellow Jews, who are required to observe this
prohibition. What is the rationale for this prohibition? In a previous
column, I noted that the Bible's impurity rules are part of a symbol
system representing the forces of life and death. Israel is required to
avoid these impurities and adhere to the laws commanded by God, who
promotes the forces of life. Thus in the same chapter we read, "You
shall heed my statutues and my rules, by doing them one shall live"
(Leviticus 18:5). A man who discharges semen, whether intentionally or
otherwise, is declared impure and must purify himself by bathing (a sort
of re-baptism) before he is permitted to enter the Temple or touch sacred
(sacrificial) food (Leviticus 15:16-18). Why? Because semen stands for
life, and the loss of semen symbolizes the loss of life.
Note also that in the entire list of forbidden sexual unions, THERE IS NO
PROHIBITION AGAINST LESBIANISM. Can it be that lesbianism did not exist
in ancient times or that Scripture was unaware of its existence?
Lesbians existed and flourished, as attested in an old (pre-Israelite)
Babylonian text and in the work of the lesbian poet Sappho (born c. 612
B.C.E., during the time of the First Temple), who came from the island of
Lesbos (hence lesbianism). But there is a fundamental difference between
the homosexual acts of men and women. IN LESBIANISM THERE IS NO SPILLING
OF SEED. Thus life is not symbolically lost, and therefore lesbianism is
not prohibited in the Bible.
My argument ostensibly can be countered by a more comprehensive biblical
injunction. The very first commandment, given to Adam and repeated to
Noah, is "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28 and
Genesis 9:1,7). The descendents of Noah--the entire human race--are
duty-bound to fulfill this commandment. But the truth is that we have
not only filled the earth, we have over-filled it. This does not mean,
however, that the commandment should be thought of as no longer in
force--especially among Jews, who have lost a third of their members in
our lifetime. I recall an incident during a premarital interview from
the early years of my rabbinate. The starry-eyed bride declared her noble
intention to have twelve children to compensate for the tragic loss of six
million killed in the Holocaust. I gasped, "Must you do it all by
yourself?"
I have since come to regret my flippant reply. This couple regarded
their forth-coming marriage as a sacrament not just between themselves,
but with the Jewish people. The problem has worsened for American Jews.
Because intermarriage is rife and the Jewish birth rate is low, American
Jewry, once at zero population growth, has dipped into the minus column.
Were it not for a steady stream of converts, the extinction of American
Jewry would be even more imminent. For us the divine command, "Be
fruitful and multiply" is truly in force.
To Jewish homosexuals I offer an unoriginal solution. As compensation
for your loss of seed, adopt children. Although adoption was practiced
in the ancient world (as attested in Babylonian law), there is no
biblical procedure or institution of adoption. As a result the
institution of adoption is absent from rabbinic jurisprudence. Yet there
are isolated cases of a kind of pseudo-adoption in the Bible. For
example, Abraham, long childless, complains to God that Eliezer of
Damascus, his steward, will inherit him (Genesis 15:2). And barren Rachel
beseeches her husband Jacob, "Here is my maid Bilhah--go into her that she
may bear on my knees and that through her I too may have children"
(Genesis 30:3). Adoption is certainly a possibility today. Lesbian
couples have an additional advantage. Not only do they not violate
biblical law, but through artificial insemination each can become the
natural mother of her children.
Thus from the Bible we can infer the following: Lesbians, presumably
half of the world's homosexual population, are not mentioned. More than
ninety-nine percent of the gays, namely non-Jews, are not addressed.
This leaves the small number of male Jewish gays subject to this
prohibition. If they are biologically or psychologically incapable of
procreation, adoption provides a solution.
I hope the Eternal, in love and compassion, will then reckon their
spilled seed as producing fruit.
Jacob Milgrom.
__________________________________________________________________
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