Leviticus 
Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 11:42:47 AM EDT
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( - promoted by Mik Moore)
The news brings word of the many hedge fund managers who have done just fine in this recession economy, along with a slew of commentators angry at the president for not being angry enough about AIG bonuses and other scandals. [I am reminded of Harvey Milk, as played by Sean Penn in the recent film “Milk,” crying out to a gathering crowd, “I know you are angry. I am angry!”] The anger, palpable everywhere across the country, seems directed not so much at economic inequity as at what feels like a breach of trust. Somehow, we imagine, if the government bails out a company, the company will receive the funds gratefully and will act with ethical restraint. To realize otherwise is to feel personally as well as societally attacked. We yearn for boundaries, for ethical reminders, for a leader who expresses the national mood, and yes, perhaps even for a call from God to help straighten out this mess.
Leviticus – VaYikra in Hebrew – with its strong limits and strict rules – may offer some help. How fortuitous that we have arrived at VaYikra – the book of Leviticus and its first parsha, also VaYikra — at just this moment.
The parsha is filled with instructions for offering sacrifices of every kind and for every purpose. We may or may not have much interest in what seem like archaic rules for ancient sacrifices. But as we think about who is hurt and who benefits from the current economic downturn, let’s turn to the question of who it is that makes these offerings in Leviticus. At the beginning of our portion, the person who is to make an offering of livestock is referred to as adam, a human. Rashi asks, “Why does it say adam and not the more usual ish? Just as the first Adam did not bring an offering from anything that was stolen, for everything was his, so you shall not bring an offering from that which is stolen.” We learn from the 16th century commentator known as Kli Yakar that the portion speaks of theft 3 times: “The lesson is that just because you are bringing an offering to God does not mean you can’t be suspected of deception. “ Adam is the universal human, different from the more specific ish – man, so we say that to be truly human, we cannot deal in stolen property and can certainly not use it to enrich our religious lives. Nor can we use participation in religious ritual – in synagogue life, shall we say? – as a cover for otherwise deceptive action: Lessons for those who have benefited from our recession or helped to cause it.
Now for the victims: In VaYikra, a person who is to bring a grain offering is called a nefesh, a soul. Rashi teaches us that the word nefesh is only used in connection with a meal or grain offering, and asks “Who brings a grain offering? A poor person.” Quoting the Talmud, he imagines God encountering this poor person and saying, “I will consider him (her) as though s/he had offered his/her very soul.” A midrash asks, “What kind of sacrifice does the soul make? When we give up our unworthy dreams and ambitions, or when a person yearning for wealth decides to be content with a modest income rather than gain riches by unethical means, this is the sacrifice the soul brings to God’s altar.” Wealth is not always problematic in our tradition, but wealth gained by unethical means is deeply problematic. Even poverty is preferable! At least in poverty one can reveal or offer the soul. The one who has gained riches unethically seems, therefore, to be in hiding, covering the soul with trickery or deception. Take that, Bernie Madoff.
Is it comforting to know that people got rich using theft and other unethical means in the 6th or 11th or 16th centuries, as now? What is more comforting is to know that our tradition offers reminders at every turn that the poor are to be well treated, that the wealthy can make good choices, that we could be content with more modest means, that God is watching. From there, we can take action: Remind our people of these obligations, work to support those most at risk in the economic downturn, express our anger to our leadership, insist that we are all adam – all in this mess together. We who do not harvest grain nor raise livestock still have the chance to offer our souls - our deep, honest, revealing selves - at God’s altar.
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Fri Apr 27, 2007 at 09:28:38 AM EDT
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On April 24, 1999, six months after the murder of Matthew Shepard, I was in synagogue, about to chant the infamous verse from this week's Torah portion, Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination." I suddenly realized that in good conscience, I could not simply chant the words without making any comment. I felt that with my silence, I would join the religious voices that either condemned gays and lesbians or at least passively condoned discrimination against them.
So before chanting the aliya, I made the disclaimer that this verse, without radical reinterpretation, did not necessarily reflect the opinions of the synagogue or its clergy, and should not be used, as it had in the past, to encourage bigotry.
During the eight yearly cycles of the Torah since then, both the secular world and the Jewish world have made progress towards welcoming our GLBTQ friends into the community, but we have much more work to do. Gay marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, as it is in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Canada, and Spain, and as many of us suspected, this has not led to the dissolution of any heterosexual marriages.
Civil unions are now legal in several states and in a number of countries. On the other hand, though, a majority of U.S. states have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. The U.S. military still keeps the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that harms both itself and the GLBTQ community. And for eight and a half years since Matthew Shepard was murdered, legislation to make violence to gays a hate crime has been stalled.
As this law is taken up again by the new Congress, there is much we can do, locally, and nationally, to try to influence our communities to be less hateful, and more open and welcoming.
Within the Jewish sphere
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