Saying NO to the LGBT

OK. You’ve read the headline. But please don’t panic. Read further for enlightenment. I am not referring to the sexual group of LGBT in our country. On the contrary. Among them are some of the most brilliant and creative minds… doctors, surgeons, professors, lawyers, members of our Knesset, artists, musicians, actors and theatrical personnel…..we know them all and I, for one, respect them and support their rights for dignity and equality.

I have never watched the gay parade in Tel-Aviv personally. I have watched it on television. I just don’t like to be in crowds, especially where there is controversy. My only objection is the gay pride parade which takes place in Jerusalem. One must have sensitivity to the religious feelings of the Jews, Christians and Muslims who live in the holy city and for whom this activity is anathema.

No. I am referring to a different LGBT. We’ve all seen them. We’ve all heard them. And I suspect that a great majority of us reject their policies, ideologies, and 16th century medievalism.

You’ve probably guessed it by now. I refer to the extreme ultra-Orthodox Jews whose dream is to destroy our democracy and in its place to install a theocracy. Hence, the LGBT..”Let’s Govern By Torah:”
I have absolutely nothing against our sacred Torah. I have read it. I have taught it. I have disagreed with some of it. I have disobeyed much of it. But in spite of everything, I feel free to observe the laws which have meaning for me and to ignore laws which are not relative to modern lives in modern times.

“Thou shalt not kindle fire on the Sabbath”. OK. No cooking. No barbecues. No boiling. No baking. But why no radio, no television, no telephone or cellphone, no electric lights? Our Orthodox friends regard electricity and its appliances as kindling fire. More liberal, yet holding to a modicum of observance, Jews do not regard electricity as fire. Therefore, even turning the ignition on a car is not a sacrilege to them.
There is a Hebrew expression which I have lived by and have taught generations of my students over 60 years. And that is “Torah ainena overet b’yerusha. Kol dor va dor tzarich l’chadesh ota”… the Torah does not pass to us as an inheritance. Each and every generation must renew it. Each one in every generation must interpret the Torah laws in accordance with belief, comfort, and meaning.

In sexual matters, the Orthodox condemn homosexuality even though it was practiced commonly in biblical times and in particular, during the Hasmonean period when Jews were infatuated with Greek customs. Male homosexuality is specifically condemned in the Torah. Not so, is female (lesbian) sex.

The reason is that even a lesbian can lie with a man and conceive and give birth to children, whereas men who lie with other men, do not produce children of their own blood and violate, according to the Orthodox LGBT, the first commandment given to Adam and Eve in the legendary Garden of Eden…

“P’re u’r’vu u’mil’u et ha aretz”… be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

That commandment I reserve for our Orthodox brethren, for the many families of 12 or more children with not enough food to sustain them.
The Torah did not condemn King David for his bisexual relations with Jonathan, the crown prince, King Saul’s son, but he was condemned for his affair with Bathsheba, a woman married to another man whom David sent to his death on the field of battle.

I cannot speak for the millions of readers of my columns. I can only vent my personal opinion. Whether Israel will remain a Jewish state or a democracy is less of a concern to me than it becoming a theocracy.
Like modern nations all over the world, there must be a separation between religion and state. Wherever clergy have ruled a nation it has brought catastrophe and violence and wild street mobs seeking to overturn a government.

So I happily say NO to LGBT. Not the sexuality. Only those who would force their faith and laws upon us.