A group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis in New York City are demanding Americans don’t just think of the Mormon and Catholic churches as hateful places of worship, but synagogues too! It’s unclear how many “prominent rabbis” are joining a memo published in the conservative Zeh Journal, or exactly who they are, but a “broad consensus of Rabbis surveyed” (cherry picked?) want to fight back against the notion the Jewish community is on board with New York State’s gay marriage movement.
“Some of the most respected rabbis feel that our communities were smeared by the appearance that they were willing to accept same-sex marriage,” says Zeh editor Dovid Z. Schwartz in the release. “It’s broadly acknowledged that steps should be taken to distance the mainstream observant communities from the actions of politicians who support same-sex marriage.”
The release adds: “The Torah that the Almighty Gd gave to the Jewish people through Moses contains the tradition of interpretation of the Seven Laws of Noah, a universal legal, moral and spiritual code binding on all mankind that represents the bedrock of civilization. All human societies are required, according to the will of the Almighty Gd as taught by Moses, to refrain from 1) murder, 2) theft, 3) sexual immorality, including homosexuality, rape and incest; 4) to refrain certain types of cruelty to animals, 5) not to worship idols, 6) not to curse the Name of Gd; and 7) have a positive obligation to establish the rule of law through courts of justice.”
Oh, fun. We love it when religious conservatives volunteer to have a target placed on their backs. (That’s a criticism target, not a sniper’s one, let’s be sure.)
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done4good
Every family has either a criminal or a crazy. Ah, such is life.
Jack
‘…to refrain certain types of cruelty to animals’
Ok, so in some cases, it’s ok to be cruel to animals?! Not to kill them or eat them, but actually to subject them to inhumane mistreatment?!
Sick
Sick
Sick.
done4good
Look! They wear funny hats and have curly curls coming out of their ear! Oh, and they’re looking at a wall, like a weirdo!
Lets listen to them! They might have something relevant to say.
scott ny'er
oh. ok.
well. f#$k them too.
Cam
Um, they’re Orthodox, they don’t even shake hands with females outside their family, TRUST me, we didn’t think they were refering to YOU when they said that the Jewish Community was onboard with gay marraige….just the other 98% of the community. By the way gents, your little ringlets are just precious.
JohnVisser
Senator Joe Lieberman (aka Traitor Joe) is an orthodox jew – how come he doesn’t have to wear the furry cap and the goldilocks sideburns? Well, I guess they let him stay in the fold because he hates the gay marriage too.
...
That would be cool if that was actually his hair
B
“They might have something relevant to say.” … certainly something to say, like in the Israeli joke an Israeli citizen told me: What do you have if there are 5 Israelis in a room ………..
……………………….. 9 opinions.
macca
These gentlemen should be reminded that the word homosexual did not exist at the time the torah was written.
“In the 1860s, an Austrian born Hungarian writer, Karl Maria Kertbeny, used the term ‘homosexual’ for the first time in Berlin in anthropological writings about people for whom same gender attraction defined their sexual orientation.”
Attmay
@9 Macca:
In fact the very concept of a sexual orientation was unknown at the time.
1EqualityUSA
“Homosexual” was added in 1949
Josh
There are 44 Jewish Members of the 111th Congress. ONLY 14% are Anti-LGBT, including Senator Joe Lieberman. 86% are on our side.
So, too bad Rabbis, most Jews understand the value of equality. Now, if we could just get those Christians.
Any_mouse
The biblical term for male intercourse is Mishchav Zachar, which loosely translates to laying with a man.
Dave
Jews are actually pretty progressive when it comes to the gays, even Orthodox Jews are. Rather than some Christian crazies who believe you choose to be gay or not, Jews across the board ascribe to the idea that homosexuality is innate, something you are born with.
However, even though someone may have homosexual urges, he must not act on them. The bible does not tell us how to think but how to act. In fact, the whole Jewish religion can be distilled down to laws restricting our inner desires and behaviors.
As an analogy – say someone is pre-disposed to loving cheeseburgers, just loves ’em – he still must not eat cheeseburgers because of the rabbinical prohibition against eating milk and meat together.
The same with homosexuality – if someone is pre-disposed to loving men, just can’t get enough – he still must not engage in sexual ACTS because there is a prohibition against it.
(Obviously the analogy quickly falls apart when you realize – engaging in the ultimate expression of love doesn’t really equate to eating a cheeseburger – but this is how an Orthodox Jew might describe the reasoning)
The reason Orthodox and some Conservative Rabbis are against gay marriage is because it creates an environment where two men would be more inclined to engage in sexual acts if they were bound together in a sacred union.
mucklucky777
I can say, with confidence, that ONLY the idiots pictured here think like this. The Reform movement (which is the overwhelming majority of Jews in the US) are PRO LGBT. The Reconstructionists, and Renewal Jews are even more so.
Even in most Conservative synagogues this is a non issue.
These guys represent about as much ALL Jews as rampant Right Wing idiots like Sarah Painin represent the general population. Cherry picked is right.
terrwill
Comming from the most persecuted group of people in the history of civilization (ya know the 6 million killed because of bein’ jewsish) I say you to the Orthodox haters you are a disgusting, filthy, vile, group of haters who are no better than the Nazis who forced your relatives into the ovens………..
Jadis
In Israel, these guys are commonly referred to as ‘penguins.’
scott ny'er
@Terrwill:
do you know about the persecution of the Chinese. Fail. Try again.
I hate only those who hate me.
Joey
@Jadis: Hm, that’s very interesting. In the rest of the world, these guys are commonly referred to as ‘assholes.’
Bob
What about refraining from the mutilation of their new-born sons!