Sex in the Talmud: How to Understand Leviticus 18 and 20
Sex in the Talmud: How to Understand Leviticus 18 and 20
Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1–20:27)
This chapter argues that the rules against homosexual sex in the readings of Parashat Kedoshim of Leviticus have been mischaracterized as a prohibition against homosexuality. In a 1992 responsum on the homosexuality, Joel Roth, states, “Lev. 20:13 clearly calls homosexuality a to'evah. Yet the subject of this verse is not female homosexuality, and it probably is not even male homosexuality.” Instead, the subject of Leviticus 20:13 seems to be some specific form of male same-sex intercourse and not homosexuality as a category or identity. Classicists and historians have largely confirmed these findings, as have scholars of the Bible and rabbinics. Their numerous studies have shown that reading notions of identity into earlier texts that mention sexual acts is problematic and misleading.
Keywords: homosexual sex, Joel Roth, homosexuality, Bible, rabbinics
NYU Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
