Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
by Steven Greenberg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steven GreenbergEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-02-24
ISBN: 0299190943
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Book Reviews of Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
Book Review: A Christian pastor welcomes teaching from this rabbi
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a Christian, you may think that an Orthodox Jewish rabbi comes from such a different way of approaching our shared Scripture
that little would result from a lot of effort. Think again! This remarkable book is captivating from beginning to end and filled with
innumberable insights that grace virtually every page. Along the way, you may, as I discovered, come away with a whole new appreciation for Orthodox Judaism.
It s one thing to find a helpful book. It s quite another to find one helpful and delightful to read. Here are a couple of sentences worth mulling over: "Gayness is no more an automatic intentional rejection of procreation than is straightness a sworn promise of it." And, "Nature is a text that can say almost anything we want it to say while appearing to have said nothing but what is evident." Both of these statements
are found on the same page. This man can turn a phrase.
After quoting from a letter from a near-suicidal gay Orthodox Jew, (a feature familiar to many pastors and their gay parishioners) Rabbi Greenberg states his purpose for writing the book. "For the sake of this young man and many men and women very much like him, the first goal of this book is to demonstrate that, contrary to the
assumptions of many liberal and traditional Jews, an argument can be made in defense of gay relatioships from within the canon of traditional Jewish textual resources. What this man needs is not permission to have sex with men. That is hardly enough. What he needs is a way to envision a life of love, intimacy, and commitment with a man in the context of a religiously alive Orthodox community. The task of writing on this topic is to make a path that is responsible to these human realities and deeply
commit to God and Torah."
To reach his goal, Rabbi Greenberg divided his book into four sections. In Sacred Texts, he explores the biblical stories of Adam and Eve, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Leviticus that continue to shape Westen civilization s sexual ethics and gender identities. His discussion of the first not good of creation, Adams lonliness, and how God went about overcoming it, is worth the price of the book.
In Evidence, our rabbi surveys the positive ways in which the stories of Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, and rabinnical stories
associated with gay themes have been treated up through the Middle Ages. He finds within the Jewish conversation what many Christian observers also found in this period, a lack of horror regarding same-sex love that we moderns are so possessed by.
The concluding chapter of this section involves the very unJewish notion that asking Why? is forbidden regarding Leviticus 18 and 20.
To ask is to open up the necessity for justifying one's answer, a slippery slope, indeed.
In Rationales, he returns to the fundamental prohibition posed in Leviticus, and asks the forbidden question, Why? What is
particularly problematic, immoral, or offensive about male-male intercourse in the first place? And why is female-female sex not a
concern? His critiques of arguments based on reproduction, social disruption, category confusion, and humiliation and violence, are
among the best, with original thinking in each case. This slope may be slippery, but it is ultimately freeing; and we are all the better for
sliding down it with him.
The concluding section, Conversations, offers a model for synagogues to welcome gay and lesbian people that is consistent with Orthodoxy and considerate of all concerned. It can almost be taken whole into Christian congregations seeking to find their way into inclusiveness, as well.
Conventional wisdom says that each of us has a book in us. In Rabbi Greenberg s case, I hope there is a library-full to come.
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