Why? Where did Chazal get this idea?
Certainly not from an attitude that all homosexual sex between two men only gives pleasure to the more active of the two. That is nonsense. It is nonsense of the type that Rabbis, excellent speakers all, would deliver from the pulpit (except for its slight New-Ageiness), but nonsense nonetheless.
Why nonsense? First show me that the Torah, in either the story of Sodom, or in the command against homosexuality, exhibits this attitude. Show me from the text. Give me text-internal evidence. Don't read back attitudes into the text. In general, people unwittingly read back their own attitudes into the text. Here, it is reading an attitude we don't ourselves hold but are positing, with no proof, that Chazal had.
If you want to understand what drove Chazal to this view, you need to closely examine the text. Do a close reading. Read the midrashim, and see what textual cues Chazal pick up on. Also, read the text in its broader context.
In the case of Sodom, there seem to be reasons on both the macro and micro level for concluding that Sodom's sin was its mistreatment of guests.
A. Goofus and Gallant
A macro-reason is as follows:
Angels came to Avraham in Elonei Mamrei, and the same angels came to Lot in Sodom. The episode in Sodom is related to, and is indeed part and parcel with the episode with Avraham. The angels were treated quite differently in Elonei Mamrei and in Sodom. Since the stories are juxtoposed, on a peshat level, the reader is supposed to contrast the two stories.
I like to say that Goofus and Gallant form a midrashic middah. Follow the link if you are unfamiliar with them, but they were a regular feature in the kids' magazine Highlights. Some common situation was presented (e.g. a classmate forgot his lunch), and Goofus misbehaves and fails at life, while Gallant is, well, gallant, and a goody-two-shoes, and succeeds.
Avraham is Gallant. See to what extremes he goes to give honor to his guests, and treat them like royalty. The midrash there expands upon the great lengths he goes to treat his guests right, but this is obvious even to the casual reader.
Compared with Avraham, Lot's treatment of the guests pales. One midrash picks up on this and compares the two. But forget Lot. Consider the treatment by the people of Sodom. The Sodomites are Goofus. Guests come, and they wish to rape and perhaps murder the guests. What kind of way is that to treat guests?!
This alone is sufficient to account for Chazal's zeroing in on this sin. It is obvious, and has nothing to do with sodomy.
B. Comparison with the concubine of Giveah
Another macro-reason is comparison with the story of pilegesh beGiveah, starting in Shoftim 9:1. It makes no sense addressing the issue of Sodom without also referencing this story. There, a man comes with his concubine to Giveah, and the men there wish to "know" the man. The owner of the house refuses, and offers the concubine and his own daughter. He sends out the concubine, who is raped and murdered.
There are many many parallels between the two stories of Sodom and Giveah, even in details I did not mention above, as well as in choice of language. This was done consciously by the later author of Shoftim, because he saw the parallels between the two stories. There is also Biblical interpretation at play. Things that might have been interpreted one way if the story in Sodom stood alone are interpreted in a specific other way by the author of Shoftim, thus concretizing that one interpretation.
To give but one example: In Sodom, they want to "know" the man. This might mean "beat him up" or "murder him." Of course, the verb ידע is used on occassion in Tanach to denote sexual intercourse. But still, the verse says nothing explicitly. Lot offers his two virgin daughters. That seems to suggest that they want to "know" someone sexually. But perhaps this is just an attempt at a bribe, so that they will not harm his guest. After all, the Sodomites refuse. (Of course, perhaps one could say this is because they prefer men, and thus we have a third proof...) However, once we make the link to the concubine in Giveah, who the men take and indeed rape and kill, we get a specific interpretation of the actions of the Sodomites as well.
In Shoftim, there definitely is a lack of hospitality. They are compared unfavorably with the gentiles, who presumably would (or might) have treated guests more hospitably. Consider:
Nobody took them in. They were left in the street. Talk about lack of hospitality.
That this is wrong is underscored by the exchange with the old man (who plays the part of Lot):
In Bereishit 19, Lot sees the angels, and they wish to stay in the street, and he urges them not to, perhaps suspecting what treatment they can expect at the hands of his fellow Sodomites:
This is all on a macro-level, and it is all on the level of peshat.
C. The Protection Due A Guest
When someone comes under the shade of one's roof, etiquette, custom and morals all impose an obligation of ensuring that person's safety. Perhaps Lot's action of offering his virgin daughters (or the old man in Giveah's similar offer) was a bit extreme, but to focus on the unfairness to the daughters is to focus on the wrong point and thus miss the message of the narrative. Lot, like Avraham, accorded his guests with great honor and was willing to give up of his own house to ensure their safety.
Lot says:
Lot's good treatment of his guests - paralleling that of Avraham - in verse 3: וַיִּפְצַר-בָּם מְאֹד--וַיָּסֻרוּ אֵלָיו, וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ; וַיַּעַשׂ לָהֶם מִשְׁתֶּה, וּמַצּוֹת אָפָה וַיֹּאכֵלוּ = "And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat" is to be compared with the immediately following action of "all the men of Sodom" who gathered outside his door.
D. The Sodomy Angle
Even if the Sodomites wished to sodomize the guests, this is not their sin. If sodomy were the issue, then there would be no need, from a narrative perspective, to attack Lot and his guests. They could engage in sodomy among themselves! The sodomy is the vehicle by which they wished to abuse guests to their town, and so the sin, on a peshat level, is the mistreatment of guests, not of homosexuality.
Compare with the sin of Onan, of masturbation, known as now as onanism. In Bereishit 38:7-10:
peshat level, the sin was not masturbation. It was depriving his brother of offspring within a levirate marriage. The way in which he accomplished this sin was via masturbation. Of course, midrashically, we can take this verse to mean that the sin was the masturbation alone. But not on a peshat level.
Similarly, the sin of Sodom might have involved Sodomy, but the real issue was that they would use this as a means of abusing visitors. (Perhaps this is similar to what the poster mentioned above was saying, but there is a world of difference.)
E. Other Verses In Tanach Referring to the Sin Of Sodom
Chazal would of course be congnizant of other verses in Tanach that identify the sin of Sodom. Thus Yechezkel 16:49-50, mentioned by commenter "Cosmic X" on that post on Maven Yavin:
F. Close Readings of Individual Pesukim
Chazal also do close analysis of individual pesukim, something we have not focused on at all until now. Sometimes this will involve midrashic methods, and sometimes just a nuance of the text.
As one example of nuance, consider what happens when Lot goes out to reason with the men of Sodom:
"sojourner." As a newcomer {he split from Avraham a few perakim back}, he has almost the same status as these strangers. Thus, they first make him a non-resident to deprive him of his voice, and then say they will deal with him worse than they will his guests. See how they treat foreigners!
This is all without appealing whatsoever to midrash. Close midrashic reading of pesukim will no doubt yield gems which will serve to bolster this existing theme.
And so, the question posed by ADDeRabbi:
if the problem with Sodom is complete lack of social welfare, why does the Torah virtually ignore that element and focus specifically on this act of sexual violence. It seems out of place.is no question, and is in fact false. The Torah does not virtually ignore that element of "social welfare." Chazal just read the text a lot more closely, and accurately, than most modern readers do.
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