The LGBTQ Issue – Turning Weakness into Progressive Ideology

The Torah distinguishes between three levels of transgression – sin, iniquity, offense.

Sin – an inadvertent transgression. A person who commits a transgression unknowingly must seek atonement through sacrifice and repentance.

Iniquity – a deliberate transgression driven by desire and inclination.

Offense – the gravest level. It involves a conscious rebellion against Hashem. It is neither due to error nor to desire, but because the person is aware of their Creator and still rebels against Him.

In which category does the issue of homosexual acts belong?

Some individuals with same-sex attraction are righteous, and not even considered "inadvertent," because they do not commit the transgression at all despite their additional inclination, but rather overcome it and live heroic lives of self-control. They are not only free of accusation but are held in high Torah esteem.

The second group falls under "iniquity". These are individuals driven by desire who succumb to grave transgressions. They are treated like other transgressors who sin out of desire, such as those eating forbidden foods or desecrating Shabbat due to their evil inclination. While these sinners commit acts deemed abominable before Hashem (as stated in the Torah), they are required to undergo profound repentance. However, those driven by desire, despite their deviant acts and abomination, are not the primary ideological adversaries we face today.

The third group represents offenses. They include leaders of the Pride Movement, both secular and religious outwardly, who boldly declare, "We have no part in the family structure commanded by the Torah." These individuals not only succumb to desire but turn their weakness into an ideology aimed at replacing Torah culture and redefining the concept of "family" in Israel. They are open adversaries of the Torah, and we are prepared for an eternal struggle against them (without violence).

We must remember that since our exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel have been heralding the sanctity of the natural family, where every child has known parents. This differentiates humans from animals, where offspring do not have known parents. This sacred essence of Israel departing Egypt was "according to their families and their father's houses." Hence, a child of questionable lineage is preferable to one with an unknown parent, for even with the difficulties, the child is still born to known parents, rather than negating the fundamental principle of parenthood, which contrasts with a child of unknown parentage that negates the very concept of "family."

The Torah demands that sexuality be responsible for the future, meaning it should lead to establishing a family unit with children raised by parents who will morally shape the future. Contrary to this, Canaanite and Egyptian culture sought immediate gratification from sexuality, ignoring the future consequences for bringing children into the world.

The Torah teaches that intimate connections should be between a man and a woman. Only such unions can bring life. A union between male partners or female partners is for transient pleasure, lacking the potential for pregnancy, and shows no responsibility for the future of the world, nor love for what is fundamentally different. It lacks joy. "It's not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper opposite him," and the Creator chose a woman as the sole complement for man. "For she was taken out of man." Nature dictates this, and so does the Torah's morality.

Peoples that sought to abolish the concept of family and recognize formal families without known parents were Egypt and Canaan. Their cultures are the antithesis of Israeli culture, and the Torah sternly warned us to stay away from them.

Thus, any current attempt to return to Egyptian and Canaanite culture, to uproot a child from their parent and raise them in an unnatural way with non-biological parents, and formalize this as a "new family," is a tragedy and tragedy for the child from both the Torah’s and healthy nature’s perspective, and it will not succeed.

It is impossible to recognize a distorted "family"

Furthermore, our Torah emphasizes that maintaining family morality is the condition and the right of the people of Israel to their land. According to our Torah, destabilizing the natural family structure undermines our right to the Land of Israel (Leviticus 18), and establishing a "new family" leads to the land "vomiting you out."

Therefore, it is impossible to be a national "right-wing" and recognize the distorted family of two mothers or two fathers. Such a family causes grief to the child, embodying a declarative rebellion against Torah culture. For distorting the family leads to our expulsion from our land, while strengthening normal family fortifies settlement. The guarantor of this is the Master of the Universe, as stated in His eternal words in the Torah, through which we shall defeat our enemies.

The opposition is not out of a lack of love for Israel. We love every member of Israel and wish for their well-being. However, this love does not blind us to the problems that need correction, and therefore the criticism of those leading a culture of pride in transgression is legitimate and devoid of hatred but is rather a solidarity within our society, continuing the ancient and holy people of Israel.

As someone who has accompanied men and women with opposite tendencies for many years in their difficult path of facing their inclinations, I feel the sorrow of those struggling with their opposite inclination. I admire those who face it and prevail; fortunate are they and their portion. They are proof that there is a future for all of us together, and even if you have an additional inclination, there is the possibility to face it heroically.