Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
by Steven Greenberg
List Price:
Our Price: $16.34
You Save: $5.61 (26%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.76 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Steven GreenbergEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-02-24
ISBN: 0299190943
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Book Reviews of Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
Book Review: A Christian pastor welcomes teaching from this rabbi
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a Christian, you may think that an Orthodox Jewish rabbi comes from such a different way of approaching our shared Scripture
that little would result from a lot of effort. Think again! This remarkable book is captivating from beginning to end and filled with
innumberable insights that grace virtually every page. Along the way, you may, as I discovered, come away with a whole new appreciation for Orthodox Judaism.
It s one thing to find a helpful book. It s quite another to find one helpful and delightful to read. Here are a couple of sentences worth mulling over: "Gayness is no more an automatic intentional rejection of procreation than is straightness a sworn promise of it." And, "Nature is a text that can say almost anything we want it to say while appearing to have said nothing but what is evident." Both of these statements
are found on the same page. This man can turn a phrase.
After quoting from a letter from a near-suicidal gay Orthodox Jew, (a feature familiar to many pastors and their gay parishioners) Rabbi Greenberg states his purpose for writing the book. "For the sake of this young man and many men and women very much like him, the first goal of this book is to demonstrate that, contrary to the
assumptions of many liberal and traditional Jews, an argument can be made in defense of gay relatioships from within the canon of traditional Jewish textual resources. What this man needs is not permission to have sex with men. That is hardly enough. What he needs is a way to envision a life of love, intimacy, and commitment with a man in the context of a religiously alive Orthodox community. The task of writing on this topic is to make a path that is responsible to these human realities and deeply
commit to God and Torah."
To reach his goal, Rabbi Greenberg divided his book into four sections. In Sacred Texts, he explores the biblical stories of Adam and Eve, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Leviticus that continue to shape Westen civilization s sexual ethics and gender identities. His discussion of the first not good of creation, Adams lonliness, and how God went about overcoming it, is worth the price of the book.
In Evidence, our rabbi surveys the positive ways in which the stories of Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, and rabinnical stories
associated with gay themes have been treated up through the Middle Ages. He finds within the Jewish conversation what many Christian observers also found in this period, a lack of horror regarding same-sex love that we moderns are so possessed by.
The concluding chapter of this section involves the very unJewish notion that asking Why? is forbidden regarding Leviticus 18 and 20.
To ask is to open up the necessity for justifying one's answer, a slippery slope, indeed.
In Rationales, he returns to the fundamental prohibition posed in Leviticus, and asks the forbidden question, Why? What is
particularly problematic, immoral, or offensive about male-male intercourse in the first place? And why is female-female sex not a
concern? His critiques of arguments based on reproduction, social disruption, category confusion, and humiliation and violence, are
among the best, with original thinking in each case. This slope may be slippery, but it is ultimately freeing; and we are all the better for
sliding down it with him.
The concluding section, Conversations, offers a model for synagogues to welcome gay and lesbian people that is consistent with Orthodoxy and considerate of all concerned. It can almost be taken whole into Christian congregations seeking to find their way into inclusiveness, as well.
Conventional wisdom says that each of us has a book in us. In Rabbi Greenberg s case, I hope there is a library-full to come.
Summary of Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition
Wrestling with God and Men is the product of Rabbi Steven Greenberg's ten-year struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with Orthodox Judaism. Employing traditional rabbinic resources, Greenberg presents readers with surprising biblical interpretations of the creation story, the love of David and Jonathan, the destruction of Sodom, and the condemning verses of Leviticus. But Greenberg goes beyond the question of whether homosexuality is biblically acceptable to ask how such relationships can be sacred. In so doing, he draws on a wide array of nonscriptural texts to introduce readers to occasions of same-sex love in Talmudic narratives, medieval Jewish poetry and prose, and traditional Jewish case law literature. Ultimately, Greenberg argues that Orthodox communities must open up debate, dialogue, and discussion-precisely the foundation upon which Jewish law rests-to truly deal with the issue of homosexual love. This book will appeal to all people of faith struggling to merge their belief in the scriptures with a desire to make their communities more open and accepting to gay and lesbian members.History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History Books
A History of Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present, Vol. 2by Bonnie S. Anderson, Judith P. Zinsser
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in American Religious DiscourseOxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-07-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $71.95
Price in other shops:
Sex and Revolution: Women in Socialist Cubaby Lois M. Smith, Alfred Padula
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1996-01-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $82.50
Endless Crusade: Women Social Scientists and Progressive Reformby Ellen Fitzpatrick
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.50
Price in other shops:
Holding My Own in No Man's Land: Women and Men and Film and Feministsby Molly Haskell
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1997-01-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
This High and Holy Moment: The First National Women's Rights Convention, Worcester, 1850 (American Stories.)by John F. McClymer
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 1999-02-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops:
Images of Women in American Popular Cultureby Angela G. Dorenkamp
Harcourt; Published: 1995-03; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
THE SUBVERSIVE FAMILYby Ferdinand Mount
Free Press; Published: 1992-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-by George Chauncey
Basic Books; Published: 1995; Paperback; Book
The Curse : A Cultural History of Menstruationby Janice Delaney, Mary Jane Lupton, Emily Toth
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1988-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Who by Fire, Who by Water (Prayers of Awe)Jewish Lights Publishing; Published: 2010-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.25
Price in other shops:
Women and Jewish Law: The Essential Texts, Their History, and Their Relevance for Todayby Rachel Biale
Schocken; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops:
Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girlsby Stephanie Levine, Carol Gilligan
NYU Press; Published: 2004-08-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
God vs. Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality (Queer Action/ Queer Ideas)by Jay Michaelson
Beacon Press; Published: 2011-10-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.91
Price in other shops:
The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hamelnby Gluckel
Schocken Books; Published: 1987-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish CommunityNorth Atlantic Books; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops:
Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew BibleNYU Press; Published: 2009-10-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.00
Eros and the Jews: From Biblical Israel to Contemporary Americaby David Biale
University of California Press; Published: 1997-10-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.48
Price in other shops:
Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox Viewby Hayim Rapoport, Rabbi Chaim Rapoport
Vallentine Mitchell; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.95
Price in other shops:
Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man (Contraversions: Critical Studies in Jewish Literature, Culture, and Society)by Daniel Boyarin
University of California Press; Published: 1997-06-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.92
Price in other shops: