<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday night, December 14, Rosie O’Donnell and I will be <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It’s a subject Rosie is eminently qualified to address. This is, after <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n When I told a religious friend about being inspired by Rosie adopting <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Now, Rosie has a media microphone and can fend for herself. But I <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But to my fellow straight people I offer I am the father of nine children, thank We all agree that every orphaned child is The same rule would apply to those who A few years ago on my radio show I I believe their love for him was also I am an orthodox Jew. Judaism and the That some would prefer that unwanted <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is a world-renowned <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Tuesday night, December 14, Rosie O’Donnell and I will be conducting a public conversation in New Jersey about families and kids, the celebrity culture and the affects of fame, balancing work and career, and learning how to inspire our children. It’s a subject Rosie is eminently qualified to address. This is,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-relationships","category-religion-and-spirituality","category-values"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/font><\/p>\n
\nconducting a public conversation in New Jersey about families and kids, the
\ncelebrity culture and the affects of fame, balancing work and career, and
\nlearning how to inspire our children.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nall, the woman who walked away from one of television’s most successful
\nprograms and tens of millions dollars per year in order to raise her children.
\nIt will be followed by a fundraiser for Turn Friday Night Into Family Night<\/i>,
\nour national campaign to create weekly family dinners so that children are
\nprioritized in the lives of their parents.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nfour children, he said to me, “How sad that these kids are never going to have
\na father.” Lost on him was the irony that without Rosie they would not have a
\nmother either.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthink about all the other gay adoptive parents who are under assault as being
\nill-equipped to adopt. We’ve heard all the arguments. Gay parents who adopt
\nwill make their children gay (offensive and stupid). Every child deserves a
\nmother and a father (I addressed this above). Gay is an abomination, to which I
\nwould respond that leaving a child to grow up in an orphanage where nobody
\nwants them might be an even greater act of sacrilege.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe following challenge. You have every right to oppose gay marriage. It’s a
\nfree country. We don’t suppress opinions. But aren’t you under a moral
\nobligation to adopt the children in their stead? Surely leaving kids to drown
\nwithout love is deeply immoral. But to stop others from rescuing them is an
\nabomination.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nG-d. I have at times discussed with my wife the possibility of adopting a
\nchild. Every child is a child of G-d, not only our biological children. They
\nshould have a home and we should offer it. But my conversations have never gone
\npast just that, conversations. I stand in awe of all those who actually do it.
\nIn my religion, Judaism, there is no higher mitzvah, G-dly deed, than raising a
\nchild with no parents as your own. This is G-d’s child and really He should
\nhave made provisions for him. But the Creator chooses, for reasons unknown to
\nus, to hide behind the veil of nature and it is we humans who must fill in the
\nseemingly empty spaces. Those who adopt are society’s and religion’s greatest
\nheroes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nof infinite value. Some of us, however, pay mere lip service to the ideal. Others
\ndress, feed, and hug these children every day of their lives. They wake up in
\nthe middle of the night and nurse crying babies back to sleep. They hug their
\ntroubled teenagers and counsel them through life’s disappointments. They go to
\nwork every day to pay for College and weddings. Gay or straight, they make us
\nall look small by comparison. And it would seem to me that it takes one heck of
\na lot of chutzpa to tell gay men or women not to adopt when we refuse to do so
\nourselves.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ninsist on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. No problem, oppose gays in the military. It’s
\nyour right. You believe it compromises military morale and combat readiness. I
\nget it. But surely you’re going to sign up yourself, right? You’re not just
\ngoing to deny a gay man or woman the right to fight terrorists who want to blow
\nup innocent children and then spend your nights as a couch potato watching
\nfootball. Surely you’re not going to prevent gays from protecting democracy and
\nthen run off to Best Buy to find a new 3D HD TV. Someone’s<\/i> got to
\nsacrifice for this country. And if you want to prevent them from doing so, you
\nhave to grab a rifle and dodge the bullets yourself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ninterviewed two gay men who were in court fighting the government of Florida –
\nmy home state, where gay adoption is prohibited – to adopt a five-year-old
\nAfrican-American child who was mentally-handicapped. They had been picking the
\nboy up from an orphanage every Sunday for about a year and now wanted to adopt
\nhim. One of the men said, “Nobody wants him. But we want him.” I choked up. The
\nshow went to dead air. I could not speak or respond. “Nobody wants him. But we
\nwant him.” Here was a child whose skin color for some was all wrong and whose
\nintelligence did not always match up. But to these two men the boy was perfect.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nperfect and I believe that G-d loves these men for their dedication to this
\nchild, irrespective of how we view the morality of their relationship.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nBible have been the center of my life for all my 44 years. But if religion has
\nnot taught me to respect all men and women who adopt an unloved orphan and be
\ninspired by their example, then it has failed to bring out my humanity or
\nchange my heart.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nchildren remain in orphanages rather than in warm and welcoming homes is a sad
\ncommentary on the self-appointed morality police of our time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nrelationships expert, having authored 24 books on parenting and marriage,
\nincluding the critically-acclaimed best-seller ‘Ten Conversations You Need to
\nHave with Your Children.’ Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n