Homosexuals are better off dead than alive, unless they can be readily 'cured.'
The following is written by the anonymous blogger Freelance Kiruv Maniac.
FKM is Rabbi Dovid Kornreich, a teacher at Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a mainstream haredi post high school yeshiva for American students, located in Jerusalem.
FKM has devoted much of his blogging life to attacking Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the Zoo Rabbi. I corroborated this independently, and Rabbi Slifkin mentions Kornreich here.
Please click to enlarge:
As a personal suggestion, I think Rabbi Kornreich and his friends should substitute the term "haredi kiruv rabbi" for homosexual in Kornreich's piece. The world will be a much better place without you, Dovid. Ease yourself into the long dark night that never ends. And have your friends join you.
As for the halakhic issues involved, they hardly even need to be discussed. In the entire history of Judaism, there is no example of homosexuals killing themselves rather than live and "sin," and there are no examples of rabbis suggesting this should be done.
The examples brought by Rabbi Kornreich are of non-homosexuals sold into homosexual prostitution. Even then, the halakha is not that the captured boys should kill themselves. Indeed, halakha would view whatever acts they were forced to engage in as outside their control. But halakha does partially legitimize their suicides, not because suicide is the correct response to that situation, but because suicide committed by individuals under extreme duress is not considered to be be a sin. Lacking that extreme duress, suicide is indeed a sin, which is why until very recently suicides were buried at the far edges of Jewish cemeteries, away from the graves of their family and community.
It is worthwhile noting there are cases of women (especially young teen age girls) committing suicide rather than be raped by marauding bands of Cossacks and the like. But these suicides are done last minute, when all other options have failed and the rape is about to happen.
What you do not have are approved cases where a girl says, "The Cossacks just sacked a shtetl 10 miles away, so I'm going to kill myself now rather than be raped." All the more so when the Cossacks are 100 miles away or they're in Poland and the girl is in Turkey.
All of these post facto approved suicides are done at last minute, just before the rape would take place. And even then, approval is given reluctantly, and only after the act has taken place.
What Kornreich advocated is pre-planned suicide. In his case, no matter how far away the Cossacks are, it is inevitable they will eventually come. So let's get the suspense over with and go straight to the suicide.
But the Cossacks don't always come and, even when they do come, they don't always rape every person in the shtetl. Kornreich's attempt at a halakhic paradigm doesn't work.
Past that, it is important to look at how the death penalty was applied in Judaism.
Two witnesses, independent of each other, had to warn the criminal the act he was about to commit is a sin punishable by death. Dozens of years would go by without the Sanhedrin ever ordering the death penalty, both because the witness requirements were so strict and because it was the judges' job to find ways not to impose it.
There is no known record of a Sanhedrin killing homosexuals.
What did the Sanhedrin do with dangerous criminals when it lacked proper witnesses to use the death penalty?
It confined those criminals to kipa, a cell, without food and water. The idea was, if the man was innocent, God would miraculously keep him alive. If he was guilty, he'd die of dehydration.
Never in recorded Jewish history was this punishment used for homosexuals.
There is also no known record of a Sanhedrin encouraging homosexuals to commit suicide.
Why?
Because unless a homosexual act was committed in public by two learned men knowledgeable in halakha and committed with the intent of flouting halakha, homosexuality was seen as an issue between man and God, not between man and man.
There are other sins the Torah calls toevah, abomination. I don't think Rabbi Kornreich is encouraging lobster eaters and Shabbat violators to commit suicide, even though both are far more prevalent than homosexuals, and those sins are often done in public. Indeed, I know of learned supposedly haredi Jews who regularly do both and encourage others to do the same.
I suppose Rabbi Kornreich believes these "sinners" have an easy road to teshuva, and that may be the case.
But there are times when these sins are compulsions and addictions and the road to teshuva is far from easy.
For those people, Rabbi Kornreich prescribes kiruv. For homosexuals, he prescribes death. How sad.
A Radical Solution for the Orthodox Homosexual--Halachicly Assisted Suicide? [UPDATED]
WARNING: Before even thinking about implementing any of the ideas described in this post, consult a genuinely Orthodox rabbi (and a good frum therapist as well).
Being that all major ancient societies had positive attitudes towards homosexuality, it would not be surprising to find that this alternative sexual orientation is a permanent part of the human condition. The fact that the Torah has condemned such behavior in no uncertain terms, in spite of this reality, implies that God expects the Torah observant homosexual to live in a perpetual state of denial of this natural desire for as long as he lives. I do not see any other logical alternative.
This being the case, I have heard of only two options that are available for the tragic existence which is the Orthodox Homosexual:
1. Conversion Therapy or Re-orientation Therapy (Caveat Emptor that such therapy does not promise going from "gay (not bisexual) to straight (not bisexual)"
2. Resigning one's self to a life of celibacy and total sexual frustration. This could also probably be pulled off with serious therapy, but you really got to be a tzaddik to boot.
But I have never heard of a third possibility: If one does not respond to conversion therapy to any significant degree, nor is one strong enough to to withstand a lifetime of temptation and is sure to stumble at some point and engage in a forbidden homosexual act, then, just perhaps, the Torah condones "suicide al kiddush Hashem".
Now to be perfectly clear, I am not talking about depression-motivated suicide. That is a mental disorder which can be treated with therapy. [Anyone who knows that he can control himself indefinitely by using various techniques and strategies but is severely depressed about the prospect of being celibate forever and therefore wants an easy out by suicide, is not a candidate for dying al Kiddush Hashem. Such a person should be encouraged instead by knowing by continuing to live in celibacy he is a living, walking Kiddush Hashem. He has a much more difficult task than someone who dies al Kiddush Hashem.]
Let me repeat: if any therapy will allow the Orthodox homosexual to survive his existence without succumbing to temptation, then this suicide option simply does not apply. This option is only for someone who knows his strengths and weaknesses and is afraid that he may G-d forbid stumble and violate one of the most severe Torah prohibitions.
The halachic justifications for suicide in such a specific case seem to be clear: (NOTE: If you don't understand these sources in their original, you don't qualify to use this heter.)
* Orchos Chaim quoted by the Beis Yosef siman 157 in his Bedek HaBayis glosses:
[בדק הבית] וכתוב בארחות חיים (סי' ד הל' אהבת השם אות א) בבראשית רבה (פרשה לד אות יג) דורש ואך את דמכם לנפשותיכם וגו' (בראשית ט ה) אזהרה לחונק את נפשו יכול אפילו כחנניה מישאל ועזריה תלמוד לומר אך פירוש שבשעת השמד יכול למסור עצמו למיתה ולהרוג את עצמו אם הוא ירא שלא יוכל לעמוד בניסיון
* The Shach in the same siman in seif koton 1 brings the Haga'os HaSmak to the same effect and cites the above mentioned Beis Yosef:
א רשאי - והב"ח פסק כהרמב"ם דכל מי שדינו לעבור ואל יהרג ונהרג ולא עבר ה"ז מתחייב בנפשו וכן דעת הב"י וכן נראה דעת הרמב"ן בס' תורת האדם ומביאו הר"ן פ' יה"כ ובהג"א ממהרי"ח רפ"ק דכתובות כתבו אם רוצה להחמיר על עצמו וליהרג היכא דקי"ל יעבור ואל יהרג צ"ע אי שרי או לא ע"כ וכתב בת"ה סי' קצ"ט והיה נראה דבפלוגתא דרבוותא אזלינן לקולא באיסור סכנת נפשות כדאמרינן בעלמא ספק נפשות להקל אמנם י"ל הכא דלענין קדוש השם שלא הקפידה התורה על איבוד נפשות מישראל לא ילפינן לה משאר ספיקות דלית בהו משום קידוש השם ונראה דלפי הענין ושרואין אנו כוונתו מורין לו עכ"ל, וכתוב בהגהת סמ"ק סי' ג' דאותן קדושים ששחטו עצמן שלא סמכו דעתם לעמוד בנסיון קדושים גמורים הם וראיה משאול ומביאו ב"ח וכ"כ בב"ה בשם א"ח מיהו כ' הא"ח שם שיש חולקים שאינו יכול להרוג את עצמך ע"ש שהאריך:
* [UPDATE: I subsequently remembered that there is another precedent for preemptive suicide and it discusses the option of suicide to avoid the homosexual act in particular. This is cited in the tragic sugya in Gittin 57b:
אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל ואיתימא רבי אמי ואמרי לה במתניתא תנא מעשה בד' מאות ילדים וילדות שנשבו לקלון הרגישו בעצמן למה הן מתבקשים אמרו אם אנו טובעין בים אנו באין לחיי העולם הבא דרש להן הגדול שבהן +תהלים ס"ח+ אמר ה' מבשן אשיב אשיב ממצולות ים מבשן אשיב מבין שיני אריה אשיב ממצולות ים אלו שטובעין בים כיון ששמעו ילדות כך קפצו כולן ונפלו לתוך הים נשאו ילדים ק"ו בעצמן ואמרו מה הללו שדרכן לכך כך אנו שאין דרכנו לכך על אחת כמה וכמה אף הם קפצו לתוך הים ועליהם הכתוב אומר +תהלים מ"ד+ כי עליך הורגנו כל היום נחשבנו כצאן טבחה
Rashi there:
לקלון ילדים למשכב זכור וילדות לפלגשים
שדרכן לכך לתשמיש ואין קלונן מרובה כקלון שלנו
Tosfos there:
קפצו כולן ונפלו לתוך הים והא דאמר במס' ע"ז (דף יח) מוטב שיטלנה מי שנתנה ואל יחבל בעצמו הכא יראים היו מיסורין כדאמרינן (כתובות דף לג) אלמלי נגדו לחנניה מישאל ועזריה פלחו לצלמא ועוד דע"כ היו מענין אותן ולא היו הורגים אותן
Tosfos says that when one is not given a choice to be killed as an alternative and will simply be forced to commit a homosexual act, suicide can be performed to prevent the sin from being commited]
* We see later in the Schach in the next seif koton that the situation of dying Al Kiddush Hashem is not at all limited to times of שמד:
ב אם העובד כוכבים מכוין כו' - אבל אם אינו מכוין אלא להנאת עצמו אסור להחמיר ונקרא חובל בעצמו וצריך לעבור ואל יהרג, ר' ירוחם סוף נתיב י"ח, וכתב הב"ח ס"ב דאפילו בפרהסיא אינו רשאי למסור נפש כיון דאינו מתכוין אלא להנאת עצמו אבל מדברי הפרישה ס"ג מבואר דבפרהסיא רשאין למסור נפש ונראה דאם השעה צריכה לכך וכה"ג לכ"ע רשאי למסור עצמו כדלקמן בהג"ה גבי מצות עשה דהא הב"י פסק כהרמב"ם ואפ"ה כתב דאם הוא אדם גדול וחסיד וירא שמים ורואה שהדור פרוץ בכך רשאי לקדש השם ולמסור עצמו אפילו על מצוה קלה כדי שיראו העם ליראה ה' ולאהבו בכל לבם ומביאו ב"י וד"מ:
This is based on the logic found in the Ran to Shabbos which ALL rishonim including the Rambam seem to agree to.
We find that when the Jewish society is experiencing a general weakness towards a certain mitzvah, it is allowed for great individuals to publicly be killed for that mitzvah--to bolster the commitment of the Jewish community to that mitzvah. This is another application of dying Al Kiddush Hashem and therefore applies to ANY mitzvah in the Torah. It should certainly apply to any of the three cardinal categories of sins of Judaism like homosexual activity.
* [UPDATE: RJM in the comments astutely pointed out that there is another step necessary in the argument. We only see dying Al Kiddush Hashem being sanctioned when the alternative is EXTERNAL compulsion to commit cardinal Torah violations. This is called an אונס in halacha. But for the Orthodox Homosexual, we are talking about an INTERNAL drive to commit the violation, over which he presumably has total free-will to restrain himself. Where do we see that the drive for physical intimacy is sometimes considered אונס?
* For this we have a Tosfos in Gittin daf 41b (now corrected):
כופין את רבו ועושה אותו בן חורין - וא"ת וכי אומרים לאדם חטא כדי שיזכה חבירך דהכי אמר בפ"ק דשבת (דף ד.) גבי הדביק פת בתנור וי"ל דדוקא התם אמרינן הכי משום דפשע שהדביק סמוך לחשיכה ... וחציה שפחה וחציה בת חורין דכפו את רבה (לעיל לח:) משום דנהגו בה מנהג הפקר אע"ג דהם פושעים כיון שהיתה מחזרת אחריהם ומשדלתן לזנות חשיבי כאונסים ועוד דמצוה דרבים שאני.
* So Tosfos does render a man under certain extreme conditions as being an אונס. I submit that this application is somewhat of a chiddush to say it then sets up a situation of אנוס which allows one to die Al Kiddush Hashem.]
It seems to me that never has such a severe and openly stated commandment of the Torah like the prohibition of homosexual activity come under such attack in recent memory. Killing one's self publicly in order to prevent it's violation and re-enforce its prohibited status in the minds of the rest of the Jewish community seems to soundly qualify as dying Al Kiddush Hashem.
In Summary:
The candidate for halachicly assisted suicide must be a very special individual. He is a great Jew who is so distraught over the prospect of violating this most severe of the Torah's commands.
He feels that he has the courage to voluntarily sacrifice his very life in order to make a public statement that God's command is more important than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In short, he is ready to answer to the Torah's immortal call of "Kedoshim Tihyu". (Double-entente intended)
II
One of the things which makes the homosexual act so severe is evidenced by this Mishna found in the eighth perek of Sannhedrin:
משנה ז
ואלו הן שמצילין אותן בנפשן הרודף אחר חבירו להרגו אחר הזכור ואחר הנערה המאורסה אבל הרודף אחר בהמה והמחלל את השבת והעובד ע"ז אין מצילין אותן בנפשן
One is permitted (even without a Sanhedrin) to prevent an act of sodomy by any violent means** at one's disposal. Strikingly, this is not true of all the cardinal sins of Judaism like idol worship. The Talmud explains and Rashi summarizes:
אבל הרודף אחר בהמה - לרבעה, והרוצה לעבוד עבודה זרה, ולחלל שבת, וכל שכן שאר כריתות ומיתות בית דין שאינן עריות, דלא ניתן להצילו בנפשו אלא מדבר שהוא ערוה ויש בה קלון ופגם לנרדף, כגון זכר ונערה המארוסה, ומיהו רוצח בהדיא כתיב ביה, והאי דנקט בהמה משום דדמיא לעריות, ונקט נמי עבודה זרה משום דסלקא דעתך אמינא תיתי בקל וחומר כדלקמן, ושבת נמי תיתי בגזירה שוה.
So one of the reasons that makes sodomy so severe is that it inflicts irreparable psychological damage to the victim.
The Torah's position regarding child molestation is clear: the Torah allows a vigilante killing** of a potential child molester to prevent sodomy (or rape for that matter), primarily because of the psychological damage it inflicts on its victim.
**The preferred method of preventing rape and sodomy is not to kill but rather to maim. As the Rambam says in Hilchos Rotzeach perek 1:
הלכה יב
רדף אחר ערוה ותפשה ושכב והערה אע"פ שלא גמר ביאתו אין ממיתין אותו עד עמדו בדין, רדף אחר ערוה והיו אחרים רודפין אחריו להצילה ואמרה להם הניחוהו כדי שלא יהרגני אין שומעין לה אלא מבהילין אותו ומונעין אותו מלבעול, באיבריו, ואם אינן יכולין למנעו באיבריו אפילו בנפשו כמו שביארנו.
הלכה יג
כל היכול להציל באבר מאיבריו ולא טרח בכך אלא הציל בנפשו של רודף והרגו הרי זה שופך דמים וחייב מיתה אבל אין בית דין ממיתין אותו.
The Kesef Mishna clarifies that 'maiming' in this context of sexual molestation seems to be castration:
רדף אחר ערוה וכו'. בס"פ בן סורר ומורה פלוגתא דרבי יהודה ורבנן ופסק כרבנן ודבר פשוט הוא שמ"ש באיבריו ה"ק ומונעים אותו בחתיכת איבריו מלבעול:
Reiterated WARNING: Before even thinking about implementing any of the ideas described in this post, consult a genuinely Orthodox rabbi (and a good frum therapist as well).
[Hat Tip: Pravda Ne'eman.]