Homosexuality and the “aqedah theology”: A comparison of modern orthodoxy and the conservative movement

The present article examines the halakhic attitudes toward homosexuality in Modern Orthodoxy and in the Conservative movement, through the prism of the “Aqedah theology” and the link between religion and morality. The article argues that even if there is no clear halakhic boundary between some of the positions of Conservative and Modern Orthodox Judaism, there is a clear difference between them with regard to the Aqedah theology. For Modern Orthodoxy, even if God commands certain things that on the surface clash with contemporary moral concepts, individuals are expected to sacrifice or “bind” their inclinations, including their moral values, to comply with the divine injunction. This is not the case in the Conservative movement. Here the debate is not about whether the Aqedah theology is legitimate (all agree that it is not).