HH
Rabbi Nachman left a legacy in his teachings and tradition of the
importance of judging favorably even the worst of sinners. Once someone asked
Rabbainu, even if the person is an utter sinner, to which Rabbainu answered
sharply, how is it possible to call a Jew an utter sinner?! Every Jew has got
to have some little good point to him, and Rabbainu revealed that if we focus
only on that good in the person, even if he is the worst sinner, we can turn
him around completely to the good.
That is why it is astounding to find is Sefer Hamidos ("Character" - The Alef Bet Book of the Traits) in the entry on Promiscuity (Second Volume – which was
compiled later in his life, from higher perceptions; #8) that it is forbidden
to judge homose*uality favorably (in the Hebrew write up of this, I go a little
more in length regarding a possible source in the Medrash for this). Even
though this does not rule out our judging the person favorably, by not looking
at all at his bad, even still it is astounding to see this exception.
Why is homose*uality worse than all the other sins of the Torah, in that
only this sin is singled out, that it cannot be judged favorably?
From the accounts of homose*uals, I think it is established that there
is an intrinsic shame to their homose*uality, in their accounts they tell of
the utter shame they felt when they were confronted with their desires. This
shame is not found in any other transgression, whether eating something
forbidden or violating the Shabbos, etc., G"F. A person must feel ashamed
before HY for transgressing, but there was no inherent shame in the action.
Why is there inherent shame in the matter of homose*uality?
First of all we will define shame as the realization of being deficient
against something. The Ramchal explains that therefore shame, humility, and
fear, all go together, because they are based on this. So why is homose*uality
intrinsically full of shame as opposed to all the other transgressions.
It seems to me that this is because it is the exact opposite of the Haughtiness
of HY. We find that HY is called Haughty in His Unity (see the 6th
name of Unna BiKuach), and in the song of Uz Yushir, that the Jews sang to HY
upon crossing the Yam Suf, they sang that HY is haughty haughty, and the Zohar
explains that this refers to the fact that Zeir Anpin ('the smaller countenance'
i.e. the countenance that is associated with running this world) is crowned
with complete 'mochin' (minds) from the higher countenances of Aba, Ema, and
Erich Anpin. That means that the Unity of HY even in this world is absolutely
complete and perfect.
Now man is created in the image of HY, and therefore he has to reflect
this perfection, any shortcoming will result in shame. Every man by himself is
in the image, and is a reflection of HY. Every single person has to say, for me
the entire world was created etc.. Therefore all transgressions which damage
the Image will result in shame, but homose*uality actually cuts at the very Unity
of the Image itself. For the Image is one, and homose*uality says one is not
sufficient. The haughtiness of G-d is in His Unity, without the Unity, there is
the exact opposite, shame and degradation. Therefore homose*uality is
intrinsically full of shame. There is nothing that can change that.
The main pleasure the homose*ual gets is based on the shame involved.
The Talmud revealed that forbidden pleasures are all the more pleasurable, "stolen
waters are sweet," and the height of the theft is described, "as the embarrassment
of a thief when he is caught," thus the greatest sweetener, is embarrassment,
it is the greatest kin* and fe*ish of them all. In truth all se* should be the
same thing, just achieving an orga*m, however that is not the case, it all
depends on the mind, and here embarrassment plays the ultimate game changer,
and all of homose*uality is completely based on this shame, without this shame
there would be no 'fun' in this disgusting perversion, but with the shame comes
all their pleasure.
The problem is that despite all the pleasure the homose*ual is able to
derive building on the shame, at the end of the day he is left with even more
shame and degradation. This is not a small matter. It is extremely hard to live
with such shame. No matter what they do, no matter who if they are officially
recognized, officially married, honored, you name it, nothing can undo or fix
their shame.
This explains why the homose*uals are so busy promoting their honor,
pride, and recognition. Because as much as they derive so much pleasure from
their aberration, because of the shame, the shame will always haunt them and
completely dwarf them. So they will constantly have to fight in every way to
cap their shame with some sort of pride, or topple the whole world so that everyone
is just as shameful as they are.
Now we can understand even better why it is forbidden to judge
homose*uality favorably. The whole idea of judging favorably is based on the
Unity of HY, that HY is completely good, and is completely One, that means that
everything in the world is for the good. Therefore we always try to see the
good in everything. Even when we see something that looks completely wrong, we
look deeper and try to understand how it is really good. However the homose*ual
does the exact opposite. He takes the shame, the bad, and builds on it to fulfill
his lust with the shame itself. There is no side to judge this favorably. It is
an act of shame, period.
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!
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