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| YCT President and Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Dov Linzer |
Rabbi Linzer said that despite his open embrace of gay Jews, he expects more of a rabbi. It is not that he won’t ordain a
gay man. He is actually in favor of that. He hopes to see YCT being the first
Orthodox yeshiva to do so.
Even though there is nothing wrong with ordaining a man who
is gay, I personally disagree with ordaining a man who publicizes it. It sends the wrong message about homosexuality – leading lay people to assume that if a
rabbi can be openly gay, then it must be OK to not only be gay but to live a
gay lifestyle that almost certainly includes behavior that is a serious violation
of Halacha.
Be that as it may, Rabbi Linzer does not have this problem,
He believes that a gay man that publicizes his sexual orientation does not
preclude ordaining him. But even he agrees that there are some lines that
cannot be crossed. Which – as noted in his recent public statement - made his decision not to ordain Daniel Atwood
one of the most difficult decisions he ever made.
Rabbi Linzer is paying a price for standing his ground on
this issue. There has been some enormous blow-back by some of his YCT students –
past and present – as well as many of
his left wing colleagues. Including some of YCT’s former luminaries who have contributed to a fundraiser for Daniel’s
ordination which raised $8000 in one day! ...in opposition to Rabbi Linzer. Rabbi Linzer is a profile in courage - and what
leadership is all about.
It isn’t that supporters of Daniel Atwood are evil. They
are compassionate people that understand the suffering that gay people have gone
through –and still go through. All they really want is to make these – their fellow
Jews – feel good about themselves despite their gay tendencies. They believe
that these are people that want to be observant and they therefore want to encourage
that. They can’t help who they are attracted to. Why shouldn’t we do
everything we can to fully embrace them?
I can’t really disagree with the sentiment. But I can and do strongly
disagree with the way they implement it. This is a perfect example of the road
to hell almost literally being paved with good intentions.
By embracing them to this extent they are in practical terms
rejecting a clear Torah violation. Even though they explain it away with interpretations
of the Torah’s words that are clearly not what the Torah intended. Those interpretations are in fact the exact opposite of the Torah’s clear statement about behavior that is strictly forbidden.
Nor is their application of
the Talmudic dictum of Onness Rachmana Patrei. This dictum excuses sin that is
forced upon you. For example if someone points a gun to your head and tells you to eat non
Kosher food or he will kill you, you may eat it and will not be liable.
That is not the same thing as making a choice to perform a forbidden
act. Even if one cannot help his orientation, that does not mean he has to act
on it – extremely difficult though it may be. Doing so is still a personal choice
- a voluntary act.
We cannot support any kind of public policy that would seem
to make a clear forbidden act – permitted.
But that is exactly what gay activists want. They want the
whole ball of wax – complete normalization of being gay in all of its manifestations
– including behavior that is forbidden by the Torah (...in fact forbidden
by all 3 major faiths.) They completely reject the bible’s prohibition as inconsistent
with today’s more enlightened morality. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve
heard even mainstream public personalities refer to the biblical prohibition as
ancient and irrelevant – with a shocking tone about how anyone could see it the
bible’s way in our day.
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| YCT ordained Rabbi Avram Mlotek |
But his compassion dictates that it be
ignored in light of what he thinks is a greater good. And instead of doing what he can to assure this violation not be committed he encourages it and even
blesses it via some sort of commitment ceremony in place of Kiddushin – the religious
marriage ceremony.
That he is motivated by compassion does not make Rabbi
Mlotek any less dangerous. His misguided passion notwithstanding.
One has to not only recognize the Torah’s prohibitions, one
must do everything in one’s power to prevent people from violating them. Rabbi
Mlotek is a Mesaye’ah - smoothing the path for such violations! There can be no equivocating. What he is doing is wrong.
The opposite of what he should be doing as a rabbinic leader despite his compassionate intentions.
Where does that leave gay people? How then should we respond
to them? I have said many times that we need to treat them like the human beings
they are – created in the image of God like everyone else. They are not to be
denigrated in any way. Gay Jews are Jews. Same as straight Jews.They should be fully accepted. Gay or straight it is nobody’s business what people do behind
closed doors.
What we may not do is encourage sin. We are in fact required to
do the opposite - discourage it. And clearly we may not honor it or celebrate
it. Which is what gay activists strive for. And they have had much
success in convincing the rest of the world in the rectitude of their cause.
Being honest about the Torah’s obligations and prohibitions may not satisfy a gay couple
who wishes to be treated exactly the same way a straight couple is. But if one
wants to live a religious lifestyle, sacrifices are part of that game. For everyone, gay or staright.
Judaism by definition involves sacrifices. We all have our own issues to overcome. Some of which are very great and some which are not. But when it comes to doing the will of God, the degree of difficulty does not determine whether or not we should comply. What counts is to try and do the will of God no matter how
difficult. And keep trying even if we sometimes fail.
The problem is that in our world today obligations rarely spoken of. Today it’s all about rights. Convincing people today about the importance
of obligations is therefore an almost impossible task.
