Gay hasidic jews
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It is regarded as ineffective and potentially harmful by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and many others.
Some in the Orthodox community, who for theological reasons find it impossible to accept that a homosexual orientation is unchangeable, continue to advocate for such therapies.
She wore a white, modest dress and was surrounded by her female friends and family members, who danced around her in a circle.
She realised then that "whatever happened from there on out would be completely up to God and my husband".
"Pregnancies, intimacy — nothing would be mine."
A fight for divorce
It didn't take long for Glass to learn exactly who she had married.
Yossi's commitment to orthodoxy came above all else — even his wife's health.
I'm meant to never stop speaking about what queer people go through," she says.
"That's how people find hope. The teshuvot cover an array of issues, such as niddah, circumcision, mikveh immersion and gender-affirming surgeries.
Can LGBTQ Jews become rabbis and cantors?
Yes, in the liberal movements. In Orthodox Judaism, only a man can choose to divorce his wife.
She appealed to rabbis, friends and family members for help.
She had relationships with women and even had another child, a son born via IVF.
It took years, however, to come to terms with her religion outside of Hasidism. In a rare joint statement in 2011, six organizations representing a broad spectrum of the Orthodox community, from modern to haredi (ultra-Orthodox), signed on to a statement affirming that the Torah “sanctions only the union of a man and woman in matrimony.”
Do any Jews support conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy — sometimes also called reparative or change therapy — refers to the effort to “cure” gays of same-sex attraction and enable them to lead heterosexual lives.
In 2004, Greenberg published Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition, which sought to recast the traditional biblical prohibition on gay sex as a ban on exploitative sex that aims to exercise power or to demean. The very first commandment God gives to Adam and Eve in the Bible is to be fruitful and multiply — that is, to have children.
I just wished I had been allowed to look for it."
'This is what I'm meant to do'
Thirteen years after the birth of her son, Glass was finally able to appeal the conditions of her first divorce contract and extricate herself from the Hasidic community.
For the first time, she began to live as her authentic self.
Leviticus 18:22 states: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination.” And Leviticus 20:13 states: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abomination; they shall surely be put to death—their blood shall be upon them.” Many authorities consider this prohibition to be one of Judaism’s cardinal sins and believe it must not be transgressed even at the threat of one’s life.
READ: Reading the Prohibition Against Homosexuality in Context
Even the most traditionally-minded interpreters of the verse acknowledge that the Torah does not prohibit homosexuality as such, but merely one specific sexual act — generally understood to be anal sex between two men.
Struggles, and yes, difficult struggles, along with healing and personal growth are part and parcel of this world. Both opinions are considered equally valid, and individual Conservative rabbis may choose which one to follow.
Orthodox: Orthodox Jews on the whole continue to reject homosexual behavior as fundamentally inconsistent with Jewish law.
Though the largest Orthodox rabbinical group, the Rabbinical Council of America, had at one time commended JONAH’s work, it publicly withdrew its endorsement in 2012, citing evidence that the therapy was ineffective and had potentially negative consequences.
Some in the Orthodox community still support conversion therapy, however, in part because they believe it is impossible that homosexual desires could be both unchangeable and proscribed by the Torah.
The liberal Jewish movements have undergone dramatic shifts in their approach to gay, lesbian and transgender Jews in the past two decades, but among the Orthodox the changes have been far less dramatic — and in many quarters, virtually nonexistent.
Two seemingly clear biblical denunciations of homosexual sex, as well as the corpus of rabbinic commentaries and legal codes based on those verses, limit how far Orthodox Judaism, marked by its fidelity to traditional understandings of Jewish law, or halacha, can move on this subject.
Though several efforts have emerged in recent years to lend more support to Orthodox Jews experiencing homosexual desires and make the community more compassionate and welcoming toward them, all these efforts stop short of sanctioning gay relationships.
Theological and Legal Limitations
Across the spectrum of Orthodox practice, the consensus view is that gay sex and marriage are inconsistent with Jewish tradition.
The ultra-Orthodox declaration on homosexuality insists that homosexual impulses can be modified and that therapy can help with “healing” the “emotional wounds” that lead to homosexual desires.
A number of Orthodox synagogues permit transgender Jews to sit in the gendered section of the synagogue of their choosing.
Conversion Therapy
Conversion therapy — sometimes also called reparative or change therapy — refers to the effort to “cure” gays of same-sex attraction and enable them to lead heterosexual lives.
Eshel, established in 2010 in New York, aims to foster more acceptance for LGBTQ Jews and their families within Orthodox communities. All these changes were preceded by the Reconstructionist movement, which began became the first movement to accept gays and lesbians as rabbinical students in 1984 and whose rabbis have long been free to officiate at same-sex marriages.
But while the liberal Jewish community has shifted markedly on this issue, homosexuality remains a vexing issue in Orthodoxy, which continues to hold fast to the Torah’s seemingly inflexible rejection of homosexual acts.
Does Jewish tradition reject homosexuality?
The source of Jewish opposition to homosexuality lies in two nearly identical biblical verses.
But we knew that as soon as one of us was matched with an appropriate young man, it would be over," she says.
Then came the blind date with Yossi in the lobby.
'My body would be for God, not me'
After agreeing to marry Yossi, Glass began bridal classes, which taught her about her marital duties.
She learned how to purify herself in a ritual bath after she menstruated and how to count the days after her period.
Although same-sex marriage is not possible in Israel because the Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate retains full control over marriage, same-sex couples who marry abroad can have their unions recognized by the state and enjoy many of the same rights and benefits as straight couples.