Thank you very much Rabbi Sadt, Rav Shachter, Rabbi Sadt, Mori Ve-Rabbotai. I'd like to reflect this morning upon the LGBTQ movement from the dual perspective of emunah and halacha. Correct emunah, correct belief, is the basis of everything. False or superficial belief not only falls short in fulfilling the mitzvah of emunah but it vitiates, it undermines the totality of Torah. The meaningfulness of all Torah and mitzvos is contingent upon true emunah. Talmud Torah, tefillah, sippur yetziat mitzrayim, etc. constitute acts of avodas Hashem only when we truly believe in Him. Truly believe is a double entendre. The phrase denotes that the substance of the belief is objectively true and that the individual genuinely believes. So let's besiyata dishmaya probe what true belief in Hashem means and entails. Now in truth we should review all the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. We're going to focus on one aspect which is especially relevant, especially pertinent, to the application that we have in mind. The Rambam writes in Perek Chelek in the hakdamah to Perek Chelek where he presents the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, היסוד הראשון מציאות הבורא ישתבח. The first fundamental principle is that of the existence of the Creator. Ve-hu, and what this fundamental principle expresses, encapsulates, שיש שם מצוי בשלמות אופני המציאות, that there exists the ultimately perfect being. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ultimately perfect. The Torah then explicates the corollary of this core belief, Hatzur Tamim Pa'olo. All of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's actions are perfect and in particular Toras Hashem Temimah, His Torah is perfect. What does genuine belief entail? Certainly it entails understanding, mental assent and intellectual conviction. But it's not constricted to the cognitive realm. Belief is also measured by behavior. Following are a few somewhat random illustrations. Gentiles according to Rav Moshe Feinstein are obligated to davven in an eis tzarah. Although tefillah is never listed anywhere as one of the chiyuvim incumbent upon Bnei Noach, Rav Moshe reasons that it follows from their obligation to believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. One who genuinely believes prays in an eis tzarah. Rav Chaim once chastised a devout family member who in practice hesitated to override Shabbos in a situation of pikuach nefesh. And he branded him an apikores. His reasoning: the Rambam writes that one who believes that it's prohibited to override Shabbos in such a situation is a heretic. The belief has to be translated into action. Belief and behavior must be commensurate. The definition of avodah zarah according to the Rambam is directing any act of religious worship to l'davar hanivra even though the idolater, in quotations, believes that Hakadosh Baruch Hu all powerful is solely sovereign. His belief is monotheistic but his practice isn't. And therefore he. is considered a kofer. This last illustration is especially compelling. Genuine belief and behavior must be commensurate. Let’s segue to review some of the Torah’s teachings relating to homo- and transsexuality and our obligations to and concerning LGBTQ individuals. The Torah most certainly does not disparage individuals who involuntarily experience same-sex attraction. The measure of a person is how he voluntarily behaves, not what he involuntarily experiences. We should marshal and generate as needed communal resources to fully support our brothers and sisters in implementing their unqualified commitment to the observance of all mitzvos. We live in a historical era when in general, religious coercion is unwarranted, counter-productive, and wrong. We thus oppose any type of unlawful discrimination against individuals who live an LGBTQ lifestyle. Moreover, we're always guided by the dictates of the Torah mandate v’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha, as applicable. Homosexual behavior, both male and female, is absolutely and categorically forbidden for Jews and non-Jews. In communicating this truth, that is, teaching Torah honestly and accurately, one performs an extraordinary chesed. ואמר אלעזר מאי דכתיב פיה פתחה בחכמה ותורת חסד על לשונה וכי יש תורה של חסד ויש תורה שאינה של חסד?
What is the posuk? We know it from Eishes Chayil. At first Toras chesed, that there's two types of Torah. The second of the two answers the Gemara presents: איכא דאמרי תורה ללמדה זו היא תורה של חסד. When a person learns Torah with the intent to share that Torah, that's Torah shel chesed. Honest, faithful teaching of Torah confers the intrinsic merit of limud haTorah. It also provides the roadmap for living an authentic life of avodas Hashem, the only meaningful life and the bridge to nitzchiyos, Olam haBa. There's no greater chesed than that. Empathetically and supportively teaching the truth of Torah is not homophobic; it's the ultimate chesed. Conversely, when we allow political correctness or the McCarthyism of cancel culture to suppress or even soften the relevant truths of Torah, we become complicit in victimizing individuals who are struggling with their sexuality. As is the case with other radical movements cloaked in self-righteousness, the LGBTQT victimizes most those whom it purports to support. By advocating and even celebrating the range of issurim represented by its moniker, the LGBTQ movement promotes sin and spiritual alienation. Additionally, it's abundantly self-evident that the unprecedented numbers of individuals sincerely struggling with sexuality is societally driven. Individual problems and struggles often translate in a way that mirror societal problems, struggles, and evils. Thus, the LGBTQ movement first sows sexual confusion and anomaly, then it aggressively advocates for what is anathema. We must not retreat into silence and become complicit in that victimization. Speak we must, but in an uncensored fashion. When sourcing the prohibition, the verse in Vayikra must be cited in its entirety: ואת זכר לא תשכב משכבי אשה תועבה היא. The Torah not only categorically forbids in this posuk, speaking of male homosexual relations, it also brands them a to’eivah, an abomination. As is plainly evident in its condemnatory designation, the Torah is speaking of homosexual behavior, not chas v’shalom of individuals who involuntarily experience such an attraction. We commit a double offense if we elide the final phrase to'evah hi. We're guilty of brazenly, brazenly censoring HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But we're also guilty of undermining the prohibition. The first assimilationist step in deference to LGBTQT pandering society is to soften the prohibition. It's naive to think that the assimilationist accommodationist impulse does not carry the process further. Some people, while admirably trying to remain faithful to Torah, wrongly assert that these that homosexual prohibitions are instances of chukim, that is, unintuitive commandments which do not accord with natural morality. This, however, is a dangerous apologetic distortion. The Mishna in Masechet Horayos in detailing the halachos of triage teaches that generally we prioritize redeeming a woman over a man from captivity. If, however, both will be forced into prostitution, then we prioritize redeeming the man. The Rambam, citing the Yerushalmi, explains: The crime of rape, which is repeatedly perpetrated in situations of forced prostitution, is always especially heinous. The heinousness of male prostitution, however, is further compounded by the fact that homosexual relations are abnormal: ein darko bekach. Similarly, in recounting a tale of Kiddush Hashem from Churban Bayis Sheini, the Bavli draws the same distinction. מעשה בארבע מאות ילדים וילדות שנשבו לקלון. It happened in the course of the devastation of the churban that four hundred young boys and girls were taken captive and were going to be forced into prostitution. הרגישו בעצמם למה הן מתבקשין. They sensed what their fate was going to be. amru, so the girls took the initiative: אם אנו טובעים בים אנו באין לחיי העולם הבא? If we preemptively kill ourselves by by jumping into the ocean and drowning ourselves, will we have a portion in Olam HaBa? So the oldest amongst them reassured them that that was the case. כיון ששמעו ילדות כך, when after receiving that reassurance, קפצו כולן ונפלו לתוך הים. All the four hundred girls jumped into the raging ocean and drowned. נשאו ילדים קל וחומר בעצמן ואמרו מה הללו שדרכן לכך כך אנו שאין דרכנו לכך על אחת כמה וכמה.
The boys reasoned that they certainly should drown themselves because the Chilul Hashem of male prostitution of homosexuality, which is aberrational, would be even greater. As evidenced by both the Bavli and the Yerushalmi, the Torah's prohibition is a mishpat, an intuitive mitzvah which accords with natural morality. Moreover, the prohibition against homosexual relations is one of the שבע מצוות בני נח. The Rambam says that there are no chukim amongst the שבע מצוות בני נח: hada'as noteh lahen. These mitzvos comprise the natural universal religion. The Rav states this incontrovertible truth very candidly: "Bestiality and homosexuality both are considered unnatural acts," unquote. The Ibn Ezra explains why the Torah labels homosexual relations a to'evah, an abomination: כי הוא דבר נתעב לנפש קדושה אפילו בתולדה. It's something which is naturally repugnant to the sacred soul. Another Torah teaching. According to Chazal, same-sex, in quotations, weddings, i.e., that is, formalizing such categorically prohibited relationships, represent the depths of depravity. מנין שלא היתה אומה באומות שהשיבו מעשיהם יותר מן המצרים?
How do we know that there was no nation more corrupt in their behavior than the Egyptians? Talmud Lomar כמעשה ארץ מצרים לא תעשו. ומנין שלא היתה אומה באומות שהשיבו מעשיהם יותר מן הכנענים?
And how do we know that the peoples who inhabited Eretz Kanaan also were unsurpassed in their hashchasa? Talmud Lomar כמעשה ארץ כנען לא תעשו. U'mah hayu osim? What did they do, these, these depraved peoples? האיש נושא לאיש והאשה לאשה. Amongst ancient peoples, none surpassed the depravity of the Egyptians and the Kenaanim, and same-sex weddings epitomized that depravity. The prohibitions associated with such, again, each time in quotation marks, weddings, are not limited to the quote marrying individuals. Regardless of one's intentions or motivations, which constitute the why of attendance, attending a wedding signifies joining in the public celebration of the nuptials, the what of attendance. Thus, attendees at a same-sex wedding join in celebrating a brazen defiance of Dvar Hashem. Accordingly, even attending such a wedding is an especially egregious form of megaleh panim baTorah, brazenly defying the Torah, and chillul Hashem, publicly sinning, diminishing and debasing kavod shamayim. Megaleh panim baTorah and chillul Hashem, issurim of ultimate severity can never be countenanced regardless of motivation or goal. Attendees at a same-sex wedding are also guilty of the avon gadol, as the Rambam classifies it, of מחזיק ידי עוברי עבירה, encouraging and supporting people to persist in sinning. Trans surgery is an act of mutilation and castration, sirus, and is unequivocally forbidden. While these designations already reflect multiple serious prohibitions, there's an even more egregious sacrilegious ultimate violation at the root of trans surgery. At its core, the trans movement is part of a broader assault on truth, in favor of unbridled personal autonomy and gratification. This movement began rejecting traditional moral and religious truths, including, but not limited to, sexual norms, and has proceeded to rejecting factual truth, including, but not limited to, gender identity. The rejection of truth operates under varying guises and employs a wide range of tactics. Trans surgery alleges to cure gender dysphoria. Under the cover of a largely societally manufactured problem and a fraudulent cure, it rebels against the truth of natural gender by surgically outwardly destroying it. The medical team and patient partner in the rebellion. Increasingly, large swaths of society employ a different tactic: they outright deny objective gender identity and obsess over their pronouns. Reflecting on these segments of contemporary society, one can only say together with the Lewis Carroll characters, most everyone's mad here, stark raving mad. But madness is not the extent of it. The movement rejecting truth, of which the trans movement is a part, represents a rebellion against the ultimate truth, Hashem Elokeichem Emes. Movement is a subsidiary and trans surgery an expression is at its core atheistic. It has effectively created for itself a relativistic nihilistic world. And nihilism is religiously synonymous with kefirah. A world which recognizes and welcomes the Borei Olam perforce is objectively real wherein absolute truth exists and has been revealed and there are established religious and moral norms. This is so because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is emes. He's the source of objective reality and He has revealed absolute moral and religious norms. The staggeringly pervasive and militantly aggressive LGBTQ culture poses formidable challenges to someone who seeks to be a yere shamayim, a Torah committed Jew. The following remarks focus on two of those emergent challenges. כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו וכמעשה ארץ כנען אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה לא תעשו ובחקתיהם לא תלכו.
Don't behave as they did in Mitzrayim where you formerly dwelt. So too don't behave as they do in Kanaan whither I am bringing you and don't adopt their practices. At this point in the Torah we're well acquainted with both Mitzrayim and Kanaan. So why does the Torah now identify these locales respectively as asher yeshavtem bah and אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה? The Torah is cautioning us. Perhaps you think that you need not be mindful of this prohibition. You will reason that you will surely not be tempted to emulate such corrupt reprehensible behavior. You will naturally, effortlessly, even mindlessly comply because you viscerally recoil at the mere thought or mention of such behaviors. The Torah counters such complacency with a fundamental insight into human nature. What is commonplace, no matter how pathological and immoral, appears to us normal and acceptable. Such is human nature. If I venture outside and observe someone walking backwards, he appears strange. But if I observe such behavior day after day and in ever increasing number of people behaving that way, I unconsciously acclimate and the behavior appears normal. Beware of their reprehensible behaviors, cautions the Torah, because you have had and will have extensive exposure. You're very susceptible and must continuously make a concerted effort to sustain and protect your Torah-based moral knowledge and instinct. Otherwise, to varying degrees, you will inevitably be affected and infected by the rampant, regnant, immoral culture. The omnipresent LGBTQ culture, the modern instantiation of ma'aseh eretz mitzrayim and ma'aseh eretz kanaan, has directly challenged us. Will prolonged exposure to depravity erode our Torah moral values and distort beyond recognition our Torah moral compass? Will we become desensitized to and even accepting of immorality and brazenness, heretical nihilism? Sadly and tragically, our response has been deficient. The LGBTQ culture has to varying degrees perniciously affected and insidiously infected some Orthodox communities. The following shocking breach illustrates this most painful development and the degree of moral decay. Not so long ago, no Orthodox Jew presented with a nightmarish scenario of a same-sex marriage would have ever considered even for a fleeting moment. attending. Every Orthodox Jew would have viscerally recoiled at the prospect of celebrating the debauchery of Ma'aseh Eretz Mitzrayim. And yet today, some misguided Orthodox Jews attend such weddings. Another illustration, hopefully exceptional, nonetheless shocking in its cruelty of moral confusion and decay. Nominally Orthodox parents cross-dress their children alongside other measures which they adopt and thereby intentionally track them from a very young age to transition. אוי לעיניים שכך רואות אוי לאוזניים שכך שומעות. In response to the Asher Yishavtem Bo challenge, we need to review the relevant unequivocal Torah sources and thereby reinforce in our own minds and hearts the Torah's teachings. We need to restore our moral sensitivities so that we once again recognize that homosexual behaviors and transsexual initiatives are anathema. The review and reinforcement need to be ongoing to counter our constant exposure. Rabbonim need to give words of chizuk from the pulpit. The challenge must also be met educationally. Our day schools and yeshivos, be-kdusha u-vtahara at an age-appropriate time and in an age-appropriate fashion need to be mchanech our children in this area, thereby educationally inoculating them because they, having been born into a world that celebrates Ma'aseh Eretz Mitzrayim, are especially vulnerable to the insidious influence of inevitable exposure. We face a second challenge as well. The LGBTQ culture is pervasive. With breathtaking speed, in large swaths of society, its ideology has not only emerged as an ideology amongst others; rather, it has become the regnant orthodoxy, dogmatically asserted and ruthlessly imposed by a cancel culture. Such morally and politically oppressive conditions can easily foster defensiveness, apologetics, and insecurity. Rather than succumb to societal pressures and adopt any of these postures, we need to proudly stand firm, unabashedly defend and abide by Torah morals and norms. Our very faith requires such a proud, principled response. HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who is perfect, blessed us with His perfect Torah, which is the source of absolute morality. One lives by divine truth and stands for divine morality with a sense of privilege, pride, and conviction, not rachmana litzlan apologetics and insecurity. Genuine belief and behavior must be commensurate. The Tur opens his magnum opus as follows: יהודה בן תימא אומר הוי עז כנמר וקל כנשר ורץ כצבי וגיבור כארי לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים.
Be bold as a namer, a leopard. Be bold as a leopard, the first of the four directives that Yehuda ben Teima gives. Hischil be-ez, I skipped a few words, Hischil be-ez says the Tur, לפי שהוא כלל גדול בעבודת הבורא יתברך. He begins by accentuating the need for boldness because it's a major and overarching principle in avodas Hashem. לפי שפעמים אדם חפץ לעשות מצוה. At times a person's heart is in the right place, he wants to do a mitzvah, venimna la'asosah but he's inhibited from doing it מפני בני אדם שמלעיגים עליו because people scoff at him, people ridicule him. Ve'al ken hizhir and that's why Yehuda ben Teima exhorts us: שתעז פניך כנגד המלעיגים to be bold against those who scoff. The Tur frames halacha and all halachic observance. This is the opening lines, the opening words of his compendium on halacha. The Tur frames halacha and all halachic observance with the lodestar words of Yehuda ben Teima, and the Tanna in turn prioritizes boldness because it's a major overarching principle in Avodas Hashem. The Rama takes his cue from the Tur. He too frames halachic observance by beginning his glosses to Shulchan Aruch with the following charge: ולא יתבייש מפני בני אדם המלעיגים עליו בעבודת השם יתברך.
A person should never ever be embarrassed, ashamed because of people who ridicule him for Avodas Hashem. Throughout our history, we've been called upon to walk in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu Ha'Ivri who in his faith commitment stood on one side while the whole world stood in opposition on the other side. Ancient Mesopotamia was violently opposed to monotheism, and yet Avraham Avinu persevered. Without that perseverance, without that quality of bold stubbornness and steadfastness, the Jewish people would not have come into existence. Without emulating him, we can't continue to exist. We would rachmana litzlan assimilate and disappear. In our generation as well, we're called upon to inwardly think and outwardly behave cross-culturally. We proudly live by our mesorah, unapologetically transmit it in its entirety, and unabashedly observe all its halachos and implement its standards. Our unflinching, proud, principled stand rejects all aspects of the LGBTQ lifestyle, but simultaneously, emphatically and empathetically encourages individuals who have strayed to return, seek guidance and support, and do teshuva. There's a potential vital corollary to our proudly upholding and implementing our faith commitment. The dogmatic LGBTQ orthodoxy has and continues to inhibit and suppress initiatives to genuinely help individuals who are struggling with same-sex attraction or confused gender identity. Instead of supporting efforts to discover pathways out of the morass, the regnant orthodoxy deepens it. One who is az kanamei however, is free from inhibition. We should be encouraging and supporting our outstanding mental health professionals אשר יראתם קודמת לחכמתם to find place, safe place, where they can legally devote themselves to helping sincerely struggling individuals who have been and are victimized by the societally driven sexual confusion and anomaly. I'd like to conclude just by sharing two further sources. The Torah's parsha of Ir HaNidachas deals with a city whose inhabitants engage in avoda zara. The Rambam in the Moreh Nevuchim has a remarkable, remarkable comment: כן הדין לדעתי באשר לכל עבירה הנראית כסותרת את התורה ועוינת לה.
L'daati, listen to this mori verabbosai, l'daati, in my opinion, says the Rambam, ilu adam miyisrael, for a Jew, achal basar b'chalav would eat. a cheeseburger, o levash shatnez, או גילח פאת הראש, or would cut off the pa'as rosh mitoch zilzul, not because of temptation, but because of contempt, ve-hakalo be-erkom, and dismissing them, mitoch deiah, from a view, from a belief she-mimmennu mitba’er, from which it becomes clear שאינו מאמין באמתת הציווי הזה, it's clear from his behavior he doesn't believe in the truth of this commandment. hu hayah be-einai, that individual in my eyes, says the Rambam, את השם הוא מגדף. He blasphemes Ha-kadosh Barukh Hu. And in a time, in a different time, in a different place, not in this day, not in this place, but in a different time, in a different place, יש להרגו לא הריגה של עונש אלא בתור כופר. He's dealt with not punitively, but he's dealt with as a heretic, ke-anshei ir ha-niddachas, who are also treated that way because of the heresy. If the Rambam were living today, instead of giving the examples or alongside the examples of basar vecholov, or levishas shatnez, or giluach pa'as rosh, so the Rambam would have added mishkav zachar, he would have added ma'aseh eretz mitzrayim, and he would have said, le-daati, ilu adam mi-yisrael engages in these behaviors mitoch zilzul because of a contempt for devar Hashem, for the tzivvui shel Hashem, mitoch hakalo be-erkom, because he lightly dismisses them, hu be-einai, he in my eyes, the Rambam says, את השם הוא מגדף. It's gidduf, it's blasphemy. And the final source, and many of you are familiar with this, when the challenge of the day for American Jewry was the push to remove mechitzos from Orthodox shuls, and the argument was it was the only way to stop the hemorrhaging of people who were leaving Orthodox shuls and going to Conservative temples, so the Rav spoke out very clearly, very forcefully, opposing it to the nth degree. "I know beforehand the reaction to my letter on the part of our apostles of religious modernism and utilitarianism." Those two words are in quotation marks. If the Rav were writing today about our issue, he would say in quotation marks "chesed, compassion," the quotation marks indicating spurious. "They will certainly say that since a great majority of the recently constructed synagogues have abandoned separate seating, we must not be out of step with the masses. This type of reasoning could well be employed with regard to other religious precepts, such as the observance of Shabbos or the dietary laws. However, we must remember that an ethical or halakhic principle decreed by God is not rendered void by the fact that the people refuse to abide by it. Its cogency and veracity are perennial and independent of compliance on the part of the multitudes. If the ethical norm 'Thou shalt not kill' has not lost its validity during the days of extermination camps and gas chambers when millions of people were engaged in ruthless murder, but on the contrary has been impregnated with deeper meaning and significance, then every halakhic maxim assumes greater import in times of widespread disregard." The greater the difficulty, the more biting the ridicule and sarcasm, and the more numerous the opponent, then the holier is the principle and the more sacred is our duty to defend it. Repeating: The greater the difficulty, the more biting the ridicule and sarcasm, and the more numerous the opponent, then the holier is the principle, the holier is the principle, and the more sacred is our duty to defend it. In my opinion, says the Rav, the halakhic dictum בשעת גזירת המלכות אפילו מצוה קלה כגון לשינויי ערקתא דמסאני יהרג ואל יעבור
at a time of religious persecution through governmental decree, even for a minor custom such as one involving changing a shoelace, let one suffer death sooner than transgress it, requiring of us a heroic stand in times of adversity, applies not only to political and religious persecution originated by some pagan ruler but also to situations in which a small number of God-fearing and Torah-loyal people is confronted with a hostile attitude on the part of the majority dominated by a false philosophy. It's frightening how apt and targeted the Rav's words are today as well. Thank you. Good job. Gut Shabbos, Tizku L'mitzvot.