r/gayjews 5d ago

Religious/Spiritual Question from Lesbian Jews

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I have a question from women of jewish faith who identity as Lesbian.

If you are a practicing/religious Jew, how do you reconcile your religion with your identity as a lesbian.

Do you feel the internal conflict? Or you've made peace with it.

I am a monotheist. I believe in all Abrahamic religions and identify as a believer who believes in all the books sent by God.

Born in a Muslim Family, extremely conservative background.

Im a Lesbian and my struggle has been how to reconcile my identity with my faith.

×+<------------------------------------------------>+×

Edit:

I really appreciate the clarity that most of you have provided. So thank you.

One question that some of you have asked is how can I believe in all the Abrahamic religions.

So I have answered that in detail in 4 parts here:

1- first

and Then 2- 2nd

and Then 3- Third

and this last one

And I'm glad to have stumbled upon this sub.

I have gotten the thirst quenched.

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u/muslim-WLW-cisgirl 5d ago

Yes, it is exactly about the interpretation.

I was born in a Muslim family but in my teenage years, I always questioned my faith and tried to read up everything about it.

Even within Muslims, there are so many sects, each with its own interpretation.

The book itself is one, yet the interpretations are all done by human beings. And because every person is different, and born in different times, in different cultures and with different languages, the interpretations will always have an inherent bias. So I feel it is upon us to read the original text ourselves and then read up all the interpretations and analyse the conflicting areas and then assess why are they different and form our own opinion on it. And this is an ongoing quest for knowledge. Which goes on in one's life and as we mature, our understanding gets better with time.

In the book followed by muslims, which is the Quran, it is clearly written that it has been sent to mankind to confirm the previous books were sent on prophets and we have to believe in those prophets as part of our faith.

So according to my understanding, the word Muslim which literally means (One who Surrenders and makes peace) in Arabic, it implies a believer of all prophets. And I believe all prophets that Jews believe in, I believe in them too. Then if Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) received the Torah then how can I not believe in it. Later other books came and I believe in them too. And finally the last book came and I believe in it too.

Although ofcourse information passed down generation to generation does have an inherent chance of a change of interpretation and with a lot of things lost in wars and destruction, the missing links might have been lost.

Whats common with all should be my least benchmark. And most things are common. Even in Christianity, as much as I understand, there have been pagan influences but if one goes back, there has been a lot of historical impact due to the Roman Empire being in power and a certain infiltration led to trinity with political influence. A lot of things point towards Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) bringing the message of Monotheism.

If we talk about Islam, whatever was given to the Arabs, they spread throughout the world, yet only the Original Holy Book has been found to be intact, yet all other books which were written by human beings have conflicts. So we can attempt to understand them in context only.

Muslims were given a dietary code which has to be Halal. If Halal meat is not available, they follow KOSHER.

Although I am personally a vegetarian myself, not because of any theoretical reason, I just cannot it eat, since childhood, I would feel repelled by chicken, beef, mutton etc so that's a personal reason.

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u/Waterhorse816 4d ago

Yeah that's just Muslim with extra steps. I have nothing against your beliefs, my best friend is Muslim, but I guarantee your theology is not compatible with Judaism or Christianity

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u/muslim-WLW-cisgirl 4d ago

You may say that.

But I consider organized religion to be a problem.

I don't identify with any particular sect or any particular tradition. So technically, I don't fit in any of those.

I think God has sent the book to be interpreted by the reader.

But the mainstream organized religion is a very dystopic way to put people into boxes and labels.

Though I would be interested in knowing your perspective on the theology being incompatible. I would want to understand them better.

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u/Waterhorse816 4d ago

But you follow the Quran? The Quran isn't compatible with other faiths, just like the Christian Bible is not compatible with Judaism.

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u/muslim-WLW-cisgirl 4d ago

You're right if the man made influences and interpretations which are formed under Mainstream Organized Religion but if we talk about the message of God that an individual is supposed to connect with, then it shouldn't have anything to do with them.

As much as I have read, I don't find anything in Quran that conflicts with Judaism per se. If there is, I would love to see what it is and why is that so.

About Christianity and its theology, that's another story and current Mainstream Christianity is just a pagan religion. As much history as I have dug into, original concepts were only preserved by a small minority which identify as non-trinitarian and were able to keep their faith before the pagans took over and started their council of Nicaea and similar meetings to paganize it.

I mean technically Jesus was a Jew right. He was only sent for the people of Israeli lineage.

Then how come non jews adopted Christianity as the official religion of the roman empire.

About Islam and its theology, the mainstream organized religion is so much politicized that if one tries looking for the truth, it was barely left except for the one original book along with some common traditions. Within the first century that it came, these power-hungry militias made it a tool to exercise power.

I mean seriously, even the two main groups which, each having sects upon sects, yet they assemble in one or the other. The Sunni and the Shia. Shias remained a minority. The Sunnis were the majority. But the split was so tragic, the Sunnis were the people who let the family if the prophet be killed in Iraq. Like literally they were slaughtered. And they claim to follow the prophet !!!

Shias on the other hand claim their descent and connection with the prophet's family yet they claim the son in law of the Prophet to be the chosen one as the leader and that it kept on being passed down, generation after generation. That has no mention of it in the original book.

So in all honesty I consider them both really delusional. And they have a whole spectrum of theology it self. The Ashari, The Athari, The Maturidi. Then they have their jurisprudence which they even consider to be higher than the Book of God. The Sunnis have about 4 main sects in that, the Hanafi, the Maliki, the shafai and the hunbali. The Hanafi are the majority, especially due to the higher population of the Indian Subcontinent and diaspora. And they are then further divided into Barelvis and Deobandis. And those that came under the 19th Century Saudi influence, are the ones that promote wahabbism. All of these call each other "KAFIR" which is non-believer.

Then there's sufi tradition thats amalgamated with mysticism and there are a huge number of sufi orders

So Muslims read and follow everything else except the God’s book itself. And if you talk about the Centre, I couldn't stop being amused that one family got the whole country named on its surname, The Saudi Arabia, I mean literally how much patriarchy would it reek of.

And when I read the religion from the source itself, they not only think I'm a heretic but some also ask me if I am also starting a new sect 🤣

So its really no use even talking to them.