You may have noticed the efforts of your Facebook friends putting on a rainbow background. Before you get excited about the spectacular effect, we would like to remind all of you what this new feature of Facebook means. It follows the decision of the US Supreme Court that under the Constitution, each is eligible for “equality of marriage” – that is, to decide whether they want to marry a man or a woman. The Facebook feature to “Celebrate Pride” celebrates the decision of the Supreme Court by adopting a beautiful colored background, which is nothing but the official gay flag.For those of you who unaware of the significance of the colorful background, it’s time to understand what you expressed your support for and do away with the new colorful background. For those of you who are aware but think, “What is the problem? Don’t they also deserve social and economic rights, just as any other couple?” We have news for you. The US Supreme Court’s decision does not set a precedent at all. Similar resolutions were passed thousands of years ago, before the flood swept the world away, as told in the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
According to Midrash Genesis Rabbah 26:5, “The generation of the flood were not eradicated from this world until they had established marriage contracts between two men and between man and beast.” The commentary of the Mararzo explains, “They erred in their defective minds and thought that since they were created with powerful lusts, they were obliged to follow their desires in whatever direction it would take them… Thus they established marriage contracts between two men, and their judges legitimized them.”As you can see with your own eyes, here is the legal precedent, which led the world to destruction through the flood. A destruction that swept away everything except Noach and his family, and the animals he brought with him to the ark. The flood may have been a onetime event, but that doesn’t mean that those who follow the behavior of the generation of the flood will escape punishment. In Leviticus, we find the following oath of G-d: “I am Hashem your G-d. Do not behave like the people of the land of Egypt. … Do not do, like the deeds of the land of Canaan … I am Hashem your G-d.” Why does it state twice, “I am Hashem your G-d?” The Midrash explains: “I am G-d – twice: I am the one who punished the generation of the flood, Sodom and Egypt. I will in the future punish those who act like them” (Vayikra Rabbah 23:9).
The seriousness of the offence of the deeds of the generation of the flood and of “celebrating equal human rights” in the world today, causes the corruption of the world because sin is turned into the established norm. When a sin is committed thought the inability to overcome one’s inclination (yetzer hara), it doesn’t cause corruption to the same extent. However, when the court sanctions such actions – G-d cannot stand it. When we turn the world into a place where sin is institutionalized, then the world loses its right to exist!About the creation of humankind it states, “Male and female- He created them” (Genesis 1:27). Humanity was originally created as one being which included male and female. They were divided in order to subsequently come together by means of mutual giving. Through this, they reach perfection, and manifest their being created in the image of G-d. There is nothing more offensive than taking the desire imparted into man in order to “cleave to his wife,” for the sake of reaching perfection, and using it in order to pursue mere lust. Turning such behavior into the established norm and to a “human right” protected by law, undermines the very foundation of our existence on earth.
In the past, even the nations of the world understood this. In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chulin, it states, “B’nei Noach (the nations of the world) accepted thirty commandments, but they only kept three: The first one is that they do not make marriage contracts between two men” (Babylonian Talmud, Chulin 92a-b). Rashi explains there, that while people of the nations are known to engage in homosexuality, they still did not take this transgression lightly to the extent that they would write a marriage contract between two men.The world has deteriorated since Talmudic times. In our era, we are surely returning to the ways of the generation of the flood, who not only sinned but also institutionalized their sin through judicial decisions and legal documents. This certainly is no cause for celebration.