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Wrestling with God and Men
Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
Updated
Rabbi Steven Greenberg
Winner of the Koret Jewish Book award
for Philosophy/Thought, awarded by the Koret Foundations.
For millennia, two biblical verses have
been understood to condemn sex between men as an act so abominable
that it is punishable by death. Traditionally 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 interpretation 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 homosexual love.
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Rabbi Steven Greenberg is a senior teaching fellow at CLAL, the National
Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, New York City.
You can visit Rabbi Greenberg’s web site
at www.wrestlingwithgodandmen.com.
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The award-winning documentary Trembling
Before G_d, which includes interviews with Rabbi Greenberg,
takes an intimate and personal look at homosexuality in Hasidic
and Orthodox communities as told through the stories of their
gay and lesbian members. Trembling Before G_d,
currently on tour around the world and just out on DVD, will
be meaningful to all those interested in Rabbi Greenberg’s story
and the larger issues of Judaism and homosexuality. The web site
for information about this film is www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com.
Praise
“Through his deep love and respect of the Jewish tradition he challenges us all to reread our canonical texts in order to create room for an alternative vision of the religious community.
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—Tova Hartman, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
“Not only brings new and fresh thinking about our current debate over homosexuality but interweaves theology and history with Greenberg’s own personal journey. . . . As useful for Christians as it is for Jews. . . . I heartily recommend this book to Christians who wish to take their Hebrew scriptures seriously and who are willing to examine their own responses to this raging debate.”
—The Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Resources
Download Cover: color
Download Author Photo: b/w
Request Review Copy
Request Exam Copy
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NEW IN PAPER
March 2005
LC: 2003020568 BM
312 pp. 6 x 9
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