On Sodomy

The sin of Sodom is that they were overfed and unconcerned; they did not give to the poor. (See Ezekiel 16:49) While many people use the term “Sodomy” to describe homosexuality, that was not the original intended use of the word, and it will probably come to mean something else some day. Up until the 1300s, a Sodomite was meant to be someone who in their fullness did nothing to help those who were less fortunate. During this time, the church had been participating in very lewd sexual  acts, so much so that when the King James Version was translated in 1611, the term sodomite had taken on a sexual overtone. In recent times, it has come to mean any sexual act except for one, but that is not what it means. A sodomite is one who says what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine. (Pirkei Avot 5:13)