What is the view of the traditional literature of the Jews? How do the Mishnah and targums view Old Testament references to homosexuality?
What is the view of the traditional literature of the Jews? How do the Mishnah and targums view Old Testament references to homosexuality?
The Revisionist Answer
The traditional literature of the Jews as found in the Mishnah and elsewhere does not interpret the sin of Sodom as homosexuality. This literature is unclear in its understanding of the severity of homosexuality. More recent writings of the Jews have greater importance than does this ancient tradition.
The Traditional Jewish Answer
The Mishnah and those various targums that discuss homosexuality take the biblical passages as condemning it. The Mishnah (Sanh. 7:1–9:1) restates the penalty of death and groups homosexuality with adultery, incest, and murder. Yet it allows for atonement for the sin of homosexuality, as for adultery and murder. Later Jewish writings, such as the works of Philo and Josephus, follow the interpretation of the Mishnah and strongly condemn homosexual vice