I must say that this is probably the most F@#$ed up thing I have ever seen. I know, my liberal ideals are all tied up like a tangled umbilical cord, but I laughed when I first read the article and now I am quite disgusted by it. I’ll get right to it.
A 31 year old gay synagogue, in San Francisco is coming out with a new siddur. Normally when the Reform movement publishes a siddur, they remove things like the morning brachos thanking God for creating me as a Jew or as a man, etc…But this siddur is completely whack.
The main controversy is a prayer entitled “Kavanah for Unexpected Intimacy” to permit the encounter to be a blessing. WTF is that? I wish there was a prayer for kavanah during shmona esray or kavanah during kol nidrei. But what on earth is kavanah during “unexpected intimacy”? Does that mean that while your having a casual encounter with some guy you met at the local bar- you ask God to help you remember his name, so you don’t call out your ex-boyfriends name during sex? Thats the only reasoning I can think of.
But the article on JTA says the following which is complete insanity
“In the dark, in a strange place, our father Jacob encountered a stranger with whom he grappled all night,” the prayer begins, referring to the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. “He never knew the stranger’s name, yet their encounter was a blessing.” You mean to tell me that you are comparing Jacobs encounter with Aisuvs angel is similar to a one night stand or a craigslist casual encounter??? WTF- that is the most insane thing I have ever heard. I hope you are not trying to come to the conclusion that Yaakov had sex with the angel?
The point of the prayer for unexpected intimacy is “that all aspects of our lives are holy if we approach them with a sense of the sacred,” said Rabbi Camille Angel of Sha’ar Zahav.
This is not even talking about the plain old intimacy between two loving people that happen to be of the same sex. Nope, this is basically saying that one night stands are not only ok, but you can sacntify that relationship which is completely wrong be it gay or straight according to the torah and straight people can at least bust out some ghetto heters for mikvah or pilegesh.
A blessing over sex change operations will also be included in the siddur!
These people are really taking it too far.
Hat Tip to Dov Bear