We aren't asking that the tractate be changed, or that belief be changed. At best we just ask for compassion. When you live a life devoid of love and understanding, the last thing you want to hear are your rabbis making you feel as though you aren't even a part of the community. This is a HUGE issue and I appluad this website.

Leviticus — "Do not lie with a male as you would with a female; it is an abomination" Your headline, therefore, makes no sense.

The Gay and Lesbian Yeshiva Day School Alumni Association has been offering similar resources since 1995. Congratulations to HOD for starting their site. Everyone is welcome to view our website at www.glydsa.org

father of a gay IDF soldier, knitted kippah (in a battle unit) and proud of it too!

Vengeance Will Be Ours

This # 2 is ashamed of his/her writing , so it's almost an anonymous one . Not worth to waste time with this super moron

Does that also apply to the part where it is said I could sell my daughters into slavery, or the one where I can hold slaves from neighbouring nations? Should I kill everybody who doesn't wear beard and pejiot (do you wear 'em?)? Maybe it is time we learn to appreciate that this text you call the Torah was written in the bronze-age. Just a thought!!

it is interesting that the sources in halacha have different terms for the lapsed Jew: Mumar, Meshumad, and Avaryan. The accepted rule is "mumar ldavar ehad eino mumar lchol hatorah " and so these folks should be accepted. Their particular weakness however is a cardinal offense in the Torah, so this is more of a serious issue. There is also the distinction between a lust driven (no pun intended) mumar, and a mumar l'hach'is (agenda driven). The parade people, and those who seek to recruit, to publicize or to gain acceptance, can be categorized as mumar lhach'is, who in certain situations is regarded as a non-Jew. Certainly those who deny the Torah's restriction fall below the definition of a Jew. Refuat Hanefesh Shlema, from all my heart.

Sure they can wear a kippah, just like a lying cheating murderous fellow who throws on a kippah and hangs out at the synagogue. How many taxi drivers are religious? You get the point? Fact is that all this religious BS is really a sin anyway as the Torah forbids adding a word or taking away a word. The religion and love for G-ds rules are not the same thing. The point of love is to honor the one you love and when the Creator asks for something, out of love one should not hesitate to give it. Yet religion has nothing to do with this simple concept, as G-d asked us not to add to the words of Torah via Moses. As far as the statement a gay person cannot become straight, thats a load of BS. Just stop having sex with your own kind. Problem solved. Just like a theif saying I cant help it I need to steal, the truth of wether one can do something really lays in their mind. Many people can see oportunities to steal all around. Someone left an item outside overnight, etc, you can just cart it off; right or wrong? The difference between a theif and an honest person is when the thought enters the head of an honest person that the item can be taken without anyone knowing, the honest person reminds themselves that they don't steal and a theif however double checks the coast is clear and takes the item. The difference is choice. Same is true for sex. Sex with the wife of a friend when he is away, may be appealing, but a Torah man says no and takes action to avoid it. The same can be true of a man with sexual desires for anything other than a woman. Everybody has a full proof excuse, so they think. It is the one who does not sin and is close to G-d and Torah that takes actions and overides unlawful desires with logic. We dont make excuses for peodophiles, we dont make excuses for beast lovers, and we are expected to take excuses that a gay man cannot be straight, that its genetic? I for one don't. A gay man is simply someone who did not say no when he should have. Now he is grouped with others who make excuses on why the do not have to say no to their growing appetites for instant gratification. Just like a drug addict. Let them have their cermonies where they pretend to love G-d. True love comes from doing what He asked and that is not to have sex between men among other things. Sodom and Gemorrah is no fairytale. These boys better wake up to their situation under the authority of G-d. Chet ritual additions to Torah wont pay the bill, only increase it.

Lee, you're missing the point, it's the "religous" gay that is the issue here.

"First of all we want the rabbis to see the human faces behind the social phenomenon, and to realize that we are here and that we exist" No-one says they aren't human or that they don't exist. It's what they are doing that is wrong. Just like someone eating trayfe, who may otherwise be a fine person and a fine Jew. But, the problem with them is their goal is not sympathy, with them attempting to do teshuvah. Their goal is to normalize this behavior, as if it were okay. If they took a repentant approach, they would be viewed as anyone who doesn't keep all the mitzvahs. But, they don't and they are, therefore, as was said by MK Zeev in another article, a "plague" that wants to spread itself. This is the problem.

Up to now the only website catering to the religious gay community was atzat-nefesh (www.atzat-nefesh.org), which was basically run by straight people that publicly stated that a religious person cannot be gay. They tried to ‘turn’ gay religious people straight, which is something that we know cannot be done. We try to help people reconcile their religious beliefs and their sexual orientation,” he explained. I am so happy we are more and more becoming a main strean

I'm so happy to read all this! To the founders: Please, contact me whith details! Rabbi Greenberg's job seems to bring fruits at the end! :-)

I Love You

As a young man, I developped same-sex attractions (SSA) and despaired as they were contradictory to the Torah's commandments. I eventually found through the internet JONAH (www.jonahweb.org), an organization devoted to helping those who wish to grow out of their SSA and into their G-d-given manhood. I came to realize that I was not born gay but that due to overbonding with my mother, lack of connection with my father and same-sex peer rejection, I came to sexualize my fellow men. Now that I have been a member of JONAH for 2 years, my SSA is greatly reduced and I am proud to be the man that HaShem created me to be.

Man u must be kidding

In all your posts in Haaretz, you spew your venom against religious Jews, the "settlers", and anyone that stands in your way. You are what I dump in the toilet.

Thank you Ari for sharing your experience. You are a kiddush Hashem and truly what the Torah calls a gibor. Yasher Koach. Baruch Tehiye.

Like in Canada , it is time that gay religious or not, to have a place in Israel .

Your posts, which have been on other articles, tend to be a little long, but well worth reading. I haven't seen you write before recently, but I believe you make a lot of sense. The gays, and related deviants, have done an effective job of distorting the whole issue. But, they are doing it in a society that is reverting to paganism in a lot of respects, so they have a receptive audience. We are unfortunately arguing the details on the surface, but are really fighting a battle over complete differences in viewpoint on the meaning and value of life and the definition of right and wrong. The problem is, fundamentally, I am willing to live and let live if they'd just stay out of our lives. But they insist on intruding and spreading their gospel of deviance as normalcy. Keep up the good work.

All the best my friend. There is a God and you are a proof that we believe in a God who does miracles. A God who created can also save those who trust in Him. Amen

I'm an 'old man' living quite happily over pre-concieved notions.

We can have religious websites for religious jews who eat treif don't keep shabbos rape women rape children rob banks sleep around when they aren't married adulterers Kadima supporters and any other sin people want to justify doing. You want to be gay enjoy yourself but don't pretend you are religous. Wait they aren't. These people are secret in their identity because this is nothing but a fake site set up by secular jews trying to demonize torah judaism.

....vegetarians for beef Whle I sympathize with someone who is orthodox and attracted to the same-sex, I also realize that is life, and especially orthodoxy there are sometimes contradictions which cannot be resolved, no matter what. This I am afraid is one of them, there are many others. Yes you can be Orthodox and attracted to the same sex (lesbians are less of a problem) but you cannot practice it. Thus most people in this dilime choose one lifestyle over the other. End of story

To be religious means to draw teaching from religious beliefs. Therefore, to be a religious gay is completely incomprehensible. One cannot be a religious Jew and still be a gay!!! Because to be a religious Jew means to put into practice the Jewish teachings of the Tanach. Homosexuality is an abomination of the vilest kind. Having said that, it does not mean that we must behave badly with these so-called religious gays. It means that 1) we must ask them to keep their abomination for themselves to avoid perverted more people!! and 2) that they should use their religious beliefs to weed out, to eradicate their mental perversions. By stopping the perverted practice and killing the perverted thoughts (usually triggered by porn gay movies), they should be able to change their perversion to associate instead sexual acts with women.

God article...did I miss the address of this new site? Can someone tell me what it is? To the haters, maybe next year wen I give my obligatory $10,000.00 in Israeli bonds, I will buy Canadian bonds instead...who do you think is paying for the upkeep of the Israeli welfare state...I love Israel but not those who would judge others different from them...that is the job of Hashem...not you Thanx!

actually we are supposed to watch out for each other and help correct other peoples problems. thats one of the meanings of being jewish. all this crap about people's rights instead of doing what is right. please stay in canada and give your perverted money to someone else!