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Rating: 
Summary: Non-Orthodox Discourse Sold as Orthodox
Review: I definitely agree with Rabbi Greenberg that greater acceptance for gay people within the Jewish Orthodox community is an imperative in this day and age. I do not consider myself learned enough to say whether or not there is a way to justify homosexual intercourse within the framework of Jewish law. Still, I can confidently say that the line of reasoning Rabbi Greenberg uses is not valid in Halachic decision-making. Rabbi Greenberg's thesis is that the prohibition of male homosexual intercourse in Leviticus is limited to humiliating intercourse. The underlying rationale that coitus is a form of power struggle is a post-modern Feminist discourse which is alien to Orthodox Judaism. It is clear from the context of the verse that it doesn't deal with homosexual rape. The book in general reads more like a college dissertation on the history of homosexual Jews than anything even distantly related to a rabbinical responsum.
Furthermore, Rabbi Greenberg either misunderstands or misconstrues the misgivings of R' Moshe Feinstein about publishing an apparently adulterated manuscript. I find the implied accusations of irrational homophobia made against R' Moshe not to be in line with someone claiming allegiance to Orthodoxy, not to mention the rabbinate.
Rabbi Greenberg hijacks a text that is obviously related to transsexuality as opposed to homosexuality by what can be best described as a semantic tour-de-force. It is disappointing to find passages that smack of transphobia in this kind of book.
While the pain of Orthodox gay and lesbian Jews is very real, as the film Trembling Before G-d shows, trying to change Orthodox law with Reform terminology can't succeed.
Rating: 
Summary: Give a copy of this book to everyone whom you care about!
Review: "Wrestling with God and Men" is the most erudite, compelling, and utterly satisfying book on homosexuality in religion that I've ever read. Rabbi Greenberg weaves the scholarship of our ancestors into a glorious tapestry, demonstrating not just the fact of homosexuality within the fabric of Judaism, but the more fundamental necessity of this inclusion.Rabbi Greenberg would seem to prefer we believe that he is like "Daniel the Tailor", the champion of the oppressed, who challenged his Rabbis for failing to balance their jurisprudence and values with the biblical concern for justice and fairness. (Greenberg, pg 212). However his holy scholarship suggests that Rabbi Greenberg is more like Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, former chief rabbi of Israel, who invited "Jews everywhere to return to their ancestral land and restore their ancient spirit" (Greenberg, pg 242). In all likelihood, this book could not have been written in any other age. It needed the living experiences of an openly-gay Rabbinic mind to realize an honest gay perspective and approach to our sacred texts.
If you are considering buying this book, please buy several copies and donate them to your local Hillel, Chabad, Yeshiva and Shul. All people who are "wrestling with god" should read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Give a copy of this book to everyone whom you care about!
Review: "Wrestling with God and Men" is the most erudite, compelling, and utterly satisfying book on homosexuality in religion that I've ever read. Rabbi Greenberg weaves the scholarship of our ancestors into a glorious tapestry, demonstrating not just the fact of homosexuality within the fabric of Judaism, but the more fundamental necessity of this inclusion. Rabbi Greenberg would seem to prefer we believe that he is like "Daniel the Tailor", the champion of the oppressed, who challenged his Rabbis for failing to balance their jurisprudence and values with the biblical concern for justice and fairness. (Greenberg, pg 212). However his holy scholarship suggests that Rabbi Greenberg is more like Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, former chief rabbi of Israel, who invited "Jews everywhere to return to their ancestral land and restore their ancient spirit" (Greenberg, pg 242). In all likelihood, this book could not have been written in any other age. It needed the living experiences of an openly-gay Rabbinic mind to realize an honest gay perspective and approach to our sacred texts.
If you are considering buying this book, please buy several copies and donate them to your local Hillel, Chabad, Yeshiva and Shul. All people who are "wrestling with god" should read this book!
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Summary: AT LAST, DIGNITY FOR TRADITIONAL JEWS!
Review: IT IS WITH GREAT JOY THAT I SALUTE RABBI STEVEN GREENBERG ON HIS MILESTONE OF "COMING OUT" AND ALSO ON WRITING THE BOOK: WRESTLING WITH GOD AND MEN. HAVING THE GUTS TO CONFRONT TRADITIONAL RELIGION WITH A SUBJECT MATTER LOATHED BY SO MANY IS MORE THAN UPLIFTING, IT IS SALVATION.
THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN, WARM, INTRIGUING, NOTWITHSTANDING SCHOLARLY. IT CREATES A SAFE HAVEN FOR JEWS (AND OTHERS) WHO MUST RECONCILE HOMOSEXUALITY WITH FAITH, BOTH BEING INTEGRAL TO THEIR EXISTENCE. ECHOING RABBI GREENBERG... HOW CAN GOD CREATE GAYS, AND THEN DOOM THEM? FOR MANY INDIVIDUALS, HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A CHOICE, NOR IS THEIR INTENSE FAITH. IT SEEMS LIKE AFTER 3,300 YEARS OF JUDAISM, THE TIME IS RIPE FOR NEW BEGINNINGS, NEW DIALOGUES, INCLUSIVE RELIGION. THIS BOOK IS PERHAPS "THE BIBLE" FOR THOSE INDIVIDUALS STRUGGLING TO MAKE SENSE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND FAITH IN OUR CONDEMNATORY WORLD.
AT LAST, DIGNITY FOR TRADITIONAL JEWS!
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Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: It was Shakespeare who said, "To thy own self be true," but it was Rabbi Steven Greenberg who made this his mantra. As a (...)of the Jewish faith, I have wrestled with God and men, both figuritively and literally. Rabbi Greenberg's eloquant writing is equally compassionate and thought provoking. It is comfort; a warm glass of milk or a soft blanket, if you will. I feel more at ease being a (...)Jew after having read this book. I feel more at peace and more comfortable in this world. Buy this book and share it with those you love.
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Summary: Thoughtful, insightful, respectful and enlightening
Review: The task of trying to reconcile preconceived ideas about sexuality and religion is not an easy one. Rabbi Steven Greenberg tackles these with great respect to both Judaism and also his own sexuality. As an orthodox Jew myself, I have always struggled with the feeling that too many of my co-religionists look for problems rather than solutions, and it is gratifying that Rabbi Greenberg has taken the latter approach to this thorny issue. Wrestling with God and Men gives some special insights to texts that I thought I knew well and I think should be accessible even outside of Orthodox or even Jewish circles. However, I think it is of most important for Orthodox Jews to take the time to read this book - no matter what their opinion on homosexuality and Judaism may be, in the same way that they should also view Trembling Before God - the film that preceded/interrupted this book. It is important that we face the challenges that the world provides us, rather than either pretending that they don't exist or that they are someone else's problem. While Judaism provides us with a way of life, the accretion of bias and discrimination that has built up over the ages does not mean 'this is the way it must be, because it has ALWAYS been like this'. To echo Rabbi Goldstein, if in the last 50-100 years Orthodox Jewry has been able to tackle issues as complex as and central as women's role in our community and faith, then I am confident that with time, we will be able to deal with the broader issue of sexuality, too. The one thing that I have taken away from this book, is that ultimately it is an incredibly special thing to be able to love another human being and to have them love you to and I cannot believe that God would have it any other way, no matter if that love be for somone of the opposite or same sex. If you wish to be informed about these issues and better understand how to relate to your fellow human beings - read this book.
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