On Tuesday, Yair Cherki posted on Facebook: “I like boys. I love boys and love the Holy One, blessed be He.”
Yair Cherki is considered the most reliable Modern Orthodox journalist in Israel’s media, and if he belongs anywhere politically, it would be in the part of the tribe that didn’t vote for Smotrich and Ben Gvir last November. Also: he is the son of Rabbi Uri Cherki, one of the most popular voices in the national religious camp, a philosopher, Rosh Yeshiva at Machon Meir, shul rabbi in Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem, chairman of Brit Olam – the world center for Bnei Noah monotheistic gentiles, author of numerous books and articles, and rabbi of the Orthodox youth movement Ezra (18,000 members).
His son, Yair, has the religion beat at News12 TV and writes a weekly column for Makor Rishon. And as I noted above, on Tuesday he posted a stirring confession, declaring that his love for boys and for God are not contradictory. “I am exactly the same one I was before, only now not only do I know it, but you do, too. It was important for me to say this here in the public domain, even though it is a private matter. Simply to live neither in the shadows nor in hiding. And have a family and a home and live truthfully.”
Needless to say, the post was one of the most popular items in Israel, even on a day rife with near-violent political clashes over judicial reform. As of Wednesday afternoon, the post has been liked by 72,000 users, who left 12,000 comments.
Possibly the most significant response to Yair Cherki’s coming out came from Rabbi Avraham Stav, also part of the national religious camp and the son of a major figure in this camp: Rabbi David Stav, once a candidate for the post of Chief Rabbi of Israel. He posted on Wednesday morning, and as of the writing of this report, has garnered only 538 likes and 85 comments, but give it time.
And now we get to the most explosive paragraph yours truly has read in Israel about Orthodoxy and homosexuality. Rabbi Avraham Stav writes (quite eloquently): “Faith and sexual attraction. This is the heart of Charki’s post. The understanding is that even if there is tension between same-sex orientation and religious belief, there is no contradiction between them. A person can be gay and at the same time live a full religious life full of faith, love, and reverence.”
“There will also be difficulties,” Stav continues. “And it is worth admitting that they will be even a little bigger than other difficulties. But they do not contradict a journey of Torah and mitzvot and the sanctification of heaven as Yair Charki has been doing for years.”
Stav empathizes with Charki’s lifelong effort to contain in himself both his faith and his sexual proclivity and then gets to the second explosion in his post: “Family. There is a certain variety of options for starting a family. Some involve halachic compromises. All of them involve personal concessions. This is perhaps the most challenging topic in the post, and not for nothing remains a bit vague. But it is important to know that a religious homosexual has other options besides loneliness.”
I may or may not agree with either the confession or the learned and compassionate response, but as a journalist, I must note that this kind of discussion in such an open and popular form is a new thing.
