Week 6: Queer Male Sexuality

Tōʻēḇā is used in the following ways:

Tōʻēḇā is also used in Jewish scriptures to refer to:

The Canaanites used homosexual acts as part of their pagan rituals. Therefore the Israelites were prohibited from doing this, not because it was an act between two men but because it was symbolic of pagan ritual. In today's world this prohibition now has no meaning [and homosexual sex is permitted].

- Rabbi Michele Brand Medwin

A tradition* is cited in the name of Rav, a (Babylonian Aramaic) sage. Rav argues that the man who penetrates the androgyne has transgressed the prohibition against lying with a man. According to Rav, it does not matter whether that penetration was vaginal or anal. In other words, in Rav's opinion the androginos himself is like a man. For Rav, it does not matter where on his body he is penetrated, nor does vaginal penetration exempt the man who has sex with an androgyne from punishment.

There are a number of ways in which to interpret Rav's statement. One could understand Rav as arguing that genitalia do not make the man: in other words, the androgyne is male regardless of their dual genitalia. To penetrate an androgyne vaginally is therefore still to penetrate a man. Perhaps this means that genitalia do not comprise the primary. criterion for determining sex. At the same time, it is possible to understand Rav as arguing that the presence of a vulva is not as significant as the presence of a penis.

* from Yevamot 83b:9

Are gay men obligated to reproduce? Rabbinic authorities are split on this issue. Some have suggested that with or without desire, a man is duty bound to marry and reproduce... However, according to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, advisor to the chief rabbi of England on matters of Jewish medical ethics, a gay man who is "completely homosexual" is exempt from the duty to reproduce and in most cases should not marry...

In regard to the duty to reproduce two separate commandments are involved, as we have seen in the preceding discussion: a duty to "be fruitful and multiply" from Genesis and a separate duty to "settle the earth," from Isaiah's affirmation that G-d created the world for habitation (Isa. 45:18). If one cannot by reason of duress fulfill the first duty, he is completely exempt. The second duty, as understood by Rabbi Engel, is a responsibility to humanity rather than to G-d. To actively contribute to the shared enterprise of human civilization remains despite one's condition of duress, but this obligation may be fulfilled in other ways...

Spilling seed is only a problem for those men who are formally responsible for having children. According to this opinion, since gay men are not obligated to marry and bear children, the problem of spilling or wasting seed may very well be irrelevant to their sexual ethics.

Rabbi Arele Harel offers an unconventional solution for Orthodox Jewish gay men who want to raise a conventional family: He fixes them up with Orthodox lesbians.

His matchmaking service, which has just gone online, has met criticism on opposing fronts.

Orthodox Jewish rabbis say Harel should be doing more to encourage gays and lesbians to try to change their sexual orientation. Liberal religious gay groups see Harel's approach as a ploy to suppress homosexuality.

...

Harel began matching lesbians and gay men six years ago, he said, because he recognized a "deep distress" among people "facing a dead end road."

More recently, Kamoha, a religious gay group, began receiving inquiries from gay men and lesbian women about this approach. Kamoha linked up with Harel and last month began publicizing the initiative on its Web site.

Harel says he has wed 12 couples, and several have had children.

If Moses had seen the way my friend’s face blushes when he’s drunk, and his beautiful curls and wonderful hands, he would not have written in his Torah: do not lie with a man.

Exhibitions of dancing are another very popular form of after-dinner entertainment. This trade prospers among the Jewish families in the country; all the members as a rule taking part in it, the elder ones providing the music and the younger the dancing... With fingers pressed into their ears and flushed faces, they begin to chant a love song at the top of their voices. Sadly and slowly it soars higher and higher until it breaks off with a quivering squeak like the snapping of a violin string. These dancing boys wear fancy dresses which look very smart and gay in the lamplight; their hair is worn long, in locks falling down their necks, giving a girlish appearance... Moslems, at other times very strict, fraternize with the dancers, embrace them, and even exchange kisses- very Eastern indeed!

This one comes from the Talmud. We have two main characters. The first is Reish Lakish. He’s a total bad boy, former gladiator turned bandit. The second is Rabbi Yochanan. Besides being one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation, Yochanan was also beautiful. Like there are entire sections of the Talmud devoted to telling us how stunning he was. So stunning in fact, that he would sit outside the bathhouse so that any pregnant person who saw him would be so affected by his beauty that their children would be just as handsome.* Now one day, Rabbi Yochanan was bathing in the river. Reish Lakish, being out and about doing bandit stuff, sees him. And he is INTO him. So much so, that he jumps fully clothed into the river. Rabbi Yochanan looks at Reish Lakish and says, that kind of passion would be well applied to the study of Torah. And Reish Lakish responds, that kind of beauty is one normally reserved for women. Now some folks want to see this story as Reish Lakish mistaking Rabbi Yochanan for a woman – after all, he ends up marrying Rabbi Yochanan’s sister. Yeah, I’m not buying that. Reish Lakish? Bisexual icon.

* Based on Bava Metzia 84a