Judaism Offers a Wide Range of Views on Same-Sex Marriage

Opponents of same-sex marriage have cited the Bible and other Judeo-Christian dogma to portray gay and lesbian couples as inherently "immoral" and therefore, not deserving of the rights and benefits which society doles out to heterosexual couples.

As the cornerstorne of Western monotheism, Judaism gave birth to Christianity and Islam. It's holy book, the Old Testament, is also cited as the source for God's condemnation of homosexuality. But one of the world's oldest religions has branched into sects which disagree violently on the subject.

The start with the source text, homosexual acts are among the many (many!) things proscribed, in this case as "to'evah," an abomination. A famous oft-quoted passage in Leviticus, 18:22, reads: "You shall not cohabit with a male as one cohabits with a woman; it is an abomination." Again, Leviticus 20:13: "If a man cohabits with a male as with a woman, both of them have done an abominable thing; they shall be put to death; their blood falls back upon them."
The passage takes on special meaning because Leviticus is one of the first five books of the Bible. Known as the Torah, or Pentateuch, these books constitute the core of Jewish belief.

Christian and Jewish fundamentalists often quote these passages as justifying a blanket condemnation of all same-sex sexual acts. They also cite the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, the so-called Cities of the Plain, from Genesis.

In the story, Lot lives in Sodom, where he entertains three angels disguised as travelers. His neighbors demand he turn them out "so that we may know them." The original Hebrew has multiple meanings, one of them sexual. God tells Lot to flee Sodom and destroys the city with what has become the proverbial fire and brimstone.

The story of Sodom and the Levitical proscriptions present a stark way of approaching human sexuality that has influenced Western Civilization for thousands of years.

Shmuel Boteach is the chairman of the Oxford University L'Chaim Society and a prominent author who is also a rabbi in one of Judaism's most conservative sects. He, however, uses a more open point of view in his interpretation of these passages.

Boteach has developed a more humane interpretation of God's mandate for heterosexual acts and prohibition of homosexual acts. According to him, the Torah is against homosexual acts, not homosexual people. Judaism and God love all people. Boteach reminds us that the Torah also calls eating non-kosher food "'to'evah," an abomination. The word "to'evah" in the Torah does not depict a social repulsion.

Jewish communities in America are dealing, however, wit the here and now; and now, there are two essential issues that demand theological interpreation. The first and most urgent is whether or not the United States governmental bodies (including the states) should legalize same-sex marriage, thereby offering same-gender couples the same legal benefits that married heterosexual couples have.

The second deals with whether rabbis should perform same-sex Jewish weddings, and if so, can these ceremonies be considered kiddushin (the Hebrew term for holy unions)? This would give them equal stature with heterosexual marriages.

On May 8, two Orthodox Jewish groups issued a joint statement opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, where the issue is red-hot--and Jewish voters hold greater sway than anywhere else. Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union, which together represent a broad coalition of observant, or Orthodox, Jews in New York City and State, said in a statement that "discarding the historical definition of marriage would pose a severe danger to society in a variety of ways."

"Moreover," the statement added, "we are deeply concerned that should any such redefinition occur, citizens of New York who are members of traditional communities like ours will incur moral opprobrium and risk legal sanction if they refuse to transgress their beliefs," the groups said. "That prospect is chilling, and should be unacceptable."

The groups said that they approach the issue "through the prism of the Jewish religious tradition, which forbids homosexual acts and sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony, the bedrock relationship of the human family."

The Reform Movement, which sits on the opposite side of the theological spectrum, also sits opposite orthodoxy in matters concerning gay unions as well. The Reform Movement began in Enlightenment Germany but took flower in the United States as a way to reconcile modern living with Jewish theology. By and large, it rejects strict adhesion to Torah laws in favor of broad interpretation of an expansive theology.

The Reform Movement has been in the forefront of religious denominations' acceptance of homosexuality. It has long ordained out-gay rabbis and was the first major religious denomination in the United States to accept a liturgy for same-sex unions.

The Reform Movement has thus advocated for civil same-sex marriage for many years. The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the professional association of Reform rabbis, passed a resolution in 1996 opposing "governmental efforts to ban gay and lesbian marriage." The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the congregational arm of the Reform movement, followed suit in 1997, resolving to, "support secular efforts to promote legislation which would provide civil marriage equal opportunity for gay men and lesbians."

Rabbi Marc Gruber and Honey Heller, co-chairs of the Reform Jewish Voice of New York State, sent a letter to Governor David Paterson in support of legislation that would establish civil marriage equality in New York.

Heller and Gruber told Paterson "that civil marriage can exist in harmony with a diversity of beliefs on the issue of religious same-sex marriage. Our tradition has long celebrated and sanctified loving same-sex relationships. At the same time, we are cognizant that other faith traditions hold differing views on this issue. That is why it is essential that civil marriage laws are not rooted in theology, but in the principle of equal rights."

"Our religious values teach love and respect for all of humankind and that all people are created b'tselem Elohim, in the Divine image, deserving of tolerance, respect, love and equality," Heller and Gruber added.

The Jewish religion does not have a central leader, such as a pope, nor a central body that deliberates on issues (the ancient Sanhedrin is today an anachronism). As a result, multiple positions on same-sex marriage uneasily co-exist within the greater body of Judaism in America and the West in generally.

As the chief rabbi of Beth Simchat Torah in New York City, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has become a de facto spokesperson for LGBT Jews in the United States. Congregation Beth Simchat Torah is the nation's largest and most prominent LGBT-oriented synagogue in the world (although many straight Jews who worship there as well).

Kleinbaum has been performing marriage ceremonies for same-gender couples for the past 19 years. Of course, none of them were legally binding.

"We provide resources and support and help to Jewish institutions, to rabbis, to Jews all over the world," Kleinbaum said. She believes that attitudes toward same-sex marriage and GLBT rights in general will continue to evolve in a positive direction in coming years.

"I think history is clear on this," Kleinbaum said. "This is the direction toward a full inclusion of GLBT people in all walks of life--Jewish, non-Jewish--as an act of justice. Anything less than the full inclusion of GLBT people in all aspects of life is bigotry and discrimination."

Same-sex marriage and other gay and lesbian issues meet with little consensus in the Conservative movement, which bridges the divide between the Reform and Orthodox sects. Conservatives adhere to Torah laws but interpret them more broadly and give more leeway than the Orthodox. For instance, most Conservatives will drive cars or ride public transportation on the Sabbath.

The interpretation of the standing ruling of its Committee of Jewish Law and Standards, which determines the official positions of Conservative Judaism, reflects takes the sect's middle ground. The committee's position is that Jewish law prohibits homosexuality, and therefore Jewish same-sex marriage is not appropriate. However, many influential Conservative leaders, including Rabbis Bradley Artson and Elliot Dorff, disagree with the Committee's interpretation of Jewish law and call for support of civil and Jewish same-sex marriage.

The Conservative Rabbinical Assembly has endorsed civil rights for gay men and lesbians without specifically endorsing civil same-sex marriage. There is a small minority of Conservative rabbis who perform same-sex Jewish weddings, indicating the widespread division on this issue.

Judaism today is a diverse religion that encompasses everything from the Haradem, roughly equivalent to the Amish in their rejection of modern life, to radical Reform Jews, who reject most elements of traditional observance. No one should look for a single viewpoint of an explosive issue like same-sex marriage from a religion with such a broad spectrum of viewpoints.