Mail.Liberal-Judaism

• Awaskow@aol.com

• Polar <smeric@mindspring.com>

• Roberta Baruch <Rbaruch@psych.uic.edu>

• Herman Rubin <hrubin@stat.purdue.edu>

• Awaskow@aol.com

From: Awaskow@aol.com 
Date: Fri Mar 22 14:36:45 US/Pacific 2002
Subject: 7 Moments to add to Pesach

[Moderator's Note: This submission is long, but I feel it provides useful
source material for those so inclined. Note that although the title indicates
there are seven moments, because I'm currently working out the policy related
to Israel-related material, one of them is by reference only.]

Dear Chevra,

Please feel free ("feeling free" is what Pesach is all about!) to forward this
post as you please. If you like any of these suggestions, please also note our
request for your support. And we'd welcome you to our Website.  Thanks!!

We are sending seven different moments or practices for you to considering
adding to your Pesach celebration. In style and content they vary a great
deal. Choose what frees you!

Blessings for a sweet and liberating Pesach for you and for the world --
Arthur

				   MOMENT A
			    ENVIRONMENTAL PLEDGES

One moment actually begins before Pesach, on this coming Shabbat, Shabbat
HaGadol.

As the Haftarah, traditionally we read the last passage from the Prophet
Malachi (last of the Prophets), who says (speaking for God):

"Here! -- I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great
and awesome day of YHWH --- And he will turn the hearts of parents to children
and the hearts of children to parents, lest I come and strike the earth with
utter destruction."

In a number of congregations, I have followed the reading of this passage by 
first VERY briefly speaking of the environmental dangers now facing the 
earth. 

Then I have called all the under-13 children forth to the front of the
congregation, turning to face and be faced by the congregation, and I have
asked the older generation to recite and then the children to recite, the
following:

"And I myself will become Elijah the Prophet, to turn the hearts of children
and parents toward each other so as to turn aside from our lives the danger
that the earth be struck with utter destruction. I pledge that I ----"

And then I ask them to fill in silently what they will do.

It has been very effective. 

This could also be done upon lifting up the Cup of Elijah at the Seder, after 
reading the passage from Elijah. 

				   MOMENT B
			      THE FREEDOM PLATE

Five years ago, Rabbi Martha Hausman proposed that a special plate be set
aside next to the traditional Seder plate, on which could be placed physical
objects brought by every participant in the Seder as a symbol of her/ his
liberation THIS YEAR from Mitzraiim.

Phyllis and I have done this each year now, and find it very powerful. Mature
learned Jews, children, and people who have never before attended a Seder can
all relate to this, and the stories about the objects on the Freedom Plate
become a very powerful part of the Seder.

Our custom is that soon after we begin, we ask those present to begin lifting
and explaining their freedom-object. One year it was a just-completeed
500-page book manuscript for one person, a single gold coin that another's
father had brought out of Germany as a last-ditch economic prop in case
destitution were descending; for another, a watch (about liberation from rigid
time-rules; for another, nothing -- as an "object" of freedom from the rule
that something should be brought.

Alternatively , one might use either the passage "In every generation one
rises up against us to destroy us" or "In very generation every human being
must look upon her/himself as if we ourselves, not our ancestors only, come
forth from slavery" as times to raise up the Freedom Plate and hear its
stories.

				   MOMENT C
			 OPPRESSION THROUGH OVERWORK

For many of us, one of the worst Pyramidal/ Pharaonic oppressions in our lives
is being driven into overwork, and the spiritual and emotional exhaustion that
follows.

(The NYTimes has reported that schools are increasingly abolishing recess time
in order to get the children to do more work. This is a form of slavery.  As
the article noted, the possibility of "wonder" is being squashed. the opposite
of Heschel's teaching that the root of all spirituality is "radical
amazement.")

So we could add the following to the Seder, perhaps after the passage, "In
every generation, there is one who rises up against us, to destroy us." (Some
of the imagery is a paraphrase of a passage from *The Sabbath* by Abraham
Joshua Heschel.)

  Today we face a new kind of Mitzraiim, 
  the Tight and Narrow Place.
  Freedom without jobs is a bitter joke -- 
  yet many of us find our jobs dissolved, downsized, disemployed.
  Jobs without freedom are slavery -- 
  yet many of us are forced to overwork. 
  Our jobs exhaust us.
  When Moshe faced the Burning Bush, 
  He learned that like an eternal burning bush, 
  Time itself is not consumed
  Though each instant vanishes to open the way to the next.
  Things of space seem permanent -- 
  but as we seek to make them into our servants,
  They may enslave us. 
  When the Israelites went forth from slavery, 
  they sought time for rest and self-reflection:
  They found Shabbat.
  Rather than live under the tyranny of  space and overwork, 
  We will in our lives set apart  a time for freedom, 

				   MOMENT D
			     RESPECTFUL PLURALISM

Benjy Ben-Baruch of Ann Arbor has suggested a new practice for Ashkenazic
households that are not yet ready for a total break with the prohibition on
rice and beans that has operated in Askenazic but not Sephardic homes, a
prohibition that has been denounced by leading Masorti (Conservative)
authorities in Israel as propping up the differences between the two
communities and even an atmopshere of Ashenazic superiority,--

The proposal is that along with Elijah's Cup there be set aside a small plate
of rice or beans not for eating but for observing.  (Its presence does not
treyf up[ the table or the house AT ALL, since all agree this is not
chameytz.)

"This dish of rice is to symbolize our hope for respectful pluralism among all
Jews, and our intention to cross over all meaningless boundaries between us,
while honoring our distinctive customs."

				   MOMENT E
			THE ORANGE ON THE SEDER PLATE

Origins of the Orange are shrouded in the mythic mists of the 1980s: according
to one tale, a women who spoke on women in the rabbinate and the equalization
of other forums was rebuked by a man who said, "Women belong on the bimah like
an orange belongs on the Seder plate." Thus ---

The story may have originated in a practice of some Jewish lesbians of setting
*bread* on the Seder plate as a symbol of affirming lesbianism, though
understanding it as transgressive of Jewish tradition .  But others respnnded
by saying that the full inclusion of lesbians and gay men in all of Jewish
life was a fulfillment of Torah, not a transgression.  So something new should
be brought to the Ssder plate, but not something that violates it.  (See
Rebecca Alpert's excellent book, *Like Bread on the Seder Plate.*)

But regardless of the origins of the Orange, it has come to stand for the
freedom and equality of women and people of all sexual minorities in Jewish
life, and implicitly of how the achievement of that freedom is already
changing Jewish practice.

The Orange also is the only whole fruit on the Plate, and so carries within
itself the seeds of its own future as Torah carries within itself the seeds of
change.

Further, the Orange can symbolize Malkhut, the (feminine) Sephira of Majestic
Inclusion. Till now the other objects on the Seder Plate have symbolized the
other six sphirot and Malkut has been symbolized by the Plate itself -- very
important but present as Ground, not Figure. With the Orange, Malkhut becomes
visible as Figure while remaining Ground as well.

The traditional practice is, either in response to someone's independently
raising the question, "Why is there an Orange on the Seder plate?" or by
raising the question deliberately (as a fifth question, or in pointing to the
items on the plate just before the meal) to answer with any or all the answers
above.

				   MOMENT F
			     ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

[Moderator's Note: This moment deals with the situation in Israel. As I'm
currently working out list policy in this area, with Arthur's permission, I'm
directing you to visit his website, www.shalomctr.org, to obtain this
moment. I felt the other items in this post were appropriate enough to go out
that I didn't want to delay the post as a whole.]

				   MOMENT G
			    NARRATION FOR CHILDREN

Lev and Gayle Koszegi write that they were putting together their haggadah,
and realized that the traditional Maggid doesn't actually include a simple
narration of the Exodus story, so they wrote this little song.

The Children of Israel!
[by the Koszegi Hillbillies, (c) 5760]

Come an' listen to a story / 'bout a man named Mo,
A Hebrew child raised / by the daughter of Pharaoh,
An' then one day / an Egyptian beat a slave,
An' Moses stepped in, / the Hebrew for to save...
(Struck the guard, killed him dead!)

Well, the next thing you know, / ol' Mo is all a-feared.
The Hebrews said, / "Mo, run away from here!"
Mo decided Midian / was the place he oughtta be,
And there he stayed, / till he saw a burnin' tree...
(God, that is... boomin' voice, majesty.)

God told Moses / to go an' tell Pharaoh,
"Time has come / to let my people go!"
Pharaoh just laughed, said, / "You tryin' to pull my leg?"
So Mo raised his staff, / and God brought down the plagues...
(Blood, that is... frogs an' lice, hailstones.)

Ten plagues in all, / and the last was really bad:
Slayin' of the first-born, and Pharaoh was a dad.
He said to the Hebrews, / "Go on!  Get away from me!"
So they loaded up their matzah / and they headed toward the sea...
(Red, that is... mighty wide, no way across.)

Pharaoh got all crazy / and decided to attack.
Mo raised his staff, / and the waters, they drew back!
The Hebrews walked through, / just as dry as they could be,
And Pharaoh's army chased 'em, / but were covered by the sea...
(Drowned, that is... chariots, riders, too)

The Mo's sister Miriam, / she began to sing,
And the womenfolk danced / as she played the tambourine.
Once we were slaves, / but now we are free,
And in every generation / we recall our history...
(The Children of Israel!)

These comments flow from the work of The Shalom Center www.shalomctr.com, a
North American network committed to draw on Jewish wisdom, old and new, in
order to pursue peace, justice, and the healing of the earth. It is a division
of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, but these thoughts do not necessarily
reflect those of ALEPH as a whole.

Return to Table of Contents

From: Polar <smeric@mindspring.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 22:40:46 -0800
Subject: Re: Homosexuality

Michael Horowitz disagreed with my assertion that Rabbi Adlerstein's God would
not be so malicious as to create homosexuals and then deny them for a lifetime
the expression of their "God-given" sexuality. However, that's not a notion of
God that I can respect and be devoted to. I think such "game-playing" is
human, not "divine".  There are many examples throughout the Torah of "God"
acting in a manner more appropriate to humans than to a purportedly omnipotent
and omniscient deity.

I believe that homosexuality is a biological fact. As for Michael's opinion
that major gay rights supporters advocate pedophilia as a legitimate
alternative lifestyle -- not only do I strongly disagree with his contention,
but I don't think it has anything to do with the physical realities of
sexuality; rather, it is a sensationalist sidetrack.

We Jews who have suffered so terribly from baseless stereotypes like, e.g.
the blood libel, should be extremely cautious in making statements such as
"...major gay rights supporters advocate pedophilia as a legitimate
alternative lifestyle."  You may not be aware that the profile of the average
pedophile is, in fact, that of a *heterosexual* male.

However, one note on that argument: Heterosexually-oriented males engage in
prostitution with males and females. They commit spousal abuse, including
torture and murder.  They fail to support their offspring.  They compel their
wives to bear more children than their health and the family circumstances
should permit (Yates). Therefore, heterosexual inclinations and behaviours are
evil. Should they be fought as well?

Patricia wrote that she didn't feel Rabbi Adlerstein's position was
condescending.  She felt it was motivated by a purity of heart and love for a
fellow human being who is suffering. I disagree. I see it as motivated by
rigid adherence to the letter of a human-generated document that was created
long before the biological differences among people had been scientifically
investigated.  That rigid adherence stems from the belief that the document
was "divinely" written or inspired. Basically, the disagreement here hinges on
the eternally unsolvable question of faith in the supernatural.  Many, if not
most, "liberal" jews do not have faith in the supernatural, but are strongly
identified as Jews.  Who is to say them nay?

I think it (R. Adlerstein's position) is basically motivated by rigid
adherence to a patriarchal mind-set that regards women as vessels for
procreation; possessions of men, rather than full humans with all the rights
of the other sex.  Though I hasten to stipulate that the status of women even
in early Judaism was lightyears ahead of contemporary and preceding societies!

No one yet has commented on the absence of "divine" prohibition of female
homosexuality. I think that is the best argument for a dictum intended to
encourage procreation by proscribing intercourse that could not lead to
procreation.

Pat misread my comments when she indicated I disagreed with Rabbi Adlerstein's
comments on the use of the term "mental illness". He had objected to that term
and I commended him for doing so.

Pat indicated she believed that God didn't create homosexuals. Perhaps. But
how do we know, for sure? We have to watch out for the hubris of "God-like"
omniscience.

Has anyone researched this in peer-reviewed journals? Can they summarize the
results?

Pat argues that if particular actions happen at certain developmental periods,
they can define a boy's sexuality as male.  Obviously I do not agree, since I
believe sexuality is biologically rather than socially determined.  One can't
help wondering how many youths -- heterosexual or homosexual -- who were
endowed by Nature with talent for music, mathematics, dance, philosophy,
etc. have been psychically brutalized by a social system that values only
brute force as "masculine". Pop "Dear Abby-type" columns regularly publish sad
reports from people who had their life ruined because they were driven/pushed
by "macho" fathers into rough contact sports.  Whereas their "God-given" (if
you insist) minds were endowed with gifts to enrich humanity in fields that
would endure long after football/hockey/etc. had been forgotten.

Adam Jessel writes that it is simply is not true that homosexuality is purely
biological in origin. I strongly disagree.  He wonders why even a biological
origin premise should require Orthodox Judaism to change its stance, and notes
that the Torah doesn't say "Don't have homosexual attractions". It says don't
act upon them.  However, I feel that such an argument doesn't address what I
argue are the reasons for not permitting Orthodox Jews to "act" on one's
"God-given" nature.

"Simply put, I believe that these reasons have nothing to do with "God", but
are based on socio-economic considerations, which became codified into
religious dicta.  The same can be said of many, if not most, belief
systems/religions throughout the world.

Return to Table of Contents

From: Roberta Baruch <Rbaruch@psych.uic.edu>
Date: Fri Mar 22 12:03:04 US/Pacific 2002
Subject: Re: Homsexuality in Judaism

I read the letter to the homosexual baal tshuvah and found it condescending,
self righteous, arrogant, and just plain wrong. Who says a homosexual can't,
doesn't have a family? As a Jewish woman with a homosexual Jewish nephew
whom I love, the answer given in this letter is worse than wrong, it
perpetuates a nasty stereotype (the "sensitive" man who rises above himself
and "gives" himself to the community in spite of his "nature.") The letter
also offers a paradoxical copout to the practicing homosexual, noting that
"Accordingly, a Jewish homosexual has to make a commitment to embark on a
course where he will ultimately rid himself of homosexual activity. It is
not necessary that he change his sexual orientation (if this is at all
possible), but that he cease this activity. It is obvious that for many
people this will be difficult, and will have to be accomplished over a
period of time (maybe never???)." Having known my nephew for his full
lifetime - I've never noted that he was any more--or less--sensitive or
giving than any heterosexual man I've known. The most relevant thing about
this young man however, to Judaism and to the poster Sholom Simon, is that
he wants to have a family, is planning to have a family, and that it will be
a Jewish family. Whether he accomplishes this with or without a partner,
through adoption, or by any other means accessible to him - the
child/children will have a caring, loving, responsible father, as modeled by
his own caring, loving, responsible father. Fortunately, my nephew lives
where his choices are supported and respected, both Jewishly and in the
wider community. 

Return to Table of Contents

From: Herman Rubin <hrubin@stat.purdue.edu>
Date: Fri Mar 22 12:00:57 US/Pacific 2002
Subject: Learning to make peace

Zebecon@aol.com  writes:

>I would like to offer this idea I have taken from the study of group theory,
>which as I see it, could relate to the development of Judaism.

>The founders of a group may have to fight to get the validity of their beliefs
>established and accepted. Subsequent generations of followers may feel in
>time, sufficiently secure to accept other groups, since in any belief system
>there will be splitting and factionalism. I wonder if in times when Jews were
>more secure, say during the time of the biblical kingdoms , there was more
>tolerance of divergence. Now after years of persecution and the Shoah, the
>whole of Judaism may feel a collective insecurity, as well as feeling
>threatened by indifference. Perhaps when we all feel secure, true consensus
>and co-operation can emerge. This according to group theory, as I understand
>it, is only possible when we respect our differences.

>As a patrilineal, but official liberal Jew who for many years resented the
>fact that I was not accepted by the Orthodox, my current view of the
>situation, has given me a new perspective.  To me it is only a manifestation
>of our tragic history, I have given up that resentment, and I will continue to
>reach out to other Jews with respect and love.

I think it is a mixed bag.  We can also get some idea from what happened with
other regimes and other religions and attitudes toward social morality.

The books of Kings and Chronicles indicate a variety of attitudes toward
violations of religious observance, as do the prophets.  But I do not see any
move to stricter enforcement during times when the kingdoms were threatened,
and more tolerance when they were not.  Nor do I see differences in
Christianity or Islam.

What I see is that zealots will try to force their ways on others all the
time, and get away with it far too often.  There were, according to the
literature, 24 "heresies" during the late Temple period.  That the secular
government was mostly Sadducee, which did not have a moral agenda to impose,
kept the Pharisees and even more extreme sects from imposing theirs on others.
When the Temple fell, the Pharisees managed to get what amounted to Roman
approval, but I do not think they succeeded in imposing rabbinic Judaism as
they claim.  I see that it was only after they were able to evict the Karaites
that they did this, and this was at a time when the amount of oppression was
not great.  It was not persecution which caused the Orthodox not to consider
the early Reform movement as asking for legitimate changes.

Are the greatest cases of Christian and Islamic fundamentalism when they were
threatened?  It definitely seems otherwise.  Also, the Babylonian Talmud was
written when the Persian leadership decided to impose Zoroastrianism in their
dominions, and the regime was not in danger.

This address is for information only.  I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
hrubin@stat.purdue.edu         Phone: (765)494-6054   FAX: (765)494-0558

Return to Table of Contents

From: Awaskow@aol.com 
Date: Fri Mar 22 11:47:59 US/Pacific 2002
Subject: Reading for Pesach: Elwell, Schwartz, & Tradition

Dear Chevra,

Two recent books that I'd like to point to, one with an explicit and one with
an implicit Pesach flavor:

One is the new Reform Haggadah, titled "The Open Door." It was edited/ shaped
by Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, with a profusion of fruitful side-notes, modern
midrashic poetry and comment, scattered through its pages so as to be
available in doing the Seder, but clearly distinguished from the central text.

The central text itself is mostly traditional (more on that below), yet 
egalitarian, gentle, thoughtful. Shifra and Puah and Miriam find their place
in the Haggadah, along with Moses (who barely appears  in the traditional
Haggadah). And the art  (by Ruth Weisberg) is extraordinary -- weaving a
graphic version of mystical realism, treating the Jewish people as not just
archaic but alive in the 21st century. 

One special note about the text: Often the Jewish renewal community wonders
how to assess the degree of change that we are encouraging and sparking in
"mainstream" Jewish life.  This Haggadah is an interesting yardstick. 

It treats "Brukha aht Yah, ... ruakh ha'olam," as a blessing on an equal
footing with "Barukh attah  adonai,  ... melekh ha'olam."

Just 15 years ago this way of addressing God was being suggested by a 
minority within the minority of Jewish-renewal folk.  I have been strongly
encouraging it both as a  gender-egalitarian Naming, and in a deeper feminist
and mystical sense, as a metaphor for God that evokes the immanent "Breath of
Life" that intertwines all beings, rather than the Up-There God of Melekh,
King, Adonai, Lord.

The new Haggadah explains this form for brakhot more exclusively in 
gender-equality terms and less in the Immanant God terms than I would have
preferred, rather than  as  an intertwining of the two.

Yet -- there it is!! --  along with the Orange on the Seder Plate and the
whole outlook on the Haggadah, all of which were only a generation ago unheard
of. 

The quickest way to get *The Open Door* is from the CCAR (Reform rabbinate) at
212/972-3636.

The second book is the new edition of Richard Schwartz's  *Judaism and Global
Survival.*   What  Richard has done is bring together texts and passages from
the whole range of tradition, from Chumash to Hassidic rebbes, on 13 different
aspects of tikkun olam : the need for protest,  protection of the earth,
seeking social justice, pursuing peace, limiting population, eating
vegetarianly, etc etc. 

It is a valuable book for renewing energy and inspiring thoughtful action when
the world seems hopeless and useless. When I seek an exemplar for Netzach as
the persistent drumbeat of tenacity, moving the right leg forward against all
odds, I think of Richard.

His book is endorsed by people ranging from Rabbi Saul Berman to Rabbi Harold
Schulweis to Rabbi David Saperstein to Susannah Heschel. It is published by
Lantern Books, a division of Booklight at 212/414-2275. We also hope to have
it soon on the Shalom Center Website, www.shalomctr.org.

Shalom, Arthur

Return to Table of Contents

"It is not our task as liberal Jews to complain about the Orthodox attitude or to be bullied by it, but rather to choose our legitimate path according to the inner logic and development of liberal Judaism" (Rabbi Walter Jacob)

Previous Issue: v11n91		Next Issue: v11n93
MLJ Home Page	Return to Retrieval Form