"We know better than anyone what it is to be persecuted for something that is essentially beyond one’s control."
While many see Judaism as the most tolerant of mainstream religions,
Orthodox Jews still get, well, Old Testament, when it comes to
homosexuality.
But Prinicpal Rabbi Ari Segal of Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles says traditional Judaism cannot stay silent while young gay Jews are persecuted and killed.
But Prinicpal Rabbi Ari Segal of Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles says traditional Judaism cannot stay silent while young gay Jews are persecuted and killed.
This month, he penned a 1,800-word editorial
in the school’s newspaper, addressing LGBT acceptance within the
Orthodox community. “The moment has arrived,” Segal writes. “We can no
longer sit on the sidelines. As individuals and as a community, we must
tackle this issue head-on.”
Calling it “the biggest challenge to emunah [faith] of our time,” he asks Orthodox scholars to reconcile the Torah’s prohibition on same-sex relations with the lived experience of young gay Jews.
“While halakha [religious law] is explicit in regards to homosexual activity, I felt I could not sit on the sidelines as we lose so many of our young people, physically and spiritually,” he told the Jewish Journal.
“I started searching for that space between tolerance (the current status quo of ’hate the sin, not the sinner’) and full-fledged acceptance/celebration. I felt the first step in achieving that is having this conversation… to release ourselves from the theological paralysis that we may feel around the issue.”
It is not enough, he says, to tolerate.
“These weighty issues do not live in the abstract; they powerfully and emotionally impact genuine individuals living in our Orthodox community, with real life families and friends,” he states in his op-ed. “What may seem like an interesting sociological debate in truth is creating crushing pain, anxiety, and general turmoil for people about whom we care deeply.”
Ignoring the issue not only leaves LGBT Jews to suffer, he says, but alienates the growing number of young Jews who embrace their LGBT friends and family.
“They believe in a kind and just God and they want to believe in the divinity of the Torah. But at the same time they feel fairly certain that being gay is not a matter of choice. In the apparent conflict of these ideas, the first two premises seem to be losing ground.”
Segal also clashes with those who say celibacy is the easy solution.
“People today do not feel the need to sublimate those urges and desires to live meaningful and fulfilled lives,” he adds. “In fact, they see it as inhumane and offensive to suggest such self-denial or self-abnegation.”
Even moreso than Christianity, Orthodox Judaism has restrictions on sexuality and gender roles: In the synagogue, the sexes are separated by a partition [mechitza] so couples do not “distract” each other.
Only men can touch the Torah or form a minyan [prayer group]. Women, meanwhile, are required to take ritual baths in the mikveh after menstruation or childbirth.
How these mitzvahs would apply to gay or transgender Jews hasn’t ever really been broached. But Segal admits he doesn’t expect to satisfy every LGBT advocate.
“Even as we move the ball forward, some will claim that we’ve still fallen short,” he writes. “But we cannot allow that purgatory-like status to stop us from making the changes that we feel are appropriate.”
Segal says he’ll also be making changes at his school.
“The Shalhevet High School student body, like every other Orthodox school, includes gay students, and we have worked hard to create a loving and supportive environment for them. Still, we must do more. Young people in the LGBT community have told me that they feel invisible when we counsel them in private—they feel somewhat loved, but only unofficially, ’tolerated,’ but not embraced. This state of limbo cannot persist. We will lose our children.”
He calls on Jewish educators to implement anti-discrimination policies, to approve LGBT student groups, and to celebrate queer students choosing to live an Orthodox life, not “relegate them to second-class status.”
“Jews have always stood up to protect the weak,” he writes. “We know better than anyone what it is to be hated and persecuted for something that is essentially beyond one’s control. We have a moral imperative to stand up and do what we can on this issue.”
h/t: A Wider Bridge
Calling it “the biggest challenge to emunah [faith] of our time,” he asks Orthodox scholars to reconcile the Torah’s prohibition on same-sex relations with the lived experience of young gay Jews.
“While halakha [religious law] is explicit in regards to homosexual activity, I felt I could not sit on the sidelines as we lose so many of our young people, physically and spiritually,” he told the Jewish Journal.
“I started searching for that space between tolerance (the current status quo of ’hate the sin, not the sinner’) and full-fledged acceptance/celebration. I felt the first step in achieving that is having this conversation… to release ourselves from the theological paralysis that we may feel around the issue.”
It is not enough, he says, to tolerate.
“These weighty issues do not live in the abstract; they powerfully and emotionally impact genuine individuals living in our Orthodox community, with real life families and friends,” he states in his op-ed. “What may seem like an interesting sociological debate in truth is creating crushing pain, anxiety, and general turmoil for people about whom we care deeply.”
Ignoring the issue not only leaves LGBT Jews to suffer, he says, but alienates the growing number of young Jews who embrace their LGBT friends and family.
“They believe in a kind and just God and they want to believe in the divinity of the Torah. But at the same time they feel fairly certain that being gay is not a matter of choice. In the apparent conflict of these ideas, the first two premises seem to be losing ground.”
Segal also clashes with those who say celibacy is the easy solution.
“People today do not feel the need to sublimate those urges and desires to live meaningful and fulfilled lives,” he adds. “In fact, they see it as inhumane and offensive to suggest such self-denial or self-abnegation.”
Even moreso than Christianity, Orthodox Judaism has restrictions on sexuality and gender roles: In the synagogue, the sexes are separated by a partition [mechitza] so couples do not “distract” each other.
Only men can touch the Torah or form a minyan [prayer group]. Women, meanwhile, are required to take ritual baths in the mikveh after menstruation or childbirth.
How these mitzvahs would apply to gay or transgender Jews hasn’t ever really been broached. But Segal admits he doesn’t expect to satisfy every LGBT advocate.
“Even as we move the ball forward, some will claim that we’ve still fallen short,” he writes. “But we cannot allow that purgatory-like status to stop us from making the changes that we feel are appropriate.”
Segal says he’ll also be making changes at his school.
“The Shalhevet High School student body, like every other Orthodox school, includes gay students, and we have worked hard to create a loving and supportive environment for them. Still, we must do more. Young people in the LGBT community have told me that they feel invisible when we counsel them in private—they feel somewhat loved, but only unofficially, ’tolerated,’ but not embraced. This state of limbo cannot persist. We will lose our children.”
He calls on Jewish educators to implement anti-discrimination policies, to approve LGBT student groups, and to celebrate queer students choosing to live an Orthodox life, not “relegate them to second-class status.”
“Jews have always stood up to protect the weak,” he writes. “We know better than anyone what it is to be hated and persecuted for something that is essentially beyond one’s control. We have a moral imperative to stand up and do what we can on this issue.”
h/t: A Wider Bridge
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