My daughter is at the age at which she learns all those little childhood ditties that somehow get handed down from the children of one generation to the next. For instance, the other day, I heard her singing to my son about how she could visually perceive London, France and certain normally hidden garments.
I remember that when I was a child we had our own Jewish-themed silly little parody songs. One of them involved a “rabbi” who bought a Christmas tree. To us six-year-olds, this was absolutely hilarious because it’s something that a real rabbi obviously wouldn’t do.
There are other things that it would be similarly ridiculous to suppose that a real rabbis would do. Examples include eating a cheeseburger, making a blessing before eating a cheeseburger, taking an oath to regularly eat cheeseburgers in future, or encouraging others to do similarly. Any “rabbi” who would do any of those things is obviously not a real rabbi.
You know who is also obviously not a real rabbi? Steve Greenberg, an “openly gay ‘orthodox’ Rabbi.” Recently, a credulous media reported that this “rabbi” performed a gay “wedding.”
People can argue from now until kingdom come about the proper attitude that the general society should have about non-marital sex in general and homosexual sex in particular. But nobody can seriously argue that the Jewish sources encourage or permit this kind of activity. Being an orthodox Rabbi means being loyal to the sources of our faith. The Jewish sources are completely unanimous and unequivocal about the prohibition of homosexual conduct. Steve pretends that they are not. Steve fools nobody who does not want to be fooled.
Sadly, this describes many so-called Christians also!
Pingback: Ruth Institute Blog » The “Rabbi” who fools nobody.
“…come on over to http://www.politicallyincorrectnovel.com to tell me what a naughty boy I am for my insistence on real Judaism and real marriage.”
Desperation is funny. And a little sad. But mostly funny.
RJT,
Desperation? I’m not sure I get your meaning.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure that people of your worldview have reached their high water mark in history. And for people of your opinion, it’s going to be mostly downhill from here.
See e.g.:
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/the_return_of_patriarchy
We, the religious, will outbreed you.
Meh. All religions have those people other practitioners feel are embarrassing them to outsiders. You have the gay guy who calls him self orthodox, we have Westboro Baptist church.
You’re still ahead.
NG,
I’m not saying we do anything to or about him other than express that he’s not speaking for us. That’s all. (and maybe mocking him a little so as to discourage others from doing similarly). Light mockery and calling attention to his mistake. Boy, am I naughty.
Oh, you’re stretching. I wasn’t even chiding you. I was just pointing out that, in the grand scheme of things, you could have a much worse figure claiming to speak for you.
I’ll take a gay orthodox over westboro any day myself.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah/At_Home/hanukkah-gifts.shtml
Hannkkah gifts started as a tradition to make Jewish kids not feel they were losing out by missing Christmas.
Also, my father puts up christmas trees, and yet the rabbi police have yet to take away his Jew card.
And do you know what the bible is also unequivocal about? The charging of interest. The bible calls any charging of interest usury, and explicitly condemns it. Yet Jews like you somehow manage to live in a society where necessary transactions like buying a house are only possible with anti-biblical usury.
How strange. Its almost as if some biblical rules are more equal than others to you.
Who’s revoking your father’s “jew card”? I’m certainly not. I just wouldn’t come to your father for a decision on Jewish law. That’s all.
Anyway, I don’t have time to explain a “heter iska” to you. Suffice it to say that it’s legal to go into business with your fellow Jew. It’s not legal to charge him interest. I doubt you would be sufficiently interested (rather than interested in arguing) in the details for me to bother. Besides, if you really were interested, you’d look up “heter iska” on your own.
BTW, Rovias, we don’t give Chanukkah gifts at my home.
Why should the usury rule only apply to fellow jews? After all, you have consistently argued that biblical rules against gay marriage means that civil law shouldn’t allow it either. What makes biblical rules about usury different?
It’s complicated.
Look up the Seven Noahide laws.
But please keep in mind that I’m not making a biblical case about gay marriage in general. My post was about this “rabbi” in particular, and Judaism in general. The case against gay marriage in general has little, if anything to do with this post.
NerdyGirl,
Westboro isn’t Christian by any sense of the word. They just abuse Christ’s name and claim what they do is biblical, yet they can’t find any support for it. They are a bigoted hate group – and a cult.
Looking up the Seven Noahide laws on wikipedia, it seems the only reason that you could argue that laws against usury don’t apply to Jews is because talmudic rules don’t apply to Jews in general.
Which undercuts much of your arguments against other things, but okay.
But it still doesn’t absolve you. For even in Israel, an officially Jewish country, gay marriage is banned, but usury isn’t.
Funny that.
Glenn, I would love to hear just exactly how your views differ from the Westboro Baptist church.
The distinction is kinda hard for me to see.
Mr. Rovias,
You have not studied this material enough to understand it.
MrRoivas,
My view of homophiles is live and let live. BUT, I do not want them forcing me to either accept their behavior or be punished for it. I spell out my stance fairly thorough here:
http://sanityinanupsidedownworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/gays-and-lesbians-what-do-i-think-of.html
And, yes, homosexual behavior is a sin. So is adultery. So is fornication. But those sins don’t send one to hell any more than any other sin does.
Congratulations! Even the ruth institute thinks you’re a BIGOT!
And that’s not an easy accomplishment.
Thank you.
After reading this piece, I am left with a deep sadness for the children of the writer.
A deep, deep sadness for the lives of young people raised by the writer whose souls will be poisoned just as the writer’s once was.
A deep, deep sadness.
Bill,
I have, thank G-d, four children. In your claim to have a “deep, deep sadness” for my kids, you left two out.
I think it would have been more appropriate if you had said that you had a “deep, deep, deep, deep sadness” so as to make sure that each and every one was accounted for.
I was sincere.
My heart aches for your children.
All 4 of them.
My heart aches for them and for the opportunities the world will deny to them because of their father.
For it is always the children who pay for the sins of their father, Ari.
You should know that first hand.
Please know that I will be praying for your children.
Thank you.
You seem a decent person, Bill. I don’t mean to insult you.
However, could you tell me what the appropriate definition of an orthodox rabbi is, if it is not one that is loyal to the sources of our faith? Could a person properly claim to be an orthodox rabbi yet advocate eating shrimp, driving on the Sabbath or the eating bread on the passover?
I think that, for the Jewish people to survive, the Jewish people need the orthodox. The non-orthodox Jews have a birthrate well below replacement levels. I value the survival of the Jewish people above nearly everything I can think of. That said, I think the Jewish attitude towards sex and sexuality has something to do with our survival until now and our (hoped for) survival in future. I can see no other alternative if we are to survive.