{"id":45294,"date":"2018-07-09T18:51:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-108\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T09:44:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T06:44:40","slug":"wall-108","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-108\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Leviticus-18"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"108","date":"20260127","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"45418","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Leviticus 18 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Leviticus 18 - Judy Hammond","slug":"leviticus-18-judy-hammond","old_id":"45418","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Leviticus 18","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-753876298\/leviticus-chapter-18-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"106166","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Forbidden Relations\u00a0 - And So Much More ","post_title":"Forbidden Relations\u00a0 - And So Much More","slug":"forbidden-relations-and-so-much-more","old_id":"106166","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A nuanced jurisprudential argument\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Verse 2 of chapter 18 is almost a direct copy of the first of the Ten Commandments: \u201cSpeak to the Israelite people and say to them: I am The Lord your God\u201d and \u201cI The Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage\u201d (Exodus 20:2). The first of the Ten Commandments discusses how God took the people out of Egypt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Verse 3 borrows from that theme: \u201cYou shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws.\u201d Notice how this verse combines the past, Egypt, with the future, Canaan. At the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments the people were still in the Exodus stage. Now they are transitioning to entering the land. Therefore, the commandment must adapt to include both the past and the future.\u00a0 The verse also hints at a sad foreshadowing. Following in the footsteps of the Egyptians led the people to sin with the Golden Calf. Unfortunately, when the people enter into the land of Canaan, they will be heavily influenced by the laws and customs of its inhabitants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Verse 4 introduces the two types of laws: <\/span>mishpatim <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>chukim<\/span><\/i>. The most common distinction between the two is that <\/span>mishpatim <\/span><\/i>are civil laws or laws \u201cwith a reason behind them\u201d and <\/span>chukim <\/span><\/i>are laws that have no apparent explanation, and are simply edicts. Verse 5 seems to be a repetition of verse 4. God commands the people to follow His <\/span>mishpatim <\/span><\/i>and His <\/span>chukim<\/span><\/i>. However, the verse adds a small important phrase \u201cand you shall live by them.\u201d The commentators are split on what this means. Some explain it was a dire warning. It means that one needs to follow the laws in order to live and not be punished by death. Others take a more holistic approach that following these laws leads to long life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A third approach is more legalistic in tone, explaining that the laws should not lead one to their death. For example, if one is bleeding and needs medical attention on the Sabbath, others should violate the Sabbath in order to save the person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Finally, verse 6 acts as a general introduction to the list of forbidden sexual relationships, yet copies the format of the previous four verses. God provides a long introduction to these rules that run counter to normative practice in the ancient world (and even in the Israelite past), emphasizing their gravity, and emphasizing the need for the people to take these prohibitions seriously.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60366,"alt":"","title":"2sam12-thou shalt not","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","width":1920,"height":1488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-300x233.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":233,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-768x595.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":595,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-1024x794.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":794,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1190,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-1200x930.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":930,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-542x420.jpg","home_baner-width":542,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Forbidden Relations\u00a0 - And So Much More","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A nuanced jurisprudential argument","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60366,"alt":"","title":"2sam12-thou shalt not","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","width":1920,"height":1488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-300x233.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":233,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-768x595.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":595,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-1024x794.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":794,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1190,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-1200x930.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":930,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-thou-shalt-not-542x420.jpg","home_baner-width":542,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"764","name":"Prohibitions","old_id":"1164"}]},{"order":3,"id":"45438","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Live By Them and Not Die By Them ","post_title":"Live By Them And Not Die By Them","slug":"live-by-them-and-not-die-by-them","old_id":"45438","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45148,"post_title":"Yitz Greenberg","slug":"yitz-greenberg","old_id":"45148","first_name":"Yitz ","last_name":"Greenberg ","description":"Rabbi Yitz Greenberg is the President of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life, a division of the Hadar Institute.\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Yitz Greenberg is the President of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life, a division of the Hadar Institute.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45149,"alt":"","title":"Yitz Greenberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","width":207,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg-207x300.jpg","medium-width":207,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","medium_large-width":207,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","large-width":207,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":207,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":207,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":207,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Yitz-Greenberg.jpg","home_baner-width":207,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A leading Jewish thinker's take on Leviticus and Life (Part I)","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 18 of Leviticus is the peak moment and interpretive key to Leviticus - and to all of the Torah. God speaks directly to the people of Israel: \u201cYou shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt\u2026 or of the land of Canaan\u2026. You shall keep my laws and walk in the way of my rules... for when a person does this, he shall live by them (Lev. 18:3-5).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Egyptian and Canaanite behaviors are a way of death, whereas following the laws of the Torah constitutes walking on a way of life. Upholding life is the key to all the Torah\u2019s instructions - even its arcane ritual codes found in Leviticus. They instruct us how to choose life in every act that we do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leviticus makes clear that the House of God (Mishkan\/Beit Mikdash) - where one is constantly close to God - is exclusively a zone of life. It may not be entered into by dead people or impure humans (i.e. people who have had contact with death and have not yet been ritually reborn to life). Similarly, priests (who work full time in the House of God) must be constantly in a state of ritual purity. They are to have no contact with dead humans or cemeteries or other impurities. They are granted only temporary exemptions to bury their nearest and dearest ones (ch. 21-22).<\/p>\r\n

The laws of purity and impurity in Leviticus designate life as purity and death as impurity. While a human corpse is the ultimate impurity (Numbers, ch. 19) people with deathly \u00a0sicknesses (such as metzora<\/em>\/leper) are also impure. Contact with dead animals, especially non-kosher animals, also brings impurity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Similarly, the laws of kosher<\/em> teach that human eating should be on the side of life. Ideally, one should eat only vegetables and minerals (all are kosher) and not kill animals (Genesis 1: 29-30). Kosher laws permit meat-eating but only with great restrictions. Only a few species are permitted. These species are vegetarians. Predatory animals and birds are not kosher. The higher species must be killed swiftly and painlessly (shechitah<\/em>). Blood - the symbol of life - is not to be eaten. There are more restrictions on eating the higher animals. They may not be prepared, cooked or eaten together with milk. (Mother\u2019s milk is the source of life and may not be served with meat, i.e. a killed animal).<\/p>\r\n

The Talmud confirms that the primary goal of the laws of the Torah is to uphold life. The question came up in Maccabean times when the Hellenistic army attacked a group of especially pious Israelites on Shabbat. The\u00a0 latter refused to wage war on Shabbat and were killed. The Maccabees - and after them, the Talmud - ruled to the contrary.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Since every law in the Torah is intended to uphold life, then one should not observe a law when it leads to death. Every law in the Torah (except three) is overridden in order to save a life (pikuach nefesh<\/em>). The Talmud proves this with the great principle of chapter 18: when a person does God\u2019s commandments \u201che (she) shall live by them and not die by them\u201d (Leviticus 18:5; Yoma 85B).<\/p>\r\n

Tomorrow: Leviticus chapter 19:<\/a> Yitz continues his explication of Judaism\u2019s moral vision, and connects it to the command \u201cto be holy.\u201d Stay tuned!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image by: Spiroview, Inc<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45481,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_109913345","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","width":2333,"height":1890,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-300x243.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":243,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-768x622.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":622,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-1024x830.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":830,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1244,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1659,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-1200x972.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":972,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-518x420.jpg","home_baner-width":518,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Live By Them And Not Die By Them","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A leading Jewish thinker's take on Leviticus and Life (Part I)","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45481,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_109913345","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","width":2333,"height":1890,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-300x243.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":243,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-768x622.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":622,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-1024x830.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":830,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1244,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1659,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-1200x972.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":972,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_109913345-e1544475440232-518x420.jpg","home_baner-width":518,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"401","name":"Life","old_id":"801"},{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"742","name":"Purity","old_id":"1142"}]},{"order":4,"id":"45474","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Caught in the Undertow of Tradition ","post_title":"Caught In The Undertow Of Tradition","slug":"caught-in-the-undertow-of-tradition","old_id":"45474","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45475,"post_title":"Eitan Novogrodsky","slug":"eitan-novogrodsky","old_id":"45475","first_name":"Eitan ","last_name":"Novogrodsky ","description":"Dr. Eitan Novogrodsky is a physician in New York City. ","short_description":"Dr. Eitan Novogrodsky is a physician in New York City. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45476,"alt":"","title":"eitan novogrodsky","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","width":277,"height":301,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954-276x300.jpg","medium-width":276,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","medium_large-width":277,"medium_large-height":301,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","large-width":277,"large-height":301,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","1536x1536-width":277,"1536x1536-height":301,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","2048x2048-width":277,"2048x2048-height":301,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-e1544474151954.jpg","post_full_size-width":277,"post_full_size-height":301,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/eitan-novogrodsky-443x420.jpg","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"As a gay man, I do not copy the practices of the Egyptians or the land of Canaan","post_main_content_content":"

New ideas and modes of thinking project us into the future; traditions and heritage connect us to the past. Modern readers of Tanakh and contemporary practitioners of religion are often caught between these opposing forces - pressed forward by waves of new thinking and ideology only to feel the undertow of tradition at their feet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a practicing Jew and a gay man, I feel that Leviticus 18 presents just this problem.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leviticus 18 opens with God speaking: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>My rules alone shall you observe\u2026<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>You shall keep My laws and My rules, by the pursuit of which man shall live.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And by what laws and rules shall man live? The God of Tanakh proceeds to list the many sexual sins deemed impermissible; acts practiced within other societies but not to be practiced within a biblically-mandated one. This list famously includes a prohibition on homosexuality that has for millenia - and across many societies - led to oppression and suppression of sexual minorities.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I have struggled with this verse. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish world, I struggled to live by its proscription. My own thinking, however, has evolved to put more faith in the wisdom of modern humanity than the wisdom of every ancient verse.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a gay Jew, I have learned to trust in the goodness and righteousness of a society that accepts sexual minorities - that celebrates L, G, B, T, \u00a0and Q. To me, this is law. I do not copy the practices of the Egyptians or the land of Canaan. I derive from first principles that this must be good. My own set of values. By these rules shall man live.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the very least, Leviticus 18 represents the tension between the ancient and the modern. This tension has been felt by many readers of Leviticus - readers of a wide range of beliefs and observance. When we engage in a study of Tanakh we read a rich, beautiful text that has helped shape Jewish tradition and culture. At the same time, many readers may find their values diverge sharply from those described by Tanakh.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When we study Tanakh and feel this tension we occupy a space that appreciates the value of the tradition - of the ancient - yet we affirm the values humanity has brought to the modern world in which we live.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":106179,"alt":"","title":"-62c3d26fde2a2--62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1279,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1023,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Caught In The Undertow Of Tradition","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"As a gay man, I do not copy the practices of the Egyptians or the land of Canaan","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":106179,"alt":"","title":"-62c3d26fde2a2--62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1279,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1023,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62c3d26fde2a2-62c3d26fde2a3lev18-lgbtq.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"374","name":"Humanity","old_id":"774"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"450","name":"Homosexuality","old_id":"850"}]},{"order":5,"id":"45499","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Should We Still Read This Chapter on Yom Kippur? ","post_title":"Should We Still Read This Chapter On Yom Kippur?","slug":"should-we-still-read-this-chapter-on-yom-kippur","old_id":"45499","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45497,"post_title":"Daniel Libenson","slug":"daniel-libenson","old_id":"45497","first_name":"Daniel ","last_name":"Libenson","description":"Daniel Libenson is the founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future and co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast. He has been Executive Director of the University of Chicago Hillel, Director of New Initiatives at Harvard Hillel. Before devoting his life to working in the Jewish community, Dan spent five years as a law professor after clerking for Judge Michael Boudin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.","short_description":"Daniel Libenson is the founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future and co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45498,"alt":"","title":"daniel libenson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","width":500,"height":627,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":627,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":627,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":627,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":627,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":627,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/daniel-libenson-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Reflections on Leviticus 18 and 19 and its contemporary meaning","post_main_content_content":"

Listen to the Judaism Unbound podcast: Yom Kippur Unbound - The Afternoon Torah Reading<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45502,"alt":"","title":"judaism unbound2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","width":155,"height":155,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","medium-width":155,"medium-height":155,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","medium_large-width":155,"medium_large-height":155,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","large-width":155,"large-height":155,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","1536x1536-width":155,"1536x1536-height":155,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","2048x2048-width":155,"2048x2048-height":155,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","post_full_size-width":155,"post_full_size-height":155,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","home_baner-width":155,"home_baner-height":155}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Special Audio Feature From Judaism Unbound","tile_main_caption":"Should We Still Read This Chapter On Yom Kippur?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Reflections on Leviticus 18 and 19 and its contemporary meaning","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45502,"alt":"","title":"judaism unbound2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","width":155,"height":155,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","medium-width":155,"medium-height":155,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","medium_large-width":155,"medium_large-height":155,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","large-width":155,"large-height":155,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","1536x1536-width":155,"1536x1536-height":155,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","2048x2048-width":155,"2048x2048-height":155,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","post_full_size-width":155,"post_full_size-height":155,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/judaism-unbound2.jpg","home_baner-width":155,"home_baner-height":155}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"450","name":"Homosexuality","old_id":"850"},{"term_id":"589","name":"audio","old_id":"989"},{"term_id":"760","name":"Yom Kippur","old_id":"1160"}]},{"order":6,"id":"45448","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Welcoming Love AND the Book of Leviticus ","post_title":"Welcoming Love AND The Book Of Leviticus","slug":"welcoming-love-and-the-book-of-leviticus","old_id":"45448","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Affirming homosexual orientation and loving relationships","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 18 records a famous (infamous?) commandment understood to apply to all expressions of homosexuality: \u201cDo not lie with a male as one lies with a woman, it is an abhorrence\" (Leviticus 18:22). A similar commandment is offered two chapters later in Leviticus 20. The apparent proscription of homosexual acts in Leviticus forms the basis for all later halakhic prohibitions of homosexual acts. These passages all speak about homosexual acts outside of the context of homosexual relationship. The nature of the sex is casual, almost circumstantial -- two bachelors who happen to be under the same blanket, a young boy seduced by an older man (<\/span>Mishneh Torah<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Issurei Bi'ah<\/span><\/i>, 1:14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The context of the Bible's knowledge of homosexual acts is clarified by examining the two occasions where these acts are threatened. In the first case, the men of Sodom demand that Lot send out his guests so they could rape them. It should be noted that these would-be rapists are all heterosexual. Similarly, in the second case the Benjaminites of Gibeah demand \"Bring out the man who has come into your house, so that we can be intimate with him.\" Robert Gordis notes: \"Actually, the two episodes highlight the heinous sin involved in violating the ancient practice of hospitality to strangers; they are not primarily concerned with homosexuality.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is not a single case in the Tanakh which deals with homosexual acts in the context of homosexual love. Every biblical case treats heterosexuals who engage in homosexual acts as an expression of idolatry, of power (such as rape), or, presumably, for fun. This perspective supports the claim: \u201cThere is no such individual [as the Jewish homosexual]. So much is he missing from the cast of characters of Jewish society that one is hard put to find a halakhic term used specifically for him (Freundel 1986:71-72).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah was not speaking about homosexual orientation because it had no awareness of the possibility of such a possibility. Mention has already been made that sexual orientation is in part dependent upon cultural factors. The idea of two men or two women loving each other, living together, nurturing each other-and in that context making love-became a possible self-identity only with modernity. The Torah did not prohibit what it did not know. So what is the Torah prohibition addressing?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Bible knows of homosexual <\/span>acts<\/b>, but not of homosexual <\/span>orientation<\/b> or <\/span>persons<\/b>. As such, its designation of a homosexual act as a <\/span>to'evah<\/span><\/em> may be understood as referring to a homosexual act outside of the context of the entire person. Anonymous or coercive homosexual acts (as, for example, the prevalence of such acts in prisons) are, indeed, abominations. <\/span>To'evah<\/span><\/em> still applies to sexual relations with minors, bath house sex, rape, sadomasochistic sex. Indeed, all sexual acts which are coercive, morally degrading, or violent were prohibited by the Torah. That prohibition has not changed at all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The question for our time is whether there is a possibility of sanctifying a range of homosexual behavior just as we sanctify a narrow range of heterosexual behavior. On that question, the Torah was silent because the question could not have been conceived, let alone formulated. It can be formulated now.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Heterosexuals live with a sexuality they did not choose or create. Homosexuals similarly live with a sexuality they did not choose or create. Sexual orientation, once formed, is permanent, for heterosexuals and for homosexuals. It is not up to us to sanctify our own orientation while we prevent that same possibility for others. Just as God does not deal despotically with creation (B. <\/em><\/span>Avodah Zara<\/span><\/em> 3a<\/em>), so too we must not deal despotically with deep-seated and unchangeable drives for love, connection, and family.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

All this information points in a similar direction, verifying the wisdom of the Torah that \"it is not good for a person to be alone\" (Genesis 2:18). We are commanded not to judge another until we have stood in his place (<\/span>Avot<\/em> <\/span>2:5), that we must all abide by a single standard (Exodus 12:49), and that we must love each other (Leviticus 19:18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Cover illustration: <\/span>https:\/\/jjcjax.org\/lgbtq<\/span><\/a> (Jacksonville Jewish Center)<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45478,"alt":"","title":"lgbtq","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","width":322,"height":157,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq-300x146.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":146,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","medium_large-width":322,"medium_large-height":157,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","large-width":322,"large-height":157,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","1536x1536-width":322,"1536x1536-height":157,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","2048x2048-width":322,"2048x2048-height":157,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","post_full_size-width":322,"post_full_size-height":157,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","home_baner-width":322,"home_baner-height":157}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Welcoming Love AND The Book Of Leviticus","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Affirming homosexual orientation and loving relationships","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45478,"alt":"","title":"lgbtq","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","width":322,"height":157,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq-300x146.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":146,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","medium_large-width":322,"medium_large-height":157,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","large-width":322,"large-height":157,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","1536x1536-width":322,"1536x1536-height":157,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","2048x2048-width":322,"2048x2048-height":157,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","post_full_size-width":322,"post_full_size-height":157,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/lgbtq.jpg","home_baner-width":322,"home_baner-height":157}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"450","name":"Homosexuality","old_id":"850"}]},{"order":7,"id":"45444","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Reward for Avoiding \u201cOcular Adultery\u201d ","post_title":"The Reward For Avoiding \u201cOcular Adultery\u201d","slug":"the-reward-for-avoiding-ocular-adultery","old_id":"45444","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Where wandering eyes can lead","post_main_content_content":"

In Leviticus Chapter 18 we are commanded: \u201cYou shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you\u201d (verse 3). From the continuation (verses 6-20), it seems that these illicit practices were largely of a sexual nature, for there follows an extensive list of those persons about whom we are specifically commanded not to \u201cuncover [their] nakedness\u201d [<\/span>le-galot ervah<\/span><\/em>]. At the end of this list we are told \u201cDo not have carnal relations with your neighbor\u2019s wife\u201d (verse 20). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, the prohibition of adultery has already been specifically stated in the seventh of the Ten Commandments, \u201cYou shall not commit adultery\u201d [<\/span>lo-tinaf<\/span><\/em>] (Exodus 20:12). And what may be seen as a preventative measure to avoid adultery is included in the last of the Ten Commandments: \u201cYou shall not covet your neighbor\u2019s wife\u201d (Exodus 20:14). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rabbinic sages included in the sin of adultery what seems to be a remarkably contemporary elaboration (Leviticus Rabbah 23:12): \u201cShimon ben Laqish said: Do not say that only he who commits adultery with his body is to be called an adulterer. But, also, he who commits adultery with his eyes (i.e. by looking in a lascivious manner) is called an adulterer, for Scripture speaks of \u2018the eye of the adulterer\u2026\u2019\u201d (Job 24:15). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In contemporary society this sort of covetous, \u201cocular\u201d adultery is rightly condemned and variously castigated. Significantly, the rabbinic sages added a reward for a man\u2019s having the self-control to avoid this kind of abusive behavior (Leviticus Rabbah 23:13): \u201cWe find that anyone who glimpses a bit of nakedness [<\/span>devar ervah<\/span><\/em>] and yet does not feast his eyes on it, merits to receive the Face of the Shekhinah! What is the biblical basis for this? Scripture speaks of \u2018He who shuts his eyes against looking at evil\u2026\u2019 (Isaiah 33:15). And if one is able to do this, his reward is stated in what follows \u201cYour eyes will behold the King in His beauty\u2019 (verse 17)\u201d.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72030,"alt":"","title":"jer40-eye-1280141_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","width":1584,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-248x300.jpg","medium-width":248,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-768x931.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":931,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-845x1024.jpg","large-width":845,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1267,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1584,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-990x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":990,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-347x420.jpg","home_baner-width":347,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Reward For Avoiding \u201cOcular Adultery\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Where wandering eyes can lead","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72030,"alt":"","title":"jer40-eye-1280141_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","width":1584,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-248x300.jpg","medium-width":248,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-768x931.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":931,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-845x1024.jpg","large-width":845,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1267,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1584,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-990x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":990,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-347x420.jpg","home_baner-width":347,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"654","name":"Coveting","old_id":"1054"},{"term_id":"765","name":"Adultery","old_id":"1165"}]},{"order":8,"id":"45446","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Bread in Bergen-Belsen ","post_title":"Bread In Bergen-Belsen","slug":"bread-in-bergen-belsen","old_id":"45446","type":"no","iframe":"Bread in Bergen-Belsen","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Serving with a perfect heart - and staying alive","post_main_content_content":"

In the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in 1944, the Jewish prisoners had no matza. The rabbis in the camp allowed them to eat bread on Pesach, since without it they would certainly die. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

They composed the following benediction:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Our Father in heaven, behold it is evident and known to You that it is our
\r\ndesire to do Your will and to celebrate the festival of Passover by eating matza
\r\nand by observing the prohibition of leavened food. But our heart is pained
\r\nthat the enslavement prevents us and we are in danger of our lives. Behold
\r\nwe are prepared and ready to fulfill Your commandment: \u201c\u2018Live by them\u2019
\r\n[Lev. 18:5] \u2013 and do not die by them\u201d [Yoma 85b]. We pray to You to keep us
\r\nalive and preserve us and redeem us speedily so that we may observe Your
\r\nstatutes and do Your will and serve You with a perfect heart. Amen. (Critical
\r\nDocuments of Jewish History, A Sourcebook)<\/p>\r\n

From: <\/span>The Jonathan Sacks Haggada<\/span><\/em><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":105670,"alt":"","title":"-62a6f19c20f88--62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Bread In Bergen-Belsen","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Serving with a perfect heart - and staying alive","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":105670,"alt":"","title":"-62a6f19c20f88--62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/11\/62a6f19c20f88-62a6f19c20f8alex2-bread.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"401","name":"Life","old_id":"801"},{"term_id":"408","name":"Holocaust","old_id":"808"},{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"}]},{"order":9,"id":"45440","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Prayer Of The Sodomite ","post_title":"The Prayer Of The Sodomite","slug":"the-prayer-of-the-sodomite","old_id":"45440","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Deformed and maimed,\r\nI will be\r\nYour perfect me.\r\nLet it be.\r\nBlessed are You, O Lord, Who have made me according to Your will","post_main_content_content":"

\"You shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman. It is an abomination.<\/span>\" (Leviticus 18:22)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What You command,
\r\nI must obey;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

And if Your voice
\r\nLeaves me no choice,
\r\nBut to rip out my liver,
\r\nKidney or spleen;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

According to Your plan,
\r\nTo be a Proper Man
\r\nI may need to amputate
\r\nA nose, or thumb, or a right hand;
\r\nTo do Your will,
\r\nI might have to carve out
\r\nA chamber from my heart
\r\nAnd leave the void
\r\nBleeding,
\r\nUnbandaged;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

And if Your will
\r\nSometimes demands
\r\nI pluck out an eye
\r\nSo as not to look;
\r\nOr slash off my tongue
\r\nSo as not to speak;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

And if, in Your eyes,
\r\nI stand too tall,
\r\nA rebellious giant full of pride \u2014
\r\nDwarf me;
\r\nChop off my legs
\r\nFrom sole to knee;
\r\nI\u2019ll fit into the narrow dark closet
\r\nYour decrees have fashioned
\r\nFor me to lie in;
\r\nLame and limping, I\u2019ll creep out
\r\nFrom time to time
\r\nTo bow before You;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

And should I seek
\r\nTo sing Your praise,
\r\nBut You decide
\r\nNo bass,
\r\nNot even baritone;
\r\nI\u2019ll throw away my voice
\r\nAnd sing falsetto;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

And after all I\u2019ve done,
\r\nAfter all I\u2019ve cut and stripped away
\r\nIs not enough,
\r\nAnd You desire
\r\nNo desire \u2014
\r\nI agree
\r\nTo emasculation
\r\nAnd castration;
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

Deformed and maimed,
\r\nI will be
\r\nYour perfect me.
\r\nLet it be.
\r\nIf this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

I repeat: If this Your will \u2014
\r\nYour will be done.<\/p>\r\n

Yet \u2014
\r\nHave mercy;
\r\nFor I am but the vessel
\r\nYou
\r\nHave fashioned.<\/p>\r\n

Blessed are You, O Lord,
\r\n<\/i>Who have made me according to
\r\n<\/i><\/i>Your will.<\/i>
\r\n<\/i><\/i><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68638,"alt":"","title":"is61-humble","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-200x300.png","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-683x1024.png","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-683x1024.png","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-800x1200.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-280x420.png","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"The Prayer Of The Sodomite","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Deformed and maimed, I will be Your perfect me. Let it be. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who have made me according to Your will","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68638,"alt":"","title":"is61-humble","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-200x300.png","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-683x1024.png","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-683x1024.png","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-800x1200.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is61-humble-280x420.png","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"450","name":"Homosexuality","old_id":"850"}]},{"order":10,"id":"45442","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"National Purity ","post_title":"National Purity","slug":"national-purity","old_id":"45442","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Not just a matter of personal choice, holiness is a very public morality: the stakes of misbehavior can have national, even cosmic, significance.","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus Chapter 18 appears towards the beginning of a part of Leviticus known by scholars as the Holiness Code, named after repeated exhortations to be holy, most famously at Leviticus 19:2: \u201cYou shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.\u201d The Holiness Code does not deal with the bodily forms of impurity outlined in Leviticus 11-15. Nevertheless it, too, is concerned with impurity, merely of a different source and mode of contagion.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to this system, acting immorally contaminates the Community and contaminates the Land. Notably, Leviticus 18 bookends its list of moral guidelines by contrasting Egyptian and Canaanite behavior with how the Israelites are expected to act. (18.3,24-25). The passage asserts that the Israelites\u2019 Egyptian overlords engaged in immoralities, which the Israelites left behind in the triumphs of Exodus. Moreover, the Israelites conquer Canaan by virtue of the Land vomiting out the sinning, immoral Canaanites, and they need to act appropriately in order to remain in the Land. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

This national form of impurity, sometimes called \u201cmoral impurity,\u201d had largely been forgotten by traditional Jewish readers. Indeed, for Jews in the Diaspora who had already been \u201cvomited out\u201d of the Land, the political reasoning of the demand to maintain moral lives was rendered moot. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet, with the massive immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel beginning in the nineteenth century, the Holiness Code\u2019s message was seen as applicable again \u2013 particularly by pious Jews who were profoundly concerned about the strict demands of living in holiness. From this perspective, which became popular with some groups of religious Jews, dwelling in the Land is a mixed blessing \u2013 a great privilege, yes, but one that demands an extremely high degree of moral and ethical piety where the stakes of misbehavior can have national, even cosmic, significance.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"National Purity","tile_main_caption":"Not just a matter of personal choice, holiness is a very public morality: the stakes of misbehavior can have national, even cosmic, significance.","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"},{"term_id":"742","name":"Purity","old_id":"1142"}]},{"order":11,"id":"45408","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Bible in the Bar: Between Taboos and Intimacy ","post_title":"Bible in the Bar: Between Taboos and Intimacy","slug":"bible-in-the-bar-between-taboos-and-intimacy","old_id":"45408","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hm5e4YFFDoU","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Bible in the Bar","tile_main_caption":"Leviticus 18: Between Taboos and Intimacy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with Shira Hecht-Koller and special guest Ruby Namdar","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hm5e4YFFDoU","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":12,"id":"45450","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Why Is Incest Taboo? ","post_title":"Why Is Incest Taboo?","slug":"why-is-incest-taboo","old_id":"45450","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The answer is choice: the essence of love is the chosen creation of a covenantal relationship with the \u2018other\u2019","post_main_content_content":"

What\u2019s so bad about incest? If two consenting adults want to enter an intimate relationship with one another, why should the fact that they happen to be blood relatives matter? It\u2019s not currently a cause celebre amongst opponents of religious influence on secular law, but theoretically there\u2019s a strong argument to be made against the infringement on personal autonomy. True, perhaps there are potential genetic problems with such unions, but why shouldn't people be allowed to make their own choice about such dangers? In some countries, in fact, there are no laws against incest, unless a minor is involved. Apparently, Canaan and Mitzrayim were countries like that, and the Torah\u2019s opposition to this state of affairs is fierce.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some will explain the Torah\u2019s legislation regarding forbidden sexual relationships in general in terms of \u201cproperty rights\u201d that men had over women. A man is forbidden from sleeping with his daughter in law because she is \u201chis son\u2019s\u201d, likewise, his sister-in-law is \u201chis brother\u2019s\u201d. It\u2019s true that these formulations exist in the Torah, and that these laws are almost exclusively addressed to men, but that theory doesn\u2019t fit the whole story, or even most of it. For example, adultery is not expressed here as a sin against the woman\u2019s husband; and incestuous adultery with one\u2019s mother is expressed specifically in terms of a person\u2019s relationship with his mother. Similarly for a sister and an aunt, the problem the Torah presents is because- \u201cshe\u2019s your sister\u201d or \u201cshe\u2019s your aunt\u201d, not in terms of other men who own them. So why is this problematic?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There's a saying that \"You don't choose family.\" Our distance from or proximity to our relatives is not something we get to choose, with one very important relationship being the notable exception, and perhaps this is the beginning of the answer to our question. The phrase you\u2019ll find on Hebrew wedding invitations to refer to bride and groom is \u2018<\/span>bechirat libo<\/span><\/em>\u2019 and \u2018<\/span>bechirat liba<\/span><\/em>\u2019, the chosen one of his and her heart. The essence of marriage is the creation of a covenantal, existential relationship with the \u2018other\u2019. The \u2018continuation of our flesh\u2019, as the Torah terms relatives, is too close to truly be an \u2018other\u2019 and too close to truly be a choice. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

You must choose your life\u2019s partner. You can\u2019t choose your family. And never the twain shall meet.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70536,"alt":"","title":"jer21-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":711,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-300x111.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":111,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-768x284.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":284,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1024x379.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":569,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":711,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1200x444.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":444,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1134x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1134,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Why Is Incest Taboo?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The answer is choice: the essence of love is the chosen creation of a covenantal relationship with the \u2018other\u2019","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70536,"alt":"","title":"jer21-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":711,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-300x111.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":111,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-768x284.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":284,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1024x379.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":569,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":711,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1200x444.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":444,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1134x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1134,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"376","name":"Choice","old_id":"776"},{"term_id":"759","name":"Taboo","old_id":"1159"},{"term_id":"766","name":"Incest","old_id":"1166"}]},{"order":13,"id":"45412","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Leviticus 18 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Leviticus 18","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-leviticus-18","old_id":"45412","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received the Covenant Award in 2000. He is the author of APassover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn, published by JPS in 2011, and the newly released For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther, published by Koren Publishing in 2017 (Hebrew). ","short_description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":40937,"alt":"","title":"david-Silber-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","width":151,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium-width":151,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium_large-width":151,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","large-width":151,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":151,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":151,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":151,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","home_baner-width":151,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Audio","tile_main_caption":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter - Leviticus 18","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/rabbi-david-silber-a-lesson-on-leviticus-chapter-18","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"2","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"45400","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Leviticus 18 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Leviticus 18","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-leviticus-18","old_id":"45400","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. With these digital texts, we can create new, interactive interfaces for Web, tablet and mobile, allowing more people to engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.","short_description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42230,"alt":"","title":"Sefaria Logo2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cSkiing, Skydiving and Cosmetic Surgery: Exploring the Bounds of Risk-Taking in Halacha\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Mark Wagshul: How much risk is too much risk? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe New Queer: Re-reading Tanakh\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Naomi Zaslow: Finding positive visions of queerness in Tanakh.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Leviticus 18","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"106164","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Leviticus 18 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Leviticus 18","slug":"points-to-ponder-leviticus-18","old_id":"106164","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"108","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. You v. y\u2019all.<\/em> The opening and closing verses (2-5, 24-30) address the entire people in the plural, whereas the series of prohibitions (verses 6-23) are phrased in the singular, addressing each and every one individually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. I am the Lord your God (or in short: I am the Lord).<\/em> This phrase recurs often in these chapters. God is laying down the law, pulling out all the stops, and expects reactions accordingly.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Molech. What\u2019s that got to do with it? <\/em>Amongst all the statements about forbidden sexual relations, verse 21 is surprising with its cultic prohibition: \u201cDo not allow any of your offspring to be offered up to Molech.\u201d And exegetical conundrum.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Just the prohibitions.<\/em> The actual punishments for the sinners will be spelled out in chapter 20, and after a surprising respite in chapter 19.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Leviticus 18","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"108","date":"20260127","wall_id":"108"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/45294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}