re: #15 May Day! May Day!

In a previous thread you didn’t reply in regard to the Maimonides quote you posted. To reiterate, as well as add a few new points.

1. The ruling depends on certain claims about what the Egyptians did. There is no actual evidence Egyptians did it. Does that not make the ruling null and void?

2. You claimed this ruling pertains to non-Jews also. But the ruling seems to be aimed specifically at Jews, because surely Maimonides would not care if non-Jews repeated Egyptian customs or not?

3. From 2 it also follows that lesbianism and other practices are not immoral in themselves acc. to Maimonides, because otherwise he would not have to bring up the Egyptian customs to forbid the practices. They would be simply imoral.

1. The previous post was about gay marriage and Maimonides’ ruling referred in particular to lesbian acts. His source, I believe, is the Sifra, which is a much earlier rabbinic work. I do not know of any rabbinic sources that disagree with him. If modern scholars found evidence to this practice or not is irrelevant to the halachic discussion.

2. Correct. The ruling with regards to Gentiles (B’nei Noach) is somewhere in his “Laws of Kings” if I am not mistaken.

3. If it is forbidden, it is intrinsically immoral.