Comments on: An unholy link between Hagel’s anti-Gay and anti-Jewish slurs

By: Eran Goldin

Eran Goldin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:33:44 +0000

Super interesting.

By: Ch Hoffman

Ch Hoffman — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:01:29 +0000

Mr Boteach is a failed Republican politician first, a huckster second, and a rabbi somewhere between 7th and 10th. His flawed analysis relies on a collection of false facts – the ones one picks up from the right-wing echo chamber of the Limbaugh-FoxNews-WSJ noise machine.

For him to start with an analysis of the biblical prohibitions as the basis for an attack on an otherwise unremarkable Senator is an exercise in misreading both Torah and politics.

By: Harlan Kilstein

Harlan Kilstein — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 02:51:37 +0000

Shmully, you are a disgrace to religion – ours. You got your butt kicked in the election. You chase after news like a dog after a fire hydrant. No one cares what you think about politics. Why is the Times of Israel wasting space on what you think about politics?

By: Harlan Kilstein

Harlan Kilstein — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 02:51:37 +0000

By: Finally Free

Finally Free — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:43:22 +0000

He's out to lunch, methinks. What would be correct is that the Bible does not prohibit homosexuality as an orientation (as the very concept of a s3xual orientation would have been incomprehensible to the audience at the time) — it calls the specific ACT of 'shkav gever' (buggery) a "to'eva" (abhorrent thing, "abomination" — a term the Bible usually uses in connection with idolatry). Remember that Canaanite idol-worship features not just female but male temple prostitutes (whose houses King Josiah tore down, 2 Kings 22) …

Female-on-female acts, BTW, are not even mentioned in the Bible, and the only thing in Jewish law I remember about them is Maimonides saying two women doing this in public should be flogged — but he writes the same thing about husband and wife consuming their marriage in public…

By: Finally Free

Finally Free — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:43:22 +0000

By: El Elx

El Elx — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:56:56 +0000

Mark Wolf Mark, Bill comes from California! I shall say no more, except to remark that this is most apposite to catamites from La-la "Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people. …
Don't ask him Bill tojustify his lies! He doesn't even know he is telling them. He is not evil, just a simpleton!

By: Herbert Kaine

Herbert Kaine — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:22:39 +0000

A person who cannot correctly identify the enemies of the US is unqualified to be SecDef. Hagel is the Iranian response to Stuxnet.

By: Abbie Applestein

Abbie Applestein — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:00:25 +0000

Jeff …G-d wants Jews to do all the Mitzvot they can, so it is better to be gay and do Mitzvot than to not do Mitzvot, from my understanding. And we must remember what Rabbi Hillel said about telling the entire torah while standing on one foot.

"Hillel also said "Be of the disciples of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures, and bringing them near to the Torah."

One may ask, what is the connection between "loving your fellow creatures" and "bringing them near to the Torah"? The mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael tells us to show concern for another in all matters both material and spiritual. The Baal Shem Tov taught that one must look to do a favor for another without making it conditional on spiritual achievement or circumstance."

By: Kis Brink

Kis Brink — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:03:19 +0000

The Torah doesn't just contain a single truth about any one issue does it Jeff? At least my understanding of what it is to be a part of the the People of Israel is that we are to wrestle with what we are presented. It's easy to point to the bible and say here's why this is bad. Clearly harder to realize in doing so you are yourself sinning and unlike a person born gay you are making a choice to harm another. In Torah we see Hashem's postion towards his most problematic creation change multiple times but there is no new Torah only new scholars. Should we think that the sort of transformation that has gone on in society and science that enlightens our approach to the issue would be possible without HaShem? I prefer to think not. I can't believe that having allowed such a difference to exist that the happiness that is so often sought for mankind in the Torah we have is hateful to Hashem. We cannot know of course but in the face of not knowing wouldn't it be better to err on ths side of not hurting people and using religion as your justification?

By: Kis Brink

Kis Brink — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:03:19 +0000

By: Mark Wolf

Mark Wolf — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:39:18 +0000

Where and when did Romney express anti-gay bigotry. This is only one reason not to confirm him. C'mon Bill, if an R president put him up for a cabinet post you would be all over him

By: Mark Wolf

Mark Wolf — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:39:18 +0000

Where and when did Romney express anti-gay bigotry. This is only one reason not to confirm him. C'mon Bill, if an R president put him up for a cabinet post you would be all over him

By: Jeff Blessing

Jeff Blessing — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:00:58 +0000

Hmmm… so you can be doing something that Torah expressly calls an abomination and you can still be called Orthodox? One cannot "hold onto [one's] faith" while leading a lifestyle strictly forbidden by that faith. HaShem Himself tells us that one cannot have a relationship with Him if rejecting His Torah. Is being attracted to people of the same gender a sin? No. But being actively gay IS. That's not being hateful, its telling an uncomfortable truth.

"The ban on homosexuality in the Bible is similar to the ban on lighting fire on the Sabbath. There is nothing immoral about it, but it contravenes religious law." — REALLY? Wasn't a person struck dead by HaShem for gathering wood on the Shabbat with the implied purpose of lighting a fire? And doesn't the Torah say that if one man lays with another that BOTH were to be taken to the judges and stoned to death? Sounds like a very serious offense to me. That's a lot worse than touching a woman during her cycle..then you just wash and your ritually clean the following day. BTW, what is the definition of "morality" if not religious law? PLEASE don't tell me that *I* know more Torah than Rabbi Boteach, Americas favorite Rabbi.

By: Doug Kraft

Doug Kraft — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:08:39 +0000

Thank you Rabbi.