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It can be observed that as a consequence of growing demands for sexual freedom starting in the 1960s the number of homosexuals and the movements they formed grew remarkably. Though homosexuality continues to be considered a crime in quite a number of countries, during the past years the number of those countries began to decrease. As a consequence of campaigns, homosexuals in some countries like Holland, Belgium and Sweden obtained some important legal gains such as the rights to marry and to adopt children. This situation evoked and still evokes intensive reactions and various protests led by spiritual leaders of religious traditions as Islam, Christianity and Judaism who attach great importance to the concept of family and to a healthy upbringing of new generations. It is safe to say that for Judaism it is seen as a challenge that during the last years the number of homosexuals in its congregations increased, that there are demands for official marriage ceremonies for homosexuals performed by rabbis and for homosexuals to be appointed as rabbis. Jewish thinkers and rabbis have produced different approaches to this challenge. This article tries to put forth the outlines of this approaches and the perspectives of modern Jewish sects or branches on the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Haskalah", i.e., the Jewish Enlightenment, denotes a movement that was established in Western Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Its purpose was to make Judaism conformable with the conditions of changing and developing world, to diffuse the European culture among the Jews and to integrate them into the societies in which they lived. Through the Haskala movement, which arose in parallel with the European Enlightenment, the Jews broke their crusts and began to assimilate the language, culture, knowledge, and ideals of the European society. Emerged in Western Europe, it later spread to Eastern Europe, and finally in Russia, when the Jews were accused of the assassination of Alexander II, leading to a violent anti-Semitism, it transformed to the Zionist movement. Therefore, the Haskalah movement had a key role not only in the emergence of the Jewish Reform movement but also in the rise of the Zionist thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Muslims conquered Iraq and Iran, with the influence of Islam, new schools of thought emerged among the Jews of this region. Isawiyya, which was influential from 7th to the 10th centuries, is the first of these schools. The founder of the school, Abu Isa al-Isfahani benefited from the political instabilities of his time, and became a religious and political leader by using Messianic expectation of his people. First he declared himself as the messenger of the Messiah, and then claimed that he was Messiah and a prophet. He claimed that new prophets could emerge among the Jews without abrogating the Law of Moses. Isawiyya School is particularly important with their understanding of Messiah and prophecy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]