Wrestling With God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition

Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2004. First Edition. Octavo with light blue and tan boards in white, blue and orange pictorial jacket; xii, 304 pages; index; 23 cm Very good (+) copy with clena pages and tight binding, some light foxing to upper edge of book block; jacket also very good (+) with swath of discoloration on back of jacket and foxing/wear to upper edge . Hardcover. ISBN: 9780299190903, 0299190900

"For millennia, two biblical verses have been understood to condemn sex between men as an act so adominable that it is punishable by death. Orthodox Jews, believing the scripture to be the word of God, have rejected homosexuality. In 1999 Rabbi Steven Greenberg challenged this tradition when he became the first Orthodox rabbi ever to openly declare his homosexuality." "Wrestling with God and Men is the product of Rabbi Greenberg's ten-year struggle to reconcile his two warring identities. In this compelling and groundbreaking work Greenberg challenges long held assumptions of scriptural interpretations and religious identity as he marks a path that is both responsible to human realities and deeply committed to God and Torah. Employing traditional rabbinic resources, Greenberg presents readers with surprising biblical interpretations of the creation story, the love of David and Jonathan, the destruction of Sodom, and the condemning verses of Leviticus. But Greenberg goes beyond the question of whether homosexuality is biblically acceptable to ask how such relationships can be sacred. In so doing, he draws on a wide array of nonscriptural texts to introduce readers to occasions of same-sex love in Talmudic narratives, medieval Jewish poetry and prose, and traditional Jewish case law literature. Ultimately, Greenberg argues that Orthodox communities must open up debate, dialogue, and discussion - precisely the foundation upon which Jewish law rests - to truly deal with the issue of homosexuality." "This book will appeal not only to members of the Orthodox faith but to all religious people struggling to resolve their belief in the scriptures with a desire to make their communities more open and accepting to gay and lesbian members."--BOOK JACKET. // Contents: The birth of gender and desire. The sons of God, Ham, and the Sodomites. Leviticus. Lesbian omissions. Princely love. Rabbinic heroes. The queer Middle Ages. The legal literature. Rav Moshe and the problem of why. The rationale of reproduction. The rationale of social disruption. The rationale of category confusion. The rationale of humiliation and violence. Admitting difference. Welcoming synagogues.

// Homosexuality Religious aspects Judaism, Homosexuality in the Bible, Jodendom, Judaïsme orthodoxe, Male homosexuality Religious aspects Judaism, Orthodox Judaism