{"id":9612,"date":"2014-09-04T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=9612"},"modified":"2019-11-21T11:49:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T09:49:08","slug":"14-04-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/","title":{"rendered":"13. Male Homosexuality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Torah commands: \u201cDo not lie with a male as one lies with a woman, it is a <em>to\u2019eva<\/em>\u201d (Vayikra 18:22). It further states: \u201cIf a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done a <em>to\u2019eva<\/em>; they shall be put to death \u2013 their blood-guilt is upon them\u201d (<em>ibid<\/em>. 20:13). There are two ways for a man to have sexual relations with a woman: normal intercourse (\u201c<em>ke-darkah<\/em>\u201d), that is, vaginally; and abnormal intercourse (\u201c<em>she-lo ke-darkah<\/em>\u201d), i.e., anally, which is the form of intercourse between men that the Torah prohibits. The moment that penetration occurs, that is, the moment the corona of one man\u2019s erect penis enters the other\u2019s anus, they have both transgressed a Torah prohibition, even though the penetration was not full and there was no ejaculation. (<em>Yevamot<\/em> 55b; MT, Laws of Sexual Prohibitions 1:10; according to <em>Taz<\/em>, the Torah prohibits even penetration by part of the corona, whereas <em>Noda Bi-Yehuda<\/em>, EH 2:23 limits the Torah prohibition to penetration of the entire corona).<\/p>\n<p>This prohibition is so grave that those who transgress it are liable to be punished with death by stoning, since anywhere the Torah says \u201ctheir blood-guilt is upon them,\u201d it refers to stoning (<em>Sanhedrin<\/em> 54a; Rambam <em>ad loc.<\/em> 1:6). However, this punishment applied (while the <em>Sanhedrin<\/em> functioned) only when the sin was done intentionally and in front of two witnesses who warned them of the consequences of committing the sin. In practice, almost nobody would dare to commit capital crimes in front of witnesses warning them that if they continue, they will be put to death. Therefore, an execution by the <em>Sanhedrin<\/em> rarely took place. In fact, it was so rare that a <em>Sanhedrin<\/em> which executed one person in seven years was labeled \u201cdestructive\u201d (<em>m. Makkot<\/em> 1:10). Thus, the main purpose of the Torah declaring a death penalty is to teach us the gravity of the sin, and to deter people from brazenly transgressing it in front of witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>The transgression of male homosexual intercourse is so serious that its stated punishment (stoning) is the most severe of all the death penalties. Other sexual transgressions punishable by stoning are: sexual relations between mother or stepmother and son, father and daughter or daughter-in-law, and bestiality by a man or woman (MT, Laws of Sexual Prohibitions 1:4). People who commit these sins deliberately but without witnesses are liable for <em>karet<\/em> (extirpation).<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the prohibited act itself, we saw above that the Torah also prohibits thinking about committing sexual sins, as the Torah says, \u201cDo not follow your heart and your eyes, by which you are led astray\u201d (Bamidbar 15:39). The Sages interpret \u201cyour eyes\u201d to mean sinful thoughts (<em>Berakhot<\/em> 12b; see section 6 above). Moreover, a man who is sexually attracted to other men must make sure that his interactions with them do not lead him to waste seed, which, according to many <em>poskim<\/em>, is a Torah prohibition (as explained in n. 1). Therefore, he should not develop a friendship for the purpose of stimulating himself sexually, because by getting himself aroused he is transgressing a rabbinic prohibition (<em>Nidda<\/em> 13b). Rather, he should behave normally with his friends, acting like everyone else, and trying to avoid arousal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Torah commands: \u201cDo not lie with a male as one lies with a woman, it is a to\u2019eva\u201d (Vayikra 18:22). It further states: \u201cIf a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done a to\u2019eva; they shall be put to death \u2013 their blood-guilt is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-14-04"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Torah commands: \u201cDo not lie with a male as one lies with a woman, it is a to\u2019eva\u201d (Vayikra 18:22). It further states: \u201cIf a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done a to\u2019eva; they shall be put to death \u2013 their blood-guilt is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\"},\"headline\":\"13. Male Homosexuality\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":536,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"04 \u2013 Safeguarding the Covenant of Circumcision\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/\",\"name\":\"13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/14-04-13\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"13. Male Homosexuality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"description\":\"HaRav Eliezer Melamed\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/logo-ph-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/logo-ph-.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":64,\"caption\":\"Peninei Halakha\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\",\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ph.yhb.org.il\\\/en\\\/author\\\/shlomit12\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha","og_description":"The Torah commands: \u201cDo not lie with a male as one lies with a woman, it is a to\u2019eva\u201d (Vayikra 18:22). It further states: \u201cIf a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done a to\u2019eva; they shall be put to death \u2013 their blood-guilt is [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/","og_site_name":"Peninei Halakha","article_published_time":"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00","author":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/"},"author":{"name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63"},"headline":"13. Male Homosexuality","datePublished":"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/"},"wordCount":536,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["04 \u2013 Safeguarding the Covenant of Circumcision"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/","name":"13. Male Homosexuality - Peninei Halakha","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-04T10:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-21T09:49:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-13\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea","item":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"13. Male Homosexuality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/","name":"Peninei Halakha","description":"HaRav Eliezer Melamed","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization","name":"Peninei Halakha","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png","width":300,"height":64,"caption":"Peninei Halakha"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63","name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8"},"url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/author\/shlomit12\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}