Tel-Chai Nation

A researcher did some studies on the role sex played in Judaism in biblical times, and how unlike Christianity, Judaists were actually more in favor of keeping the view unified with religion:

While Christianity perceived the libido as negative and impure, through the ages, Judaism’s approach to sexuality has been more complex.

Orthodox rabba and scholar, Dr. Anat Sharbat, in an unusual research has been tracing sources from the Bible through to the Sages, connecting sex and holiness. “Chazal [an acronym that refers to all Jewish sages of the Mishna, Tosefta and Talmud eras] tried to disassociate themselves from the Christian world,” she explains.

“Whereas Christianity formulated a view in which sexuality is separated from holiness, Chazal took the opposing stance. There was a debate between Judaism and Christianity on the matter.”

Last month, she gave a Zoom lecture series via Beit Avichai, entitled, “The Shekhina Among Them: Sexuality and Holiness in Rabbinic Literature.” In the lecture, she explained that Judaism contains two commandments that regulate sex between a married couple: The first is “Go forth and multiply,” appearing at the beginning of the Book of Genesis. The second is the “Mitzvah of Onah,” obligating the man to have satisfying sex with his wife.

Dr. Sharbat explains that “one is a reproductive commandment, but the other is the commandment to pleasure. As we must give birth, sex is sanctified.”

Dr. Sharbat’s doctoral thesis explores Chazal’s attitude to sexuality. She says that the perceptions of the Sages draw on ancient Jewish understandings of sex. Although rooted in the Bible, this understanding developed in Judaism under Chazal. She made this information available to the public in her lecture.

“The matter is addressed by scholars such as Daniel Boyarin and David Biale, following Michel Foucault’s explanation that sexuality is the cultural interpretation of sex. Boyarin, who penned “Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture” said that the Jewish People are a people of the flesh, and not just the spirit.

Now this is something vital to think about. It also makes clear Jews aren't deities, as some antisemites surely believe. I'm sure that there's also space in the Bible/Torah for non-wedlock sex, if there's any advantage to that as well, one more reason why leftists shouldn't be demonizing sex and corrupting it as they are now.

Anyway, whatever the Bible/Torah's take on sex in and out of marriage, this makes a good case for why Judaism can be a worthy religion for embracing and converting to.

Labels: Christianity, Israel, Judaism