What Is Kabbalah's Belief About Homosexuality?

Question

What Is Kabbalah's Belief About Homosexuality?

11 Answers

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Answer 1

Unlike many of the world's formal religions, Kabbalah does not believe that homosexuality is wrong. Instead, it believes that if two people are in a loving, non-abusive, sharing, mutually benefical relationship, then there is nothing at all that they can feel negative about towards the relationship.

Kabbalists believe that the soul separated into pieces, some are male, some are female, but that doesn't mean that men can't hold male and female pieces within them or females can have entirely male pieces instead! This is the joy of Kabbalah, the non-judgmental understanding that these things are not against God, but part of the sharing process.

The Light affects us equally, whether we choose to block it out or not is completely down to the individual. If two men or conversely two women are happy together, if they celebrate receiving for the purpose of sharing with each other, then it's all for the good.

Answer 2

I have been studying Kabbalah with Rav and Karen Berg in the Kabbalah Centre Intl for the past two years. At absolutely no point in my studies have I been taught that homosexuality is wrong. In fact, there are thousands of gay students who have learned to transform the same darkness and chaos that heterosexuals experience into a life overflowing with abundance and light. If you are familiar with the ten sefirot, you will understand that within ANY relationship, for there to exist circuitry there must exist one who represents Zier Anpin and one who represents Malchut. In other words, someone to supply the energy and another to manifest it in this physical world. The one who supplies energy is termed "male" and the one who manifests is termed "female." Kabbalah is a coded study, and you must understand the coded language in order to connect to the light force of the creator. Kabbalah understands that the physical world comprises only 1% of what we can perceive. The remaining 99% is all spiritual levels of consciousness which we are blocked from perceiving by our opponent (satan). If you are interpreting Sodom and Gomorrah as a literal 1% story, then you have neglected the 99%, which is where the light force resides. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because it was forbidden to share with another human being. The sexual antics were not acts of two united human beings sharing an intimate moment, but rather many fragmented bodies receiving without any concern for sharing. Thus, as long as two human beings are representing the holy unity, Zier Anpin with Malchut, light and vessel, energy and manifestor, then there is perfect circuitry and light is revealed. It is NEVER about your sexual organs, but always about light and vessel.

Answer 3

On the point of the Zohar, I was taught by my Rabbi that it meant instead the spiritual facets of the person, and the personality, i.e. That God made it so that some people would be "female" (gentle and healing) and "male" (passionate and fierce). He reckons this is how people fit together. This is an entirely spiritual thing, and has nothing to do with our physical bodies. Ultimately, real Kabbalah does not discriminate against homosexuals, as it is--in part--a tool for the individual to look at religious books like the Zohar or the Torah, which transcends what it says about the physical nature and sees what it means about the spiritual nature.

Answer 4

Kabbalah facts in advanced teachings (which they won't teach you until "you are ready to hear it and restric your gay desires) (and they will help "convert you" as they have done with past students...don't believe me? Their stories are all over the internet do a search)
*all gay men are reincarnated as barren women (wheels of a soul)
*being born gay or transgendered is because of "past life sexual misconduct"
*being gay is a "tikkun" you must "correct" in this life, but you don't have to do it in this life! You'll be reincarnated forever until you do!
*Soulmates are BY DEFINITION man and woman. Gays can never find their soulmate until they "convert"
*ALL gay sex "creates demons, feeds satan, disconnects you from the light, and is selfish lust" Their words not mine. If you're really daring...ask them about anal sex!
*Being gay is a choice.
Don't believe me? Call 1800 Kabbalah and watch them squirm as you ask these questions...they will always come back with "but we don't judge homosexuals"!
There are dozens of books, hundreds of courses, and thousands of lectures and LGBTQI individuals get a two page non-commital answer (that if you honestly read can be absolutely believed while still believing everything I've written above. What gets me is that there are a large number of gay students giving money, time, and hope to the center but are unaware of these horrendous teachings because they keep them hidden! ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS!
Thank you that's my rant!
:-)

Answer 5

They will charge you $40 and tell you that it can take up to 10 yrs to become straight. They will tell you that they know people who have "done it." However, relationships in general can be rewarding, even if you're only pretending to be straight, having a wife and kids will have its perks. I don't believe homosexuals should waste their time and money on self-hating practices... You can't tell me that someone accepts the way God made them- GAY- and still have a desire to change something as fundamental as their sexuality. Beware of benevolent homophobia, just like the benevolent sexism you’ll encounter there. While $40 or $101 to do Mikvah adds up to big money over 10 yrs… it could do much more given to Unicef or smoother charity that is actively working on removing suffering from the world at large. You pry won’t even find this belief out till way after you’ve spent a lot of time and money getting involved. It’ll make it harder for you not to do it.. I almost did it myself. In nature, homosexuality exists and there are forms of life that do not operate on this “fundamental” Penis/Vagina= Light/Vessel level. IT does give straight people an opportunity to protect their “elite status” as straight, while benevolently supporting homophobia. IF a gay man abused women in his formal life… why would his correction be to born attracted to men? Why wouldn’t it be to be kind to women? Teaching that being gay is a correction for not having treated women well in a former life is the same as saying that heterosexual relationships are so holy that if you abuse a woman, you’ll be doomed to the drudgery of wanting to sleep with your own sex and like it. Being gay is so gross and undesirable it’s a correction for abusing women… come one… elitist much?

Answer 6

THE REAL TRUTH....the answer is yes and no at the same time. In the big picture, yes kabbalah says that all homosexual men are meant to transform their nature to be with a woman and restrict their gay desires. HOWEVER, Kabbalah is based on something called "tikkune"...in english "correction" which means that soul keeps going through a reincarnation process until it corrects EVERYTHING. The earth in itself has a correction of it's own and when every person corrects themselves the correction of the earth will be complete. We as human are still in that process and the point where we are now most people will not finish their correction in this life...only a few righteous souls in every generation have this merit.
So...the ultimate goal is for gay men to transform into straight men, but it does not mean they are supposed to do it in this lifetime. It does not even mean they will have to be gay in their next life, but they will carry "baggage" with them into their next life because they did not overcome their homosexuality. However, that "baggage" could manifest in a totally different set of problems. I know this all sounds confusing, but the bottom line is...In Kabbalah the most important thing is LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. If two men are in a committed relationship and they are practicing receiving for the sake of sharing and they are conscious humans who are working on helping other people and making the world a better place, then they are revealing more light in the world than a straight man who has a wife and children but is cheating on their wife, or cheating in business or not respecting other humans.

Answer 7

I find these answers highly offensive:

The ultimate goal of a gay man is to become straight...this assumes being gay is a choice and can and eventually must be "overcome"

homosexuality will become baggage you carry into thd next life or will turn into a "new problem"

and finally a gay couple who shares reveals more light than a hideous straight couple still leaves room for the belief that if a gay couple and straight couple are both sharing who reveals more light?

I'm scared to ask but what is your view on gay sex? Does my making love to my boyfriend reveal any light or is it something kabbalah says "disconnects" you from the light? I believe there are a lot of advanced teachings that demonize gays in kabbalah and a lot of kabbalists who look down on it under the guise of "non judgement" and they wont teach you these hateful teachings until "you are ready to hear it" (and go against your fundamental nature) and convert to straight. They honestly try to help people repress their same sex love and increase their non existent opposite sex love because soulmates are only opposite sex and having children is the absolute best thing you can do....absolutely hideous

Answer 8

I like the 3rd answer more than the one above me. It is not about sexual organs. It's all in the mind. As long as in a couple, one represents male the other female, it is harmonious. Besides, wouldn't the goal of a gay man be to transform into a female in the next life (and not to be a straight man [regarding the above answer])? Same for a lesbian--to be a straight man. Either way I don't think it's important what our bodies are. The spiritual mind is more important than the physical world.

Answer 9

Bruno Faustino answered

My homophobic, fake kabbalist friends:
You know that contemporary kabbalists reckon that the Torah is not meant to be read literally - no matter how ignorant, any student of kabbalah would know this by now, since the Torah is about Light and Spirit, something totally different from our world or the way we perceive it.

The whole deal of Tora's prohibition against homosexuality (Lev.18:22, 20:13) Is to be read under the above light and reason, and the opposite (homophobia) is to value hatred, fear and ignorance over Love, which is the Whole Torah as a matter of fact.

Blessings and Light, for Love's sake!

Answer 10

It differs based on who you ask. But it doesn't matter what people think scriptures or other religious works mean what does matter is what did the author(s) who authored it say it actually means. Open your mind and the truths shall be revealed to you join your voice with mine and we shall sing peace everlasting

Answer 11

I totally get that someone who is gay does not want to feel or believe being that gay equates to "a correction needed". Obviously that would feel offensive to a person who was gay, because as most people know, being gay is not a choice, you really are or are not or perhaps have attraction to both sexes, but it's not like you can flip a switch and choose it. But just to play devils advocate here, Kabbalah teaches us that we as souls come to correct many many things. And when we have corrected them all then we complete our corrections, and move into a phase that is really beyond our comprehension. This is a very rare thing, very few of us will in this lifetime, correct everything. Now what are we talking about? How about eliminating anger completely. Do you think thats an easy thing to do? And how about fear? Can someone say that they are completely not afraid of anything? The perfected Kabbalist can say yes to all these things. No fear, no anger, no ego, no desire for themself really, just a pure channel of caring and sharing that connects and is in perfect alignment to a power of the one soul that some call god, which only wants to love and care for others. So who is to say what that looks like. Is it possible that the manifestation of certain negative sexual actions result in a lifetime born as a homosexual? Who knows. All I know is that I was born with many traits I know I need to change. I have anger, I have jealousy, I have hate at times, I have negative thoughts, I have sadness, I have fear, I can go on and on. And what about judgement, thats a doozie and probably why so many homosexuals are turned off to anything that resembles religion in general. In my mind those are much more important things to overcome than my or anyone else's sexual orientation. So the question is where are you going to put your focus. Most of us will be lucky to overcome just a very small piece of any one of those issues. So worrying about someones sexual orientation (assuming it is something to be corrected and I'm not saying it is) is like deckchairs on the titanic sort of thing. I have been studying at the centre for several years and the one thing I know from my studies, a homosexual person is... A person. In the Torah we were reading the section about sodomy, and I looked at my teacher and said to him... Hey teach, so whats up with this section? Whats that about. He smiled and looked at me and said... There is a lot of light and are many secrets in this section, but first, "don't take it literally". At the centre one of the first and most important things they teach is not to judge. And that it is literally impossible for us to judge another in their process as it is a very individual thing. Each one of us have their own process and issues to work on to achieve that alignment with the source of creation. I have no idea what you have gone through in this or previous incarnations so who am I to judge your process. If a teacher is able to see a correction needed in a student then that is a very specific thing to that student, between him/her and that teacher. Are mistakes made? I imagine so as teacher have their process as well. They are just trying to bring their understanding of the wisdom and disseminate it the best they can as it has been taught to them. I know that their main job is to care for students and to help them with making them better people, and again it is a very individual thing. So sorry for the length here, and if I have offended any homosexual people reading this I very much apologize. All I can say is that I hope to see you at the centre where we can work on ourselves and work to help each other in this difficult world we find ourselves, and help to make each others lives better and more fulfilled.