Why should gay Orthodox Jews get any more compassion than any other group within Orthodoxy who chooses to publicly deviate from their religion and simultaneously seek acceptance from it?
If you want to publicly deviate from this foundational law of Judaism, then don’t expect to be treated with sensitivity by traditional Jews.
I don’t see those who drive to shul on Shabbos creating support groups and making documentary films and crying for acceptance.
I don’t want gay Jews lynched. I don’t want them dragged behind trucks. I just want the ones who want to be accepted within Orthodox Judaism to shut up about their sexuality in public.
I’ve been as devious and deviant as the next guy but you don’t see me blogging about that and seeking acceptance for my sins. Instead, I make great effort to keep my blog as pure as the driven snow so that all Jews may dwell here in safety (except the gays).
I often find myself attracted to persons and behaviors that are forbidden to me. I often find the prospect of these liasons far more exciting to me and far more authentic to who I am than potentially licit relationships. If I were to act on my deviations from the Orthodox norm, I wouldn’t expect the Orthodox community to embrace me for it.
Over the years, I’ve hung out with a lot of journalists. While I sometimes do journalism, I often do writing that violates the norms of journalism. I don’t expect my fellow journalists to publicly embrace my deviations from journalism and publicly proclaim, “You’re one of us! We love you and we stand behind what you do!”
Every group has norms. If you want to publicly violate the norms of your group, don’t ask for an aliyah.
Be a man. Don’t go whining about insensitive treatment from groups opposed to your public actions.
What kills me is when Modern Orthodox rabbis talk about new scientific findings about homosexuality that have changed the way they relate to the issue. This is not thinking in alignment with the Torah. This is goyisha thinking. There are no new scientific findings that change how Orthodox Judaism relates to homosexual behavior.
Orientation is not covered much in Jewish law. That one is born oriented towards committing numerous sins is taken for granted by Torah. That’s why there are so many laws in Judaism. The religion has a skeptical view of human nature and it doesn’t want people to always act on their orientations. It wants them to act according to divine law rather than according to their feelings (if the two clash). If you don’t want to follow this, then keep quiet. Don’t be “out” about being a pornographer or an adulterer or a tax cheat or a heretic if you want to be embraced by your Orthodox community.
I assure you that not everything done in the hovel coincides with the dictates of divine law. But you don’t see me blogging about that. I keep a stiff upper lip in public and I don’t talk about what inspires my stiff upper cock.
That’s why I’m a moral leader and that’s why the rabbis endorse me.
Jim emails: Pot? Meet Kettle.
“Be a man. Don
