|
from Theological Issues
A Jewish Understanding
Of Levels Of Moral Responsibility*
By Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D.
Reparative-drive theory sees homosexuality as an attempt to repair normal, healthy male attachment needs. The person's ignorance of his true, gendered nature causes him to seek out a gay relationship that flies in the face of his biological design.
Interestingly, the Jewish tradition conveys a sophisticated understanding of moral responsibility that parallels our concept of reparative drive.
There are four different Hebrew words for sin found in the Hebrew Bible -- cheit, aveirah, pesha, and avon. "Cheit" in the Torah signifies the category of unintentional sin. It is a term used in archery to mean "missing the mark." Here, the person has good intentions--he desires to "hit the bull's eye" --but his aim is off due to inattention or ignorance.
Cheit fits the reparative understanding of homosexuality. The connotation is of a problematic behavior one falls into "by accident"--through lack of knowledge. Cheit could have been avoided with the exercise of greater care. But when the man understands his authentic needs, this "shifts his aim" to the true target, which is intimate, non-erotic same-sex friendships.
Aveirah is closely related to cheit in that it also refers to missing the mark or transgressing, but it connotes more of an act done with intention. Although the homosexual man's sense of gender and self come about by a series of circumstances over which he has little or no control and thus reflect his psychological adaptation to emotional pain, he does have free will to choose his lifestyle and subsequent actions.
Similarly, in reparative-drive theory, someone with same-sex attractions retains the choice of either acting upon those feelings (acting through intention; in Jewish law, aveirah), or working to overcome them.
Avon refers to the concept of "being led astray." This is the word generally translated in Lev. 18:22 as "abomination" in the Hebrew Bible, which is clarified in the Talmud to reflect the less punitive idea that one has been led into transgression (Nedarim, section 51a). Aveirah and avon somewhat overlap. Both reflect the reparative concept that homosexuality is not a choice one consciously makes, but an emotional adaptation to the pain of emotional wounding.
There are other categories of more intentional types of transgressions which also apply to homosexuality within the Jewish framework, but from a psychological perspective, they are acknowledged to develop after the original, "unintentional" cheit.
Pesha and avon are far more serious: they signify rebellion and a refusal to consider oneself accountable to God. Within the framework of Jewish morality, one thinks of pesha as applicable to gay activists who work for the normalization and promotion of homosexuality so their own rebellion will be shared and spread to others. Pesha and avon also apply to the gay-identified homosexual who "sets himself as the sole judge of his actions, recognizing neither God nor the Law." For this person, no external standards of right or wrong exist. Everything is relative:
"'Right' is the name he gives to those actions which please him and further his aims; 'wrong' to those which displease him and frustrate his aims." (1)
[1] Rabbi Louis Jacobs, "Categories of Sin" as quoted in Elkins, Ed. (1992) Moments of Transcendence: Inspirational Readings for Yom Kippur. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, p. 44.
* See the soon-to-be published book, Light in the Closet! Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change, by Arthur Goldberg, J.D., Red Heifer Press, Los Angeles, California.
Updated: 8 February 2008
|
