Robert Kraft Was Charged For Soliciting A Prostitute. What Does Judaism Say About Prostitution?

ed note–and, once again, here we go ladies and Gentile-men…

That the ‘observant Jew’ Robert Kraft–as he is described in the following article appearing on the Jewiest of all Jewish media outlets, the Daily Forward–is being charged with solicitation of a prostitute should, if people understood Judaism in the rational, accurate sense that is required instead of allowing a bunch of religiously-based emotionalism to cloud their thinking, be no surprise at all.

Now, these same aforementioned ’emotionalists’–usually of the Christian variety but also unfortunately a growing number of Muslims also–will of course react in their typical emotionalist fashion by saying that Kraft did so only because he was acting in contravention to the ‘holy’ precepts of Judaism as laid out within the teachings of the Torah or Old Testament, and that it is the Talmud, not the Torah, which condones such behavior. 

But as the reader will plainly see in the following piece–again, appearing in the Jewiest of al Jewish media outlets, the Daily Forward–this is simply not the case at all. As we have pointed out here repeatedly, the Torah is CHOCK FULL of instances where yahweh’s chosenoids, going all the way back to the very first matriarch, Sarah, are described in very clear and unambiguous language having engaged in the ‘world’s oldest profession’ in order to gain some reward later and who were neither reprimanded by their deity nor wound up on the receiving end of some moral censure for doing so, but rather were REWARDED with riches, power, influence, etc, etc, etc.

So why then would/should Kraft—as well as all Jewry–NOT engage in the very same thing which their ‘founding fathers’ and ‘founding mothers’ did that then led to riches and power?

Now, doubtless–just as the case has been in previous instances where articles were posted here revealing the ugly truth in all its un-glory for rational people to read, weigh, and consider–the ’emotionalists’ will bombard the comments section of this website with all their typical irrational nonsense, that Kraft is not a ‘real Jew’ or an ‘Israelite’ but rather an ‘Edomite’ who eschews his Torah in favor of the Talmood, when clearly, as our unesteemed Hebraic author makes PATENTLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY clear, the moral justification for Jews engaging in prostitution is as old as the Torah itself.

The Jewish Daily Forward

Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the Patriots and a major Jewish philanthropist, was charged on Friday in a prostitution sting in South Florida. Kraft, who is 77, was charged on two counts of soliciting prostitution along with 24 other people. Police say that incidents in which Kraft solicited prostitution were caught on hidden cameras.

Kraft was awarded the 2019 Genesis Prize this year, which recognizes Jews for extraordinary works, and gives winners $1 million to distribute to causes as they see fit. Kraft, who succeeds last year’s wildly contentious winner Natalie Portman, is still set to distribute the prize money to causes that will “combat anti-Semitism, efforts at de-legitimization of Israel,” according to the prize’s website.

Kraft is an openly observant Jew who has focused his philanthropy on Jewish causes, giving a reported half a billion dollars to charitable groups, with a focus on Jewish and Israeli organizations.

As the Kraft scandal unfolds, we feel moved to ask — does soliciting prostitution violate Jewish law?

As is often the case in Jewish law, the answer is: It’s complicated.

The Torah offers several examples of morally ambiguous or even heroic prostitutes — Tamar, who disguises herself as a prostitute and successfully solicits her deceased husband’s father for sex, so determined is she to have a child by that bloodline. Her father-in-law moves to have her burned to death for prostitution, until she reveals that she was the disguised prostitute he slept with. Not only is Tamar praised, Judah looks foolish. Later in the Torah, a non-Jewish prostitute, Rahab, shelters Israelite spies in her home, and in turn is saved when the Israelites ransack the city.

The Talmud also does not clearly condemn prostitution. Multiple times, Talmudic writers urge students to avoid physical proximity to prostitutes — founding Yiddish Forward editor Abe Kahan offered similar advice over one thousand years later. However, Dr. Judith Baskin writes that in the case of prostitution, the Talmud draws a halakhic line “between what is ethically preferred and what is legally permitted,” with prostitution falling into the second category. Visiting a prostitute, though frowned upon, and a possible opportunity for pitfalls like incest and ritual impurity, was not forbidden, though it was preferred that the prostitute was not a Jewish woman.

Two Talmudic texts that are frequently referenced in the Jewish debate about prostitution suggest that emphasis should be placed on optics, not actions.

“Better that a man secretly transgress and not publicly profane God’s name so that no one learns from his action,” according to Rabbi Hanina. “If a man sees that his [evil] inclination overwhelms him, he should go to a place where he is unknown, wear black clothing and cover himself with black, and do what his heart desires, so that he does not publicly profane God’s name,” argues Kiddushin 40A.

Modern interpretations of halakha generally take a much stricter view on prostitution. Sex outside of marriage is condemned, as is, by that same token, sex with a non-Jewish person. Rabbi Michael Gold explains that Orthodox Jews consider all sex outside of marriage as equivalent to prostitution. Sex for money is largely considered unethical by mainstream Jewish movements, though for years a minority group of progressive voices has advocated for legalizing prostitution and promoting the rights of all sex workers.

All mainstream Jewish movements generally reject prostitution, but ambiguity in the text and an understanding of the power of human desire makes space for people who have engaged in prostitution to return to their communities.

Interestingly, prostitution is legal in Israel. Simultaneously, Israel has a massive sex trafficking problem.