“Abaye said: Rabbi, R. Eliezer, and
R. Simeon b. Eleazar all hold that whatever detracts from a person[‘s
appearance], one will not come to display it.”
That is to say, the removal of it would detract and
therefore is unlikely to be removed. The example is a gold tooth. There is
little fear that someone would take out her tooth to show it off, and therefore
be guilty of “carrying” on Shabbat.
But let’s leave that for the more interesting aside having to
do with female homosexuality:
“R. Huna said: Women who commit
lewdness with one another are unfit for the priesthood.”
That is to say, they are not eligible to marry a priest
(there were, of course, no female priests.)
Now this is a fascinating statement. While male homosexual
behavior is condemned biblically (a serious problem, but one that has been
overcome in textual analysis), the Torah is silent on lesbian sexuality. So
this Talmud statement is important. Its significance is that this is a very
minor rebuke. Any non-virgin, especially a divorcee, is disqualified from
marrying a priest – and the priesthood was only symbolic by Huna’s day anyway! So
there is an acknowledgement that homosexuality ends virginity, but little more.
Huna’s statement is repeated and then made even more clear with a subsequent
reflection in Yevamot 76a:
“And even according to R. Eleazar,
who stated that an unmarried man who cohabited with an unmarried woman with no
matrimonial intention renders her thereby a harlot, this disqualification ensues
only in the case of a man; but when it is that of a woman the action is regarded
as mere obscenity.”
In other words lesbian sexuality, while labeled as “promiscuous,”
is seen by the ancient rabbis as less of a “sin” than the greater problem of
pre-marital heterosexual behavior. Maybe those who condemn should think a bit
more about their own history.
Of course, by this logic the answer would be marriage! A
fine idea.
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