Leviticus 18:22 In The Words Of A Jewish Religious Studies Major

What a shock! Fundies got something wrong! And in this case, it's the complete context of Leviticus 18:22. You know, the one that everyone and their brother likes to trot out as evidence that being gay is BANNED BY GOD or whatever the fuck the fundies think. (Yeah, yeah. I know the jury's out on them being able to think at all. Still.)

See, guys... I have a friend who was raised Jewish, is very devout and most importantly, speaks Hebrew, has majored in religious studies and has a copy of the Torah in the original Hebrew. I told her all about Ryuu. She's decided to go by Alethea, and she's kindly decided to contribute a post. As she has as big of a problem with Ryuu and all of his bullshit as we do.

"OH BUT CALA," I hear you say, "SHE ONLY KNOWS WHAT YOU'VE TOLD HER." I have told her things, yes. However, I've also SHOWN her Ryuu's own words in his deviantArt note to the kind anon. And I've read her his emails to me. She's intelligent enough to form her own opinions. She can read biblical Hebrew. She can make up her mind about whether or not she thinks Ryuu and people like him are complete asshats.

And now, in Alethea's words... Why the fundies are fucking WRONG:

Leviticus 18:22

וְאֶ֨ת־ זָכָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה תֹּועֵבָ֖ה הִֽוא

Translation: And you(masculine plural as in Israel) shall not lie (there are actually two words that mean lie here, both meaning sexual intercourse) with a male (Literal translation: being of the male sex) as you would with a woman, for it is an abomination (literally ritual impurity).


There are several ways to view this passage. None of which have to do with homosexuality.

The first way is to look at the actual writers of the text. For although the text can be ascribed to G-d, it was copied by man. These men were of the upper 10% of the people of Israel. They were educated, aristocratic men. Most likely, these men were of the priestly class and were scribes. They were not writing for the lay people who were mainly farmers. They were writing for their own. As such, only a priest would have read these words and have been able to follow them. Well, we can most likely conclude that this passage had to do with the functions of the priesthood.

The second way is to look at this passage is linguistically. The word for abomination: תֹּועֵבָ֖ה

This word is derived from the root תָּעַב

תָּעַב is translated as to loathe, to be morally incorrect, to be an abomination.

Before anyone says yes, I was right here, let me explain the term abomination in ancient Mesopotamian and Israelite culture. Abomination meant pollution. And pollution was connected to ritual impurity. But what is ritual impurity? It means you are the exact opposite of holy. You are unfit to enter the innermost sanctum of the temple to offer sacrifice or to pray. Another thing to note: only priests were allowed to enter the inner sanctum.

Now the third and final way to look at this passage has to with gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia. Men in ancient Mesopotamia were dominant in all aspects of life, including sexual relations. To be man meant you were never ever to be the passive partner in a sexual act. In fact it was an act of humiliation and dominance for a man to make another man take on the passive role. If you laid down in a sexual act you were by all accounts a woman. In theory if a man became a woman in ancient Mesopotamia, he lost all his powers in social, political and religious circles.

Now I am leaving behind scholarly arguments to enter my own personal feelings as a Jewish woman.

I grew up surrounded by the teachings of Torah aka The Old Testament. I live with its affects everyday. Torah means a teaching. Jews also call it the tree of life and the source of all happiness. It is supposed to guide and protect all who seek out wisdom and the love of G-d. For as long as I can remember I was taught that the Torah was never about punishment or condemnation of any person or group of people. Torah is supposed to teach Jews how to become better people. Some even say that Torah will teach us how to become holy in our day to day live. And I was never taught that G-d would strike down those of us with different sexualities. All I have ever heard is that G-d created all of us and loves each and every one of us. All he is asks is that we seek to be kind and generous to those around us. So what does Leviticus 18:22 mean to me? To me it means that in order to be in G-d's presence we must purify ourselves of all our cruel intentions and thoughts. We must leave behind that which is impure in order to enter the light.

Finally I shall conclude this with these final words. I have been privy to this argument that has been going on for some time due the facts I have friends who have spoken to me about it. I chose to write this because I feel that the words of Torah have been slighted by those who have little understanding of it. The Torah is not about who is good or who is evil. The Torah is about love. If the people who have used it words so wastefully cannot understand that, I pity them wholeheartedly.


Thanks much to Alethea for her time and effort! This is really informative, and I hope maybe we could do this again!