Nov 05, 2007Quickie Link: Gay Rabby Struggles To Re-Interpret Bible
By vanrozenheim
(USA) - With a bit of characterization and Jewish witticism, Rabbi Steven Greenberg made his point clear: You shouldn't use the Bible to pass judgment on others. He wasn't saying that the Bible is not the revealed word of God. But according to Jewish tradition, he said, God gave that word to man and entrusted him to decipher it. He acknowledges that his most thorny opponent is the admonishment of Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is detestable." But, he said, what is expressed today as lying with a man is not what the Bible was talking about. What Leviticus is describing are acts of violence meant to humiliate another man, Greenberg said.
