Gay, orthodox, and trembling: The rise of Jewish orthodox gay consciousness, 1970s-2000s

Journal of Homosexuality

Volumn 52, Issue 3-4, 2007, Pages 91-109

  Ariel, Yaakov ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA   (United States)

Author keywords

Conversion therapy; Halacha; Hasidism; Israel; Jewish; Neo Hasidism; Observant; Observant Jewish life; Orthodox; Orthodox community; Orthodox Jews; Orthodykes; Return to tradition; Ultra Orthodox; Zionism

Indexed keywords

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT; FEMALE; HOMOSEXUALITY; HUMAN; JEW; LESBIAN; MALE; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; RELIGION; REVIEW;

CHRISTIANITY; FEMALE; HOMOSEXUALITY, FEMALE; HOMOSEXUALITY, MALE; HUMANS; JEWS; MALE; MOTION PICTURES; RELIGION AND SEX;

EID: 34547399521     PISSN: 00918369     EISSN: 15403602     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J082v52n03_05     Document Type: Review

References (80)

1. On the history of the movement of gay liberation, see Barry D. Adam, The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987);
2. Nicholas D. Edall, Toward Stonewall: Homosexuality and Society in the Modern Western World (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2003);
3. John D'Emilio and Estelle Friedman, Intimate Matter: A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1988).
4. Cf. Jack Wertheimer, A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America (New York: Basic Books, 1993).
5. Moshe Shokeid, A Gay Synagogue in New York (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).
6. Alisa Solomon, "Viva la Diva: Citizenship, Post Zionism and Gay Rights," Queer Theory and the Jewish Question, edited by Daniel Boyarin, Daniel Itzkoritz and Ann Pellegrini (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003): 153.
7. Noah J. Efron, Real Jews: Secular vs. Ultra-Orthodox and the Struggle for Jewish Identity in Israel (New York: Basic Books, 2003).
8. Lesbiot: Israeli Lesbian Talk About Sexuality, Feminism, Judaism and Their Lives, edited by Tracy Moore (London: Cassell, 1995). The anthology does not contain interviews with Orthodox lesbians.
9. Cf. Alisa Solomon, "Viva La Diva."
10. See the movie's Website, http://www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com.
11. Gary Taylor, Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood (New York: Routledge, 2002): 164;
12. Daniel Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997);
13. Boyarin, Itzkovitz, and Pellegrini, Queer Theory and the Jewish Question.
14. Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct;
15. Boyarin, Itskovitz, and Pellegrini, Queer Theory and the Jewish Question;
16. Byrne Fone, Homophobia, A History (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2000): especially 150, 154, 187, 201.
17. Cf. Moshe Zimmermann, "Muscular Jewry-The Remedy to Nervous Jewry," Zmanim, vol 21. no. 83 (Summer 2003): 56-65.
18. Cf. John M. Clum, "He's All Man": Learning Masculinity, Gayness, and Love from American Movies (New York: Palgrave, 2002);
19. Eddy Goicola with Berg Arruida, Fit and Together: How to Double Your Workout Results with a Partner (New York: Universal Publishing, 2003);
20. See also the image of Shahar in Amir Sumakai and Jacob Press, Independence Park: The Lives of Gay Men in Israel (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999): 15.
21. Efron, Real Jews, provides an abundance of examples.
22. Cf. also the movie, A Price Above Rubies and Eli Shai's book Masiah shel Gilui Ariol [The Promiscuous Messiah].
23. The scene was broadcast on national American evening news programs.
24. Melanie Weiss, "Being Out as a Jew in Lesbian Circles," Lilith volume 31, no 2 (summer 2006): .33.
25. On the movement of return to tradition, see Herbert M. Danziger, Returning to Tradition: The Contemporary Revival of Orthodox Judaism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989);
26. Lynn Davidman, Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism (Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991);
27. Debra Renee Kaufmann, Rachel's Daughters: Newly Orthodox Jewish Women (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991).
28. Cf. Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct;
29. Daniel Boyarin, Daniel Itzkovitz, and Ann Pelligrini, "Strange Bedfellow: An Introduction," in Queer Theory and the Jewish Question.
30. Rabbi Steve Greenberg, in a telephone conversation with Yaakov Ariel, December 11, 2003.
31. Sandi Simcvha Subowski, "Trembling on the Roads" in Queer Jews, edited by David Shneer and Caryn Aviv, Queer Jews (New York: Routledge, 2002): 215-223.
32. Yaakov Ariel, "Hasidism in the Age of Aquarius: The House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco, 1967-1977," Religion and American Culture, vol. 13, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 139-165.
33. Norman Lamm, "Judaism and the Modern Attitude to Homosexuality," Encyclopedia Judaica Year Book, 1974, 194-205.
34. Cf. Yishayahu Leibowitz, Letters to Prof. Leibowitz (Jerusalem: Keter, 1999): 178-179. 1 owe thanks to Prof. Avi Ravitzkey, a disciple of Leibowitz, for sharing with me his knowledge of Leibowitz's attitude towards homosexuality.
35. Cf. also Irit Koren, Altering the Closet (Tel Aviv: Yediot Aharonot, 2003): 162-164.
36. Ha-kohan's psika appears in his halachic compilation, Pri Tsaddik.
37. For an excellent portrayal of the gay scene in the 1940s, please read Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1948).
38. Some of them have recently told their stories. Sumakai Fink and Press, Independence Park: The Lives of Gay Men in Israel, 50-64;
39. Koren, Altering the Closet, 129-139.
40. Cf. Shumki Fink and Press, Independence Park, 63.
41. Cf. Koren, Altering the Closet, 56.
42. Cf. for example, Ariel, "Neohasidism in the Age of Aquarius."
43. Cf. Stephanie Wellen Levine, Mystics Mavericks and Merrymakers an Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls (New York: New York University Press, 2004)
44. Koren, Altering the Closet.
45. The authors of Leviticus chose "disgusting" or "revolting," to relate to such acts.
46. Steven Greenberg, "Trembling Before God on Yom Kippur," http://www.clal.org/csa59.html.
47. I am indebted to the producer and director Sandi DuBowski for sharing this with me.
48. Cf. the Website.
49. Cf. Christianity Today, January 7, 2002, 52-55;
50. Robert Davies, Portraits of Freedom: 14 People Who Came Out of Homosexuality (Intervarsity, 2001);
51. www. exodusintl.org.
52. Cf. Axel Munte, a Swedish neurologist, has made such a claim in his 1920s book The Story of San Mikele.
53. Cf. Love the Sin.
54. Cf. A. Jagose, Queer Theory - An Introduction (New York: New York University Press, 1996).
55. Steven Greenberg, Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004)
56. Greenberg, Wrestling with God and Men, II.
57. Rebecca Alpert, Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997);
58. Judith Plaskow, Standing Again in Sinai.
59. "Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture," edited by Raymond Jean Frontain. Special issue of Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 33, no. 3-4, 1997.
60. Leviticus 18: 22; 20:13; See reader's exchange in Moment magazine.
61. Moshe Feinstein, Igarot Moshe (New York: Brooklyn, 1996).
62. Nathaniel S. Lehrman, "Homosexuality - A Political Mask for Promiscuity: A Psychiatrist Reviews the Data," Tradition, vol. 34, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 44-62.
63. See picture in Moment (April 20, 2001):59.
64. Cf. Yaakov Levado, "Gayness and God - Wrestlings of an Orthodox Rabbi," Tikkun 8(5): 54-60. In Trembling Before God, Levado dropped his nom de plume and appeared with his actual name: Steve Greenberg.
65. On the rise of such organizations, cf.: Naomi Grossman, "The Gay Orthodox Underground," Moment, April 2001.
66. For example, www.glydsa.com;
67. www.Orthogays.com.
68. I am thankful to the director of the Open House in Jerusalem, Mr. Hagai Elad, as well as to other members of the Open House for their openness and hospitality.
69. I owe thanks to Hagai Elad for sharing with me documents, information, and impressions on the Orthodox politicians' reaction to the parade.
70. "A Talk with Hagai Elad," Daf Bayit, vol 28 (November 2003): 4.
71. I owe thanks to members of the Open House for their hositality and for their openness in sharing their personal life stories with me.
72. Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17-22, 1568-1569.
73. Cf. Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17-22: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: The Anchor Bible/Doubleday, 2000), introduction.
74. Greenberg, "The Way to Open Conversation."
75. Cf. Steve Greenberg, "Oh, What a Piece of Work is Men."
76. In his 1950s memoirs, Primo Levi, A heterosexual Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, remarks that the story of homosexual imprisonment by the Nazis had not been told.
77. Cf. the documentary Article 174, or Gad Becke's book, An Undergroun Life: Memories of a Gay Jews in Nazi Berlin, which appeared in the gay autobiographical series of the University of Wisconsin Press.
78. Chaim Rapoport, Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004), xvi.
79. In a telephone conversation with Yaakov Ariel, November 2003, name withheld.
80. This development took place while the movie, Trembling Before God, was in production. Talk with the director and producer, November 2003.