Where do we start with this week’s parasha, Acharei Mot? Most years, it’s paired with the following parasha, K’doshim. Due to 5784 being a leap year, we have more time with Acharei Mot on its own. I want to use that time to take a look at one of the most challenging passages:
Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence. (Leviticus 18:22)
It’s frighteningly unyielding language in English. This short verse results in a proliferation of questions for me: How could a b mitzvah student process these words today, while going through puberty and the process of becoming a Jewish adult? How do Jewish adults—queer, straight, or something else—do the same thing?
More broadly, though, why should the Torah hurt? To hear this reading chanted in public, knowing it hurts and demeans people, is appalling. Why would a loving God command such a thing? How do these instructions in Leviticus contribute to living a Jewish life?
Everyone is made in the image of God. Everyone is blessed by God with their own sexuality and gender identities. This Leviticus verse has been misused and appropriated by other faiths to discriminate and inflict violence on queer people. Jewish scholars wrestle today with what the translations of this verse imply for us today, and to do them justice, I’d need more time and space to write about them. However, knowing that Jews have studied and wrestled with the text of the Torah for thousands of years, we have the responsibility to not only reconsider previous opinions, but radically change them as liberal Jews committed to social justice. Torah, a Jewish life, and a Jewish community must be open and welcoming to all sexual and gender identities who seek and engage Judaism. We can settle for no less.