Queer Interpretations of the Commandments of Love in Leviticus

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In the course of queer interpretations of the commandments of love in Leviticus, I investigate how different queer persons can appropriate the commandments to love one’s neighbour in Lev 19:18 and to love the stranger in Lev 19:34 as oneself, so that such authoritative religious texts of the Hebrew Bible become ethically relevant for them as well. Hence I do not focus on the biblical passages in chapters 18 and 20 of the book of Leviticus (like the “way of life of the land of Egypt” in Lev 18:3 mentioned above or the prohibitions of sex between men in Lev 18:22 and Lev 20:13) which are problematic for various queer people, but instead I discuss the commandments of love, which are located in chapter 19 of the same biblical book. Queer readings of the commandments of love in Leviticus address loving oneself from a queer point of view and demand the inclusion of women and queer people both in the ethical discourse concerning the creation (in connection with the idea of the equality of all created human beings) and with regard to the maxim of the Golden Rule. Here three traditional ways of exegesis of the commandment to love one’s neighbour in the Holiness Code are taken up. Firstly, the commandment of loving one’s neighbour in Lev 19:18 can be translated in the following way: “You shall love your neighbour as you love (or shall love) yourself”. The neighbour shall be loved to the same extent as someone loves him- or herself. Such an understanding of this commandment presupposes self-love. However, the commandment of loving one’s neighbour could also be regarded as an imperative to love oneself. Accusing individual queer people for example of lacking self-love could be considered as cynicism by the persons concerned if a self-determined sexual life is not possible for them. Loving oneself should be made easier for those people by creating an environment that sustains their ways of life and love. A loving attitude of various queer people towards themselves, in turn, has a positive impact on their interaction with other fellow human beings. Secondly, the commandment of loving one’s neighbour can mean the following: “You shall love your neighbour for he is a human being like you”. In the Jewish Enlightenment the Jewish scholar Naphtali Herz Wessely created a new Jewish exegetical tradition of this commandment in Leviticus by theologically underpinning the equality of all human beings by recourse to the creation. However, from a present-day feminist and queer perspective, it is necessary to demand an inclusive reinterpretation of the biblical commandments to love neighbours and strangers so that the commandments of love in Leviticus can be understood as a call for respectful conduct also and especially towards women and diverse minorities like queer persons. Thirdly and finally, the commandment of loving one’s neighbour can be interpreted in line with the negative Golden Rule as follows: “You shall love your neighbour so that, what is hateful to you, you shall not do to him”. Many centuries after the emergence of the Hebrew versions, the commandments of love in the Aramaic translation of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan were already considered as in need of explanation and therefore were paraphrased by insertion of the negative Golden Rule. The Golden Rule was attributed not only to important rabbis like Hillel or Akiba but also to Jesus of Nazareth. Also, the Golden Rule should be understood today – in contrast to antiquity – in an inclusive way and should be applied in terms of an ethics of a beneficial coexistence of all human beings in this world, including not only men but also women and queer persons.

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