Did anyone see the rainbow this week? I went looking for it. It was very, very faint. (Although other friends and professional photographers got great photos) Rainbows have often filled people with awe. In Judaism they are the sign of the covenant after the flood. G-d promises to never destroy the world again. For all time. For all people. This is universal Judaism before there were Jews. It is the world as we would like, full of possibility and full of the sign of G-d’s covenant. I needed it this week. I needed to be reminded that G-d is present in our lives, even if the connection felt a little weak. And Simon and I remain grateful. Very, very grateful.
There is a blessing in Judaism for a rainbow. Zocher habrit. Let’s do it together. Blessed are You, Ruler of the Universe who remembers the covenant. Amen.
Debbie Friedman wrote a song that encapsulates this blessing: https://www.shazam.com/song/41446533/the-rainbow-blessing
We are here tonight on Erev Pride Month. The rainbow, in Hebrew Keshet, has become a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community. Because all are created in the image of G-d. All means all. There are two organizations in the American Jewish world with the name Keshet. One is right here in Chicagoland. Keshet here works with people with intellectual disabilities. They have worked with some of our own members. Remember, all means all. The other organization also called Keshet was founded in Boston and run by Idit Klein, no relation, and is a national group to be a support to the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. https://www.keshetonline.org/ They do fabulous work and I highly recommend their website for resources, during Pride Month, or whenever you need them, They actually have an office now in Chicagoland and maybe we can get their staff worker to come out and talk to us.
Why does Pride matter? Why does Pride matter to the Jewish community? Last year I tried to answer that and I am going to use some of the same words this year maybe even more so this year. You do not have to agree with me, but you do have to listen.
For me, it is simple. We, as a Jewish community need to be allies. We need to support those Jews who consider themselves LGBTQ+. We need safe, non-judgmental spaces, for all. In this congregation it fits with our vision statement that includes “Embracing Diversity.” And we do have members in this congregation who are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
For me, it is simple. When I went back to look at what I have said in the past on this topic, it is all there in black and white—or maybe rainbow colors.
For me, it is simple. In Israel, the only country in the Middle East where it is not a crime to be gay, they sadly had to cancel their Pride celebration in Tel Aviv but not without putting up banners in rainbow colors where the yellow stripe is decidedly wider in honor of the hostages. Bring them home now.
For me, it is simple. This is a question of freedom of religion.
Over and over again, I have clergy of different stripes try to argue scripture with me. That’s fine. I relish those debates. You can argue with me too, That’s what happended in Torah Study recently, It is helpful if they and you have a good grounding in Hebrew grammar. Often they bring up a troubling verse in Leviticus, just ahead of the holiness code, the most central portion of Torah that tells us to “Love our neighbors as ourselves. V’ahavta l’rayecha kamoch.” Sometimes people argue what rayecha means. I repeatedly tell you that every translation is a commentary, a midrash if you will. Rayecha could mean neighbor, kin, tribe. It could be only Jews or everyone. I believe the intent was everyone, back to embracing diversity. For our purposes let’s assume it means everyone—all our neighbors, Jew or gentile.
Sometimes this line gets attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. No question it is there. But Jesus was citing the quote from Leviticus. Think about that the next time you are in downtown Elgin and you see it on a store window.
Just ahead of this central value of Judaism, in Chapter 18 of Leviticus, in a collection of sexual sins, there is a troubling verse that is the reason that many believe that homosexuality is wrong. Not only wrong but a sin and an abomination.
The King James translation says: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” (Lev 18:22) It is part of a long list of sexual sins and it is the traditional reading for Yom Kippur. Many congregations, including our own, read the Holiness Code, with its Love your neighbor as yourself, instead, because of this very verse verse. It is included in our machzor, high holy day prayerbook, published by the Conservative Movement’s Rabbincial Assembly with a copyright of 1972. 1972. This is not a new conversation.
But what if the King James translation is wrong? It has set 500 years of public policy. With thanks to Rabbi David Greenstein who was the Rosh Yeshivah at the Academy for Jewish Religion, and who taught this verse as part of a class on marital relations, and later published them. Let’s look at them carefully. I am no Hebrew grammarian at his level so we will use his exact words. He believes by looking deeply at the grammar of the verse, it really is a polemic against gang rape. See your high school English teacher was right; it pays to know grammar!
It is really an elegant graceful, grammatical argument and the authors of the King James translation missed it. So for over 500 years there has been needless pain and suffering for LGBTQ+ folk.
I have quoted his argument before. But it needs repeating. Again. This very week.
“Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 have been read for millennia as the Torah’s condemnation of homosexuality. How should we read these verses as we enter the sacred sphere with “zot,” with our conviction that we carry the Divine Presence with us – straight or queer– as we are? I submit that we may read these verses in a new way, a way that removes them entirely from the topic of homosexuality. The verse in Leviticus (18:22) is comprised of three elements – persons (V’et Zachar), forbidden acts (lo tishkav mishkevei ishah), and a term of condemnation (to’evah hi). Let us examine each element in reverse order…
When we consider the first part of the verse, the part that mentions the persons involved in the forbidden act, we read the phrase “And with a man” / “V’et zachar.” Now, the particle et may indicate the object of an action.
Until now our verse in Leviticus has been read to mean that a male is prohibited to make another man the object of his sex act. But this word can have another meaning. The first place where it is unambiguous that the word et is being used in another way is in the verse, “And Enoch walked with (et) the Almighty…” (Genesis 5:24).
In that verse it is clear that the particle does not signify an object indication. Rather, it means “along with.” Now we may read the verse very differently:
v’et zachar And along with another male lo tishkav you shall not lie
mishkevei ishah in sexual intercourses with a woman to’evah hi it is an abomination.
There is no prohibition of homosexual acts of any kind. Rather, the Torah prohibits two males from joining together to force intercourse upon a woman. This is a to’evah because the introduction of the second man completely transforms the act from a potentially innocent act into a manipulation that degrades the act of intercourse and makes the woman subject to violence and objectification.”
http://www.on1foot.org/sites/default/files/Interpreting%20Leviticus%20-%203%20part%20lesson_0.pdf
When I first studied this with Rabbi Greenstein all I could say was WOW! It was “mind blowing.” Yasher koach to Rabbi Greenstein. When I was driving home from class I called a good friend, an Episcopal priest, who was surprised that I was wowed. He had been aware of that translation since the 80s. So I looked it up. According to HRC, the Episcopal Church:
In 1976, both the House of Deputies and House of Bishops voted for a fully inclusive Episcopal Church, stating, “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the church.” Canon law includes “gender identity or expression” in its list of persons who are assured full access to the ministry of the church. The law further specifies that administrative forms must include options for both preferred and legal names, and for gender identity and pronoun preference.” https://www.hrc.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality
https://www.hrc.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality
I wonder how much pain and suffering of those in the LGBTQ+ community could have avoided if King James had better translators or hadn’t been afraid or were not using the Bible for their own agenda.
See, again, while this is not a new conversation, yet it was only this year that the United Methodists, this month actually, that they voted at their general convention to repeal their longstanding ban on LGBTQ+ clergy. With no debate. But there had been years of pain, debate and many, on either side, leaving the Methodist church.
And still now. NOW! Just last year as I stood here, the Supreme Court had just ruled on a case that would limit LGBTQ+ rights. The court said in the 6-3 vote that it is about freedom of speech. I am not a attorney. I do know that reading the Constitution is a little like parsing a page of Talmud. I still haven’t had time to digest it all. It is, after all, it is still news ripped from the headlines and I am sure it will be spun and spun again. And this is how the Bible gets used as a political document.
“The Supreme Court Friday ruled in favor of a Christian web designer in Colorado who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections.
The 6-3 decision was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/live-blog/supreme-court-decisions-student-loan-lgbtq-live-updates-rcna91936
And while that hasn’t been time to study it, I actually see it as a slam against freedom of religion not just freedom of speech. This is not the first time courts have ruled against LGBTQ+ rights and it has the very real possibility that it could also impact our rights as Jews . But if you don’t have to do business with someone who is gay just because you don’t like that “lifestyle” then you also don’t have to do business with someone who is Jewish. You think I’m making this up? Nope.
In 2019, South Carolina wanted to deny the rights of LGBTQ people and Jews to be foster parents.
“The federal government agreed Wednesday to allow federally funded foster care agencies in South Carolina to deny services to same-sex or non-Christian couples.
The waiver issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow Greenville’s Miracle Hill Ministries to continue as a state-supported foster care agency.” https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/s-c-group-can-reject-gays-jews-foster-parents-trump-n962306
The flip may also be true. This year there is a new bill that might drive Christians out of foster care. “Safe and Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements,” will require foster parents to “utilize the child’s identified pronouns, chosen name, and allow the child to dress in an age-appropriate manner that the child believes reflects their self-identified gender identity and expression.”
https://www.afa.net/activism/action-alerts/2023/biden-s-proposed-rule-will-drive-christians-from-foster-care/ For me this is scary stuff. This has been a year of unprecedented rising anti-semitism and too frequent disinformation and misinformation, Others will call it propaganda. That is part of what enabled ordinary people, our neighbors, to agree to aid and abet Hitler. Hitler did not act alone. He used his powers of persuasion and propaganda to convince people to do the unthinkable.
It is important to show up. To be allies. To speak out. Tomorrow it may rain. I hope that they get the parade it. I hope they get the festival in. I will be there in spirit. I hope others will walk through in the afternoon. Pride is more than rainbows and unicorns. We cannot afford to take our eyes off this all too important topic. It is a matter of freedom of religion—our freedom of religion. And freedom of speech. And so, I am proud to stand as a Pride ally.
May the door of this organization be wide enough
to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for friendship.
May it welcome all who have cares to unburden,
thanks to express, hopes to nurture.
May the door of this institution be narrow enough to
shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.
May its threshold be no stumbling block
to young or straying feet.
May it be too high to admit complacency, selfishness and harshness.
May this be, for all who enter, the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life.
From Mishkan T’Filah