Theodore W. Jennings American Scholar, Theologian & Author B.D. Duke University - PHD Emory University, Methodist Preacher and fellow Chicago Theological Seminary The man Jesus loved: The Homoerotic Narrative of the New Testament and Jacob’s Wound often time we are attracted to the messages of persecution, deliverance, retribution and divine justice for the upright and the steadfast. There is another message there however and that message is one of compassion, kindness, caring and anavah (humility). Judgment on a personal level is unavoidable just try to not judge to harshly.

Theodore W. Jennings American Scholar, Theologian & Author B.D. Duke University - PHD Emory University, Methodist Preacher and fellow Chicago Theological Seminary The man Jesus loved: The Homoerotic Narrative of the New Testament and Jacob’s Wound often time we are attracted to the messages of persecution, deliverance, retribution and divine justice for the upright and the steadfast. There is another message there however and that message is one of compassion, kindness, caring and anavah (humility). Judgment on a personal level is unavoidable just try to not judge to harshly.

The Man Jesus Loved: The Homoerotic Narrative pf the New Testament and Jacob's wound Author - Theodore W. Jennings American Scholar, Theologian & Author B.D. Duke University - PHD Emory University, Methodist Preacher and fellow Chicago Theological Seminary try to fin the compassion in your scriptures if they are Jewish or of Jewish origin the compassion is definitely in there even if it isn't obvious. You may have to do more than skim however.

are you continuing the Centrist Orthodoxy philosophy trying to iron out the Torah and secular knowledge ? I read this article again and again I think you are reporting that Rabbi Shlomo Riskin who founded the New york Synagogue is promoting a Fusion between Orthodoxy, Torah and secular knowledge ! I still dont see any provision for such practices in the Torah. I am not very happy with this kind of news from warwick. I must say Rabbi Shlomo Riskin didnot put it the way you report. Ynet please rewrite ! Note : Gay or homosexual- you are still my childern but at this moment of time I just dont understand all these things. I am sorry I just cant accept homosexuality. I really dont understand, I am sorry I just dont know. This is one topic I just dont have answers in my torah. Orthodox Judaism and homosexuality just dont mix. no- proviso anywhere in the Torah. Limmud Annual Conference is not the Torah, But the Torah is CLEAR ! ben singapore

Thank you Rabbi Riskin. Baruch hashem in NYC we have a community of orthodox gay Jews, and some are indeed raising families. Kol hakavod. More information at www.glydsa.org

All the homophobes here need to start adhering to the Thora. It never says there that gays are rapists pedophiles. It classifies lying with a man as you would ly with a woman an abomination. The Rabbi is 100% correct in his statement, even halachically speaking. Furthermore: homosexuality is not part of the three cardinal sins, and breaking this negative commandment is no more grave than not eating kosher. Funnily enough you don't hear people fuming over that. It is Rabbis like him, who think and put the study of Thora and Halacha above is personal prejudices that allowed our people to prosper and continue its traditions through millenia of persecution and assimilation. The greatest sin we can commit it Lashon Hara, and we should always seek ways to guard our tongues and to see the best in people. That is the fastest way to bring about the Olam Haba

were here and were queer. get used to it no more closets

i agree with the rabbi that gay orthodox jews should not be excluded from the congregation... so long as they are keeping their sins against the torah private. this is the exact same standard applied to all members of a congregation and gays should not be excluded just because it is now PC to be against sodomy. other children will see this same sex couple and get a WRONG idea that homosexuality is considered an acceptable idea in judaism. yes we do have to be concerned with keeping gay jews as close to the torah as possible... but not at the expense of the rest of the congregation's torah lives.

Germany purchased the "altar of Zeus" which is Satan's throne from Pergamos in the 1800's and moved it to Berlin in a museum in the Tier Garten. Berlin is Satan's capital city because that is where his throne is located, now. Maybe that will give you a clue on why there was such persecution of Jews and Christians in Nazi Germany...with Satan's throne there. It is still there which is probably why Obama gave a speech in Berlin last summer near the Tiergarten to be close to the "altar of Zeus" in the museum there, or Satan's throne. When Obama gave an acceptance speech for the nomination, the pillars on either side of him were replicas of the pillars on either side of the "altar of Zeus" or throne of Satan. A SDA preacher in the early 1980's had a vision of the Messiah coming when there is a Black President of the USA who is thin, with close cropped hair and big ears, who becomes a terrible dictator.

justify an abomination to the Lord because he does it. The Bible says that what so ever a man doeth is right in his own eyes. That does not make it right in God's eyes.

will be printed. Judgment belongs to the Lord and there is no power or authority except of God. Those who misuse those powers will be judged by God. Expressing an aversion to sins is not judging the sin. Avenging yourself or others is akin to judging a situation. You seem to think I am not kind and understanding to object to what God objects to. I can assure you that to warn sinners in the hope they will repent of sins and turn away from sin is not judging them. It is bringing attention to errors that God will judge more harshly than any court of man unless there is repentence and a turning away from sin. I do not determine what sin is. God does. I do not judge sin, but God does. The eternal judgment for sin that is not repented of and forsaken is horrible: eternal separation from God which means no mercy, no hope, no comfort, no kindness forever.

OK, it is fine. You are blessed with free will, we are creations wrought by the creator. There is this "old saying" i continually hear from Christians "Love the Sinner hate the Sin". This is noble in word but not often observed in deed. Please just consider this and avoid stratification of the the creation, in other words "don't cast them below you" if you can resist that temptation.

rivkaka is not blessed with free will , only BLESSED with crippled brains , abusing men and love for pets .

people often become like what they associate with. Worse, the unrepentent sinners, atheists, or religious Unbelievers may attack you. Beware of wolves in sheeps' clothing because they do attack. Taking a rattlesnake to your heart will not make it not bite you. It is the nature of unrepentent sinners to hate those who are not like-minded. You have to put on the whole armor of God for a protection from the wiles of the devil. The devil who influences unrepentent sinners and atheists and religious UNbelievers hates God and he sees the seal of God's ownership in the foreheads of God's people and the devil attacks any way he can if God's people get outside the hedge of protection for them which may be a very limited way to interact in the world.

at the Independence Park in Jerusalem, so why is it not suprising that he would support this. I as a gay guy like the fact that religion gives us a reality check. He ought to come out of the closet.

on that ancient Greek Lucifer thing. Please examine your own words. We mimic things in our environment. Free will is the "likeness" described it Breshith the Elohim or Bene Elohim (if you prefer) lack this "likeness" they can only cast illusions for you to mimic but you can choose to mimic HaShem the (Derekh HaShem) HaShem has no sense of receiving for herself and since we are encased in crude matter our flesh has a desire to receive but our nefesh (soul) can be trained to mitigate this and desire to give more than receive. Compassion is a great gift to share I would advise anyone to do that.

The problem with the article is that it mixes two issues; halacha and social acceptance. Sexual contact between two men is explicitly forbidden by torah (and rabbinic law). There is no way around that. It is an undisputable fact that male gay sexuality is forbidden by torah but that is not a value judgement or, as the Rav said, is not a basis for hatred. Saying that we shouldn't judge does not mean it's an acceptable act for a torah Jew. That does not mean that I should hate the person, but I must recognize and accept halacha.

after reading the Bible, there is not much to base a conversation on. We do not have the same parameters. Rivkah

are more numerous than our parameters of difference. Rikvah (to bind) The state "binds" heterosexual couples in "covenant" marriages. Covenant with whom? the state, each other, HaShem? I would say with each other and the apparatus of the State. These parties are not HaShem so, many of the marriages the state allows may have NO meaning to the "Dayan HaOlam" In deed, if you look at the scriptures time and time again when a man "got to know" a woman a baby resulted there was no ketubah from the state. I would say that all state recognized marriages are in fact just civil unions so to avoid persecution of a certain group the legal contract should just say civil union across the top for both hetro and homosexual partners.

You wrote "...that male gay sexuality is forbidden ..." is Female lesbian sexuality allowed ?

G-d bless gays for offering a safe, loving home to kids that are otherwise neglected, abused, and forgotten by 'straights.' Love is bind so should shouting 'moralist' who ignore these same kids. Gay, straight, enuch, who cares? Kids just need loving homes. Unles YOU"VE adopted one, please, be quiet.

Homosexuals and those who are economically dependent but do not wish to marry can become domestic partners with legal rights. That is different from a civil union or marriage. When my husband and I renewed out marriage vows in a civil union in Virginia, the name of God was in the ceremony. In the home religious marriage many years before, God's name was invoked. King David said in Psalms that there is no power or authority except of God and the powers that be are ordained of God. Perjury is dragging God into a lie which is blasphemy because in all court proceedings, God is the witness since power belongs to God. Civil marriages are a court proceeding. That means homosexual civil unions or marriage drag the witness of God into something God detests: sexual union of two males or two females. When the California Supreme Court allowed homosexual marriages, there were over 2,000 dry lightning fires in California within two weeks with no clouds in the sky that burned down over 4,000 businesses and homes. Do you think that decision PLEASED the Lord? No. It did not. Now that has been reversed, but the 15,000+ homo marriages have not been annuled, yet. They better be and the California Supreme Court had better not cross the voters again. But the California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown is trying to get the California Supreme Court to void the election results that overturned homosexual marriage. That guy is going to hell and so are the California Supreme Court justices who voted for homosexual marriage because that is blasphemy to drag God's power into an area God detests. All laws in all nations are based on the Ten Commandments. When God's power is misused, there are judgments, catastrophic judgments.

Ben Adam is the name of the game. No way to raise one religion to an elite privileged status. After Hegel and even Spinoza, let us work for the religionfree future.

that even the most circumspect biblical scholar must concur that literally the prohibition is "man lying with man" there s NO mention of woman lying with woman. You know what that small characteristic along with so many other seeming discrepancies and omissions have led to? (yes the use of cognitive reasoning) and why not cognitive reasoning? it is the foundation of sentience and self awareness "the gift". If the holy Torah was meant as a completely comprehensive step by step how to guide or to be inputted and processed like some sort of algorithmic cartesian logic parameter there would be no need for Chazal or Bayis Midrash or even Beyt Din for that matter. Since time immemorial human has succumbed to the unavoidable impulse to substitute him or herself with HaShem in the thrown of Judgment. El of proto-Israel was the first to send foreign Armies to enforce and implement divine judgment on disobedient adherents/followers. This was a very profound and novel concept for the time. Prior to that the creation (humans) only sought lizkot or "reward" from their deities and abandoned them when disaster struck. If you only focus on the New Testament addendum you risk falling into the problem of the "foreign" material that was infused into the Hebrew base scriptures. That effect is stratification, elevation the heady opiate of passing gnostic divine judgment and condemnation on you fellows. Oh well this is turning into some sort of theology seminar so I will just close by asking you to consider the path of compassion and decency and let HaShem decide who will be banished to the Valley of Hinnom at the end of days because HaShem will anyway and just look at what happens to so many of the self-righteous these days. There is so much shocking scandal "falls from grace" and there could be a message being communicated in those events? Ted Haggard and such; think about it.

even the B'nei Israel were called "ger" goy or gentile at some point or another.

NM

I quote you: "..... bringing a child into the world, as long as they do so responsibly," I read you as the 1st FALSE MESSIAH of the 21st Century

made a false conversion when attacking the new religion of Yeshua did not stop it, taught physical circumcism was not necessary for Gentiles. He knew that the uncircumcised were called heathen many times in the written Scriptures of the ancients that Yeshua observed. Saul/Paul was really an Orthodox Jew and not a Messianic as he claimed in my opinion since he could not obey the Lord who told him through a servant not to go to Jerusalem or he would be arrested. Yeshua said those who loved him would obey his commandments. Saul/Paul chose not to obey Yeshua who was himself physically circumcised. That said, this is what Saul/Paul said about lesbians from Romans chapter 1 verse 26: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: FOR EVEN THEIR WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INOT THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE." It continues in verse 27-32: "And LIKEWISE also the men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly...Being filled with all UNRGHTEOUSNESS, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, HATERS OF GOD, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, eocenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, THAT THEY WHICH COMMIT SUDH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." (emphasis mine) Sounds like Saul/Paul, a Pharisee and Orthodox Jew did not think the Lord approved of FEMALE OR MALE homosexuality, pal.