As homosexuality is being more and more accepted in the community these days, there are still some groups that do not accept homosexuals because of the culture of the group. One of the groups that do not condone to homosexual acts would be the Jews. So the main question of the issue would be can jews be gay or not.
Now one thing to understand would be that Judaism does not have anything against homosexuals. What they do not condone to would be homosexual acts which means the erotic acts that a person will do with another of the same sex. In other words, there can be homosexuals but they cannot act upon their homosexual urges as it is the acts that are considered as sins in the faces of the Rabbis.
Now the basis of this statement would actually be from the Bible itself as this is the book where the verses of God are all kept. Now if one would open his Bible to the book of Leviticus chapters eighteen verse twenty two, then he will be able to find the basis. This verse explicitly states that if a man lies in bed with another man like he would do with a woman, then he is committing a sin.
Now although the verse states this, the Bible does not explicitly explain why this is forbidden in the first place. Of course the teachers would argue that this is simply because in the beginning, there was a man and a woman and no gay. They concluded that homosexuality is a sin that was created by humans.
Of course since this claim had no basis, people were not convinced of its validity at all. Now Bar Kaparrah tried to make a conclusion about this issue in Talmud by stating another teaching in the Torah. He claims that the Torah emphasizes the importance of marriage and procreation with homosexuality posing as a threat to it.
Now if one would notice, the Torah only explicitly points out that men and men are not supposed to have sexual acts together. Of course this means that they left out the women who like other women. So now there would be a question as to whether lesbianism is also frowned upon too.
Now with this issue, the Jews also prohibited acts of lesbianism among their fellow females. The reason would also involve the teaching of having a family and procreation. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah like how gay men are mentioned, the Rabbis are not as strict.
So basically, what their teaching about homosexuality is simply that they do not allow the act. The rabbis do acknowledge the fact that homosexuals are actually born that way. However, what they do not allow is the act of homosexuality between two people of the same sex. So if one is Jewish but is also a gay or a lesbian at the same time, then he or she does not need to worry as he or she can keep his or her orientation but is safe as long as he or she does not act upon it.
Now one thing to understand would be that Judaism does not have anything against homosexuals. What they do not condone to would be homosexual acts which means the erotic acts that a person will do with another of the same sex. In other words, there can be homosexuals but they cannot act upon their homosexual urges as it is the acts that are considered as sins in the faces of the Rabbis.
Now the basis of this statement would actually be from the Bible itself as this is the book where the verses of God are all kept. Now if one would open his Bible to the book of Leviticus chapters eighteen verse twenty two, then he will be able to find the basis. This verse explicitly states that if a man lies in bed with another man like he would do with a woman, then he is committing a sin.
Now although the verse states this, the Bible does not explicitly explain why this is forbidden in the first place. Of course the teachers would argue that this is simply because in the beginning, there was a man and a woman and no gay. They concluded that homosexuality is a sin that was created by humans.
Of course since this claim had no basis, people were not convinced of its validity at all. Now Bar Kaparrah tried to make a conclusion about this issue in Talmud by stating another teaching in the Torah. He claims that the Torah emphasizes the importance of marriage and procreation with homosexuality posing as a threat to it.
Now if one would notice, the Torah only explicitly points out that men and men are not supposed to have sexual acts together. Of course this means that they left out the women who like other women. So now there would be a question as to whether lesbianism is also frowned upon too.
Now with this issue, the Jews also prohibited acts of lesbianism among their fellow females. The reason would also involve the teaching of having a family and procreation. However, since lesbianism is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah like how gay men are mentioned, the Rabbis are not as strict.
So basically, what their teaching about homosexuality is simply that they do not allow the act. The rabbis do acknowledge the fact that homosexuals are actually born that way. However, what they do not allow is the act of homosexuality between two people of the same sex. So if one is Jewish but is also a gay or a lesbian at the same time, then he or she does not need to worry as he or she can keep his or her orientation but is safe as long as he or she does not act upon it.
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