I’m an Orthodox Jew. Haaretz writers would no doubt call me “Ultra Orthodox”. I can tell you the article is (shockingly) absurd. First of all, there is no brave new world of homosexual acceptance and understanding emerging among Ultra Orthodox Jews. Jews who follow the Torah have only one opinion about it: it’s wrong. Period. Full Stop. Second, they make it sound as if the topic of homosexuality itself is some kind of scary topic that Orthodox Jews never talk about.

Wrong. It is not discussed in the same way that the permissive popular/secular culture does: we don’t talk about individuals; we talk about issues. Gay marriage, like homosexuality, is wrong. Gay synagogues are wrong. Any measure of compromise with the Torah outlook on homosexuality is wrong.

Like every other aspect of human behavior, homosexuality is addressed in a candid and sober fashion in the Talmud and other works on Jewish law. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it, since the Torah perspective is fairly straightforward (pun intended).

It is also important to dispel any notion that Orthodox Jews eagerly wish gays were put to death as prescribed in the Torah. There is no judicial authority with the power to impose such a penalty and the actual procedure (like all capital cases in Jewish law) has so many protections in favor of a defendant that the penalty would almost be impossible to carry out. Moreover, the correct attitude of Orthodox Jews is that they would rather see people change their ways than suffer punishments.