Today we have a double portion of Torah that we are about to read. It’s like the double portion of manna that fell on Friday—enough to feed us for Shabbat. It’s a gift. But sometimes it is hard to see the gift in the first part of the portion. We’d rather skip to dessert. But this morning we will not and we will deal with some uncomfortable truths.
The first part, Acharei Mot contains a list of sexual sins, or if you prefer sexual improprieties. Some people don’t like to talk about sins. This portion and, in fact, my sermon itself may be triggering for some. If that is the case, take care of yourself. Feel free to get up, walk around, visit the social hall, zone out. (If you are reading this, feel free to stop.)
The second part is called Kedoshim, the Holiness Code. It is exactly the mid part of the Torah and it is addressed to all the Israelites, all of us, not just the priests who are addressed in most of Leviticus.
My question, this morning, why the juxtaposition? Why put this long list of sexual sins right next to this recipe of how to achieve holiness?
(There were a couple of answers. One was that we should strive to be holy in our sexual relationships. The other was that this portion was read to keep the high priest awake the night before Yom Kippur so that he wouldn’t have a seminal emission and thus render himself unready to go into the holy of holies.)
Within Judaism, there is a debate. It’s Judaism, after all. There is always a debate. Traditionally, Jews have read this very explicit material on Yom Kippur afternoon.
Orthodox Judaism continues to read from the Torah what are commonly referred to as the arayot – the forbidden sexual relationships
Reform Judaism often bypasses this sexually explicit portion and gives us texts that highlight reconciliation, ethical behavior and social justice. For Yom Kippur it gives us the second portion—Kedoshim—telling us how to be holy.
Conservative Judaism and our own machzor, our High Holiday prayer book, gives us a choice, an alternative reading – our second portion today.
Being in the center, it is the core of Judaism. It includes the famous line, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We could spend a lifetime studying that verse. In fact, Hillel taught us that this was the whole of Judaism, the rest is commentary and we should go and study it.
But this preamble that we read this morning is challenging and important so we are going to read it and deal with it. Why was this the reading on the holy and reflective day of Yom Kippur in the first place? Why the debate of whether we should read it or skip it in the first place?
Is it possible that this very Torah portion, which so many rabbis and congregations have struggled with in recent years, demands a rereading in light of so many sexual abuses and allegations that have come to light this past year?
Is there a connection between Acharei Mot/Kedoshim and their pairing and the #MeToo movement?
Yes. And it is important.
Kedoshim, over and over again, exhorts us to the holy. Kadosh. What does kadosh mean? To be set apart. To be special. We know this word in lots of ways. We talk about Kiddush, the prayer over wine that separates the work week from Shabbat, making time holy. We talk about Kaddish, the prayer that separates parts of the service and sanctifies life. We talk about Kedusha, that makes us holy as we reach up on our toes trying to be like angels. And we talk about kiddushin, marriage, which is a relationship that is set apart, one for another and recognizes its inherent holiness.
Our recipe for holiness this morning includes having just weights and measures, a fairness in the courts, not withholding the wages of a laborer overnight, not putting a stumbling block before the blind or cursing the deaf, not standing by while our neighbor bleeds, treating the widow, the orphan and the stranger with care, leaving the corners of our field so that the hungry can find food.
And as I said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
It is about how we live in community. How we live in society. How we live in relationship. To our parents. To our neighbors. To the widow, the orphan and the stranger.
I believe that actually these two portions need to be read together. That we cannot be holy, set apart, special, unless we are holy in our sexual encounters.
When #MeToo first became a movement I was asked whether Weinstein was good for the Jews or bad for the Jews. We often have that lens and my answer, quickly on the fly that night, remains the same. Bad for women, bad for humanity and therefore bad for the Jews.
That night in an impromptu round table discussion, every single woman there had their own #MeToo story. Every. Single. One.
This week we saw the conviction of Bill Cosby. The man many called, “America’s Dad.” The man who gave us a wonderful midrash with his impeccable comedic timing about Noah. This has been a year where we have seen the uncovering of many “sins” in journalism, in entertainment, in business, in politics. And yes, in the religious world. In places where men have historically held the power.
This week I sat in a different synagogue, excited to hear one of my favorite authors. The people sitting in front of me were incredulous that there could be that much sexual harassment in the world. They didn’t know anyone who had experienced sexual abuse so how could it be true. In the moment I didn’t know what to say to them.
Let me be clear.
One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives.
One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old.
RAINN gives us the American statistics, 1 out of 6 women will experience a rape or attempted rape in their life time.
https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem
Others are now using the number 1 in 3 women. A third of all women. That includes women who are sexually harassed. A third of all women.
Statistics are hard to track. There is a range of behavior referred to. A cat call is not the same as humiliating jokes or being felt up or being raped. Yet we know that these kind of abuses happen in every socio-economic, educational, ethnic, religious group at the same rates. Yes that includes the Jewish community. Yes. I am one of the one in four.
That is the number I typically use and see most often.
Let me be clear. It is wrong. And all too common. And not the holy behavior that our double Torah portion calls for.
When I first arrived here I explained to the ritual committee that we would be reading the “alternative reading”, and that my sermon on that first Yom Kippur would explain why. I learned that my sermon made people uncomfortable. Maybe my sermon today makes you uncomfortable. The portion itself might.
Usually when congregations opt out of reading Acharei Mot they see it as challenging because the way we typically translate it, thank you King James, may not be accurate. It may appear to be condemning homosexuality. But what if that is not a correct translation? Rabbi David Greenstein, the former Rosh Yeshiva of the Academy for Jewish Religion, teaches, that actually it is a commandment for two men not to lie with a woman at the same time. He views it as a polemic against gang rape.
But even more important than his new, elegant, graceful grammatical argument is his understanding of holiness:
“How do we know whether we have been invited to enter the sphere of holiness or whether we are trespassing and defiling that sphere? Aharei Mot-Kedoshim is very much concerned with this problem. How does Aaron, or any subsequent High Priest, have the guts to enter the sacred sphere? The Torah answers, “B’zot yavo Aharon” /
“Aaron shall enter with this” (Leviticus 16:3). The text continues with a list of animals and sacrificial items. But our mystical tradition read the verse differently. “Zot” / “This”is a reference to the Shechinah, the Divine Presence. …Aaron can enter to meet the
Divine Presence because Aaron carries the Divine Presence with him already. Moreover, the word “zot” is considered an appropriate name for the Shechinah because it connotes indicative awareness. The Divine Presence dwells in our “this-ness” — in who we actually are. We are commanded to enter the sacred sphere when we can carry that conviction with us.
Subsequent tradition added more elements to this ceremony of Yom Kippur. The Mishnah tells us that the Priest would read from a Torah scroll to the people. He would read from this very portion, but he would conclude by saying: “There is more written here than what I have read to you” (Yoma 7:1). There is a double meaning here. One
point is that there is more to the Torah than any one portion or any one verse (or two). But another meaning is that there is more to the Torah than the text as written. How we choose to read a story or a verse makes all the difference in the world.”
He continues with his understanding of “troubling verse”:
Which brings me to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the two verses which appear in this week’s portions and that 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 theword 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! Yasher koach to Rabbi Greenstein. I wonder how much pain and suffering of those in the LGBTQ community could have avoided if King James had better translators.
Some of our Biblical matriarchs had their own #MeToo moments. In those days, women were viewed as property. A bride was acquired. A husband had to provide. If a husband died than the woman had to marry his brother. We are studying the Book of Ruth which centers on what to do with three women who no longer have husbands to provide for them.
Abraham would have allowed Sarah to be called his sister instead of his wife, making her more attractive or accessible to the ruler of Egypt, not once but twice. Lot was willing to give up his daughters to the townsmen to save his (male) guests. Dinah was raped. Esther was found being ravaged by Haman. The Song of Songs tells us the watchmen that guard the city found her, hit her, bruised her and took away her veil. Boaz tells Ruth to glean in his field because he has told his men not to molest her.
The Talmud makes Jewish law very clear. Ahead of its day. Rape and sexual impropriety including within a marriage is wrong. It violates the holiness code. We could go into the Jewish law in depth but that is a subject for another day. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-torch/how-do-the-rabbis-in-the-talmud-address-rape/
The issue with most of these scenes is one of power and control. It still is.
The Jewish community takes these modern topics of the #MeToo movement very seriously. It has actually been a passion of mine for decades and I have written and spoken extensively on it. Two years ago I took a class through JTS’s continuing education for rabbis on Sexual Ethics for Rabbis. It should be required for all rabbis. This year, shortly after the #MeToo Movement began the Chicago Board of Rabbis and Jewish Children and Family Services sponsored a training session for rabbis which I attended. They are available to come here to facilitate a conversation. We already have policies and procedures in place here at CKI. The Community Crisis Center as part of a grant is hosting a series of conversations at Gail Borden Library on #MeToo. I am speaking on #MeToo and Spirituality later in May.
Telling these stories is important. It gives other women courage. They begin to realize that they are not alone.
Sometimes, however, telling those stories is tough. For some, there is still a sense of shame, a very powerful and destructive emotion. There is still a cost to telling the story. It can be emotional. It can be financial. I wrestled with how to do this very sermon. I found I could no longer be silent.
Sometimes hearing a particular song sung in a particular way can be hurtful. There has been a debate about whether to continue to sing some much beloved Jewish music of a known sexual predator. Sometimes the hurt can come from a poem or a reading or a time of the year. A color. An odor. A temperature. A sound.
At the beginning of this sermon I suggested that if you thought this might be triggering that you should be careful to take care of yourself. If you need resources to handle your own #MeToo moment, as the nation continues to wrestle with these topics, please reach out to me. There are many local resources available.
So here is where we are. We have entered a new world, with new mores that don’t always seem clear. A world where we are not afraid to confront uncomfortable truths. A world where we listen to each other stories with respect and love. A world where we fight for a time where no woman needs to fear her boss, her colleague, her husband. Where the kind of sexual harassment that has been uncovered will no longer be tolerated. By anyone. At anytime. In anyplace.
This week’s Torah portion forces us to confront these realities in ancient times and today. By bringing Acharei-Mot together with Kedoshim we begin to create a world where holiness exists, between one another, even in a #MeToo world. Especially in a #MeToo world.