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Parashat Shmot: On the Plus Side of Otherness

December is the month of difference for Jews.  We usually deal with it by talking about respect for differences, and appreciation of diversity.

This year Parashat Shmot falls right exactly on Christmas Day.  The opening of the book of Exodus tells for sure a story about "difference" between the Egyptians and the Israelite nation who live as guests there.

You could read Parashat Shmot and focus on the terrible consequences of difference -- intolerance, xenophobia, genocide.  No question that's the screaming message.  In Egypt, the Israelites were not simply different.  They were other, foreign, frightening, unknown.

But there is also another side of the story, which I'm titling here the "plus side of otherness."  You see it in the characters of the midwives who refuse to kill Israelite newborns, in Pharaoh's daughter who rescues the Hebrew boy from the Nile, and in Moshe himself.

Which midwives did Pharoah order to carry out the terrible order against the baby boys?  Depending on how you "vowel" the Hebrew consonants, they were either "Hebrew midwives" or "midwives of the Hebrews."  When Moshe went out as a young man and saw the Egyptian taskmaster beating the slave, did he know he was "going out to his brothers?"  The narrator lets us know, but at know point does Moshe or anyone else identify him as a Hebrew.

The text's ambiguity suggests that the midwives and Moshe understand themselves as outsiders in a power structure.  Or perhaps as both inside and outside, as majority and "other."  This is probably why the midrash names Pharaoh's own daughter -- nameless in the Torah -- "Batya", or "daughter of Adonai."  Somehow she too was an outsider, even in the palace.

These characters who are outside or other are the ones who can step outside, or to the side, and see things without being blinded by their group identity.  And from seeing, they act.  They aren't wholly defined by any group, so the midwives and Moshe and "Batya" can act in solidarity with any group.

To me, one of the best parts of being an American Jew is being other, being inside-outside.  Yes, it is also dangerous to be other.  But we also have the privilege of a different vantage point.  We participate in American life, but have a built-in sensitivity for any group that is being oppressed.  We participate in the economy and the culture, but we can take a stand against the excesses of materialism, worship of things, celebrity, and narcissism.

So being different at this time of year can be a great gift.  The perspective we can have as partial outsiders is not just a difference to be appreciated or "respected."  It can be edgy and subversive, and make others uncomfortable.  Embrace it, and don't give it up.

Update: Conversion Bill Stopped For Now

The bill proposed by Knesset Member David Rotem will not be voted on by the Knesset in the current session, which ended yesterday.  Below is a lovely summing up from the Rabbinical Assembly, which is the organization of Conservative rabbis.  Rabbi Gilah Dror is the president and Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld is executive vice president.

Dear Friends, 

 

Thanks to a coordinated effort by Jews around the world, (including over 60,000 emails sent to the Prime Minister's office), the Rotem bill is not going to the Knesset in this session, but is delayed until the winter session to begin October 11, 2010. Our contingent spent another day in Knesset today. Meetings continue to be fruitful and we can feel the impact of the education and outreach efforts growing. Planning for next steps is ongoing and we will continue to update you.

 

The Prime Minister's statement was an important and encouraging step. We acknowledge the Prime Minister's leadership in a very challenging moment and call upon him to continue his leadership support. 
 

Many of the "rules of the game were changed," especially the unified force of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Agency taking a leading role. We must now work together to sustain our momentum.

A simple action you can take to make a difference would be to send out a message from the Conservative Rabbinate to thank Jerry Silverman, and Natan Sharanksy,  who are true examples of principled and visionary leadership. The best way to do this is to send a quick email to your own federation director with a copy to Jerry Silverman and Natan Sharanksy. Please encourage members of your community to do this as well. This small gesture will go a very long way to strengthen these important partnerships at a crucial moment.
 

To email, click on their names below:
Jerry Silverman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Jewish Federations of North America

Natan Sharanksy, Chairman of the Executive, The Jewish Agency for Israel

 
Our colleagues in Israel address these challenges every day with courage and vision. Andy Sacks is a champion of Jews by choice in Israel every day. Andy, RA-Israel, Yizhar Hess and the Masorti Movement in Israel remind us that ours is a path of great challenge-intellectually, morally and spiritually. I encourage you to give yourselves and your communities a gift by getting to know our Movement in Israel better. If you have not been in close contact with Masorti in a while, you will be inspired by what you see.
 
The arms of our Movement have been working on this, diligently, with close coordination. Steve Wernick, Yizhar Hess, Emily Levi-Shochat (President of Masorti Movement in Israel), Andy Sacks, David Lissy, Alan Silverstein, and others have worked closely with us. May we all be strengthened in our continued efforts. 
 
Gilah and Julie

Heschel This Week on Race and Justice

Twenty-seven people so far signed up in our congregation to receive a weekly quote from Heschel!  To subscribe to this by e-mail, send a note to me with "Heschel" as the subject or the text.

In honor of Martin Luther King Day:  From a speech on "Religion and Race" (1963)

Friends, at the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses.    Moses' words were, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go" -- while Pharaoh retorted, "Who is the Lord that I should heed his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. I will not let Israel go." The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The Exodus began but is far from having been completed.

Humanity can thrive only when challenged, when called upon to answer new demands, to reach out for new heights.  Religion is a demand, God is a challenge, speaking to us in the language of human situations....Righteousness is not a trickle; it is God's power in the world, a torrent, an impetuous drive, full of grandeur and majesty.  In the eyes of the prophets, justice is more than an idea or a norm; justice is charged with the omnipotence of God.  What ought to be, shall be!

Judaism and GLBT Inclusion, Part 1

I had some time ago circled May 2 on my calendar.  The Shabbat when we read Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, which contain the two verses that through the ages have been interpreted by Jews and Christians against homosexuality.  I had been planning to teach from the pulpit about Judaism and the inclusion of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexuality, transsexual, and transgender.

Then a few weeks ago, Noreen and I responded to an offer from Keshet, a Boston-based group that works on GLBT issues in the Jewish community.  Two members of the staff came to speak with us, to talk about what we are or could be doing in the synagogue.  Out of that meeting came, among other things, our planned showing of "Hineini" on Monday, May 11 at 6:30.  It's a film about a teenager at the multidenominational Jewish high school in Boston who was out as a lesbian and wanted the school to allow her to establish a gay-straight alliance group.

And this week, I received a call from a member, State Senator Bette Lasky.  Two bills had passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives and were coming to the State Senate Judiciary Committee for discussion.  HB436 deals with same-sex marriage, and HB415 adds "gender identity or expression" to the antidiscrimination laws.  She wanted to know what Conservative Judaism has to say about these questions.

So it's time to speak.  I'll first tell you where I stand, then explain how I got there.  It will take me more than one post and the one talk to complete my thoughts, no doubt.  I invite responses, questions, dialogue at all points.

All people are created in the image of God.  In our society there should be complete equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.  In the Jewish community, there should be welcome to people of all sexual orientations or gender identities.  In American society, two people who love each other and are committed to a life together should be able to enjoy all the rights and privileges of marriage.   If two Jews who are the same sex approach me with that kind of love and commitment, I will talk with them about their relationship the same way I would with two people of the opposite sex.  If they are suited to be married, I will perform a religious ceremony under a chuppah that incorporates elements of the traditional Jewish ceremony of kiddushin and nissuin and that would be recognized as a marriage in those states that recognize same-sex marriage.  I am engaged with people I admire and trust, rabbis and others (of all sexual orientations), as we think about whether the Jewish ceremony for same-sex couples should be identical to the traditional ceremony of kiddushin v'nissuin.

Since these issues were before the Legislature this week, I wrote a letter to my state senator and to Governor Lynch.  I wrote them as an individual, in my own name and not in the name of Temple Beth Abraham.  But I share the text with you, along with my more elaborate thoughts on the blog here.

As a straight person, married with children, I try to watch the language I use when I talk about these matters.  It's easy to think of equality or marriage as a right that "we" (white, male, straight, etc.) give to "others".  That's how it plays out in a society where the political and religious decisions involve more men, whites, Christians, straights than women, people of color, religious minorities, GLBT.  But I believe that from God's point of view, it doesn't matter what there are more of.  It's about humans in the image of God, not whether there are enough gays, enough Jews, etc. to be a political interest group.

(Speaking of language:  I'll admit that I still don't know what the respectful language is that I ought to use.  I have no idea whether every time I say or write "gay" I should instead write "gay and lesbian" or GLBT or something else.  I don't know when to ask about someone's partner, husband, or wife.  My kavvanah, my intentions, are good and please forgive me and educate me if in the writing here I don't get it right.)

When there's a new or difficult question, I start with people.  Like many, I learned to understand something about being gay, or being in a same-sex relationship, from my friends who are.  As friends or students have come out to me, I have been sad and then angry.  To find out that people I cared about and admired were closeted, and then after coming out had the added burden of being everyone's gay friend, or the lesbian couple we know.  It must be hard, having to be in a minority and also having to serve as living proof that you can be transgender and be a great teacher or in a committed relationship that inspires other people.

My friends have had that burden.  It's only from them that I learned that GLBT isn't strange, that gay people can be simply great people.  Then from some who are not my friends, I learned that what do you know, there are gay people who are jerks too!  And with that I finally understood that none of this has anything to do with sexual orientation or gender identity.  Niceness and jerkiness are distributed all over humanity.  Same thing for the ability to form good relationships versus the inability to do so.  You find great people and people you'd rather not be around among men and women, straights and GLBT, Caucasians and people of color, religious and non-religious.

Groups don't earn their civil rights by being better or behaving better than some norm.  When I arrived at that formulation, I came to a new understanding of Genesis 1:  There is no group that is any more or less the image of God than any other.  And if straight people are not the only people with the divine spark, there's no way on theological grounds to say that heterosexual love is the only kind that has merit in God's plan.

That's how Genesis has become a text for me about equality and inclusion.  People showed me what the text means.  I am guided also by the Exodus.  The story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, of going out from Egypt, is the core story of Judaism.  It is a story about becoming seen, becoming free, and becoming part of a covenantal community.  When Moshe first went out from Pharaoh's palace, he saw, and then he understood what was happening to the Hebrews and why.  Then he allied himself with people who had been seen as "other."  And once he was on the scene, there was a vessel for God's energy of freedom.

That story of liberation and covenant is four-fifths of the Torah.  It's taking up most of our annual cycle, telling us that the liberation story is relevant each year we read it.  God is with those who are unseen, held down.  And we are told that we must imitiate God.  That's why I don't see the religious issue in terms of two verses of Leviticus.  Against those verses, I put entire chapters and books of the Torah.

I'm pausing for now.  I will write again, particularly about Conservative Judaism.  I will be speaking in the synagogue about some of these things on Shabbat morning, May 2, and will be e-mailing the congregation beforehand about it and about how to talk about these subjects with our children.

Shabbat shalom!

Obama, Inclusion, GLBT, Jews

A couple more thoughts on the election.

In the euphoria about what it means that America is inclusive enough to elect an African-American president, there was one blot on the record.  In three states, ballot initiatives were approved by voters that ban same-sex marriage.  I'm having trouble finding the texts of the initiatives in California, Florida, and Arizona.  So I don't know if or how they apply to "civil unions."  As a rabbi who consecrates same-sex unions, I see this as a civil rights issue.  I have many gay and lesbian friends who feel shut out at least a bit from the celebration.  There is work to do, and I hope at least that the breaking of one barrier will help with the other.

People continue to ask about Obama and Israel.  One interesting item:  Rahm Emanuel, who may become Obama's chief of staff, is Jewish.  As you can read here, Obama's close friend and chief strategist David Axelrod signed the ketubah at Emanuel's wedding.  The article also mentions a colleague, Rabbi Jack Moline, who used to study regularly with Emanuel at the Clinton White House.  I'm pretty sure that Rahm's son's bris took place at the White House as well.  More on Emanuel's day school background and links to Israel here; and also in the Jerusalem Post.  (The Orthodox rabbi mentioned in the Post article is a friend of mine and a real mensch.)  None of this proves anything about Obama, other than that he has many close advisers whose commitment to Israel is well-known.