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July 25, 2008
Jewish GLBT “Rainbow Coalition”
Rabbi Steve Fink
Special to the Jewish Times
The following sermon was delivered by Rabbi Steven Fink of Temple Oheb Shalom on July 11, 2008 at a joint service of four Baltimore area Reform congregations, marking the first GLBT Baltimore Area Shabbat Service.
“How lovely are your gates, O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel!” These words from our Torah portion are a fitting beginning to this first GLBT service among our four congregations.
These words of the sorcerer Balaam are inscribed on the pages of our siddur and within the innermost places of our hearts. They remind us that the gates of our synagogues and the doors of our homes are inclusive and welcoming. They remind us that all Jews and all who associate with the Jewish people are invited within. Race, gender, and sexual orientation are irrelevant to God and hence to us.
We sometimes forget that the Jewish people were the first “rainbow coalition.” An erev rav, a mixed multitude, left Egypt with Moses. We have been a mixed multitude ever since, a polyglot nation composed of Jews from various cultures, races, and of course sexual orientations. Our tent is open to all who join us under the mantle of Torah and the wings of the Shechinah ("God’s presence").
There is no such thing today as a “traditional Jewish family.” A family comprises those who are united by love and loyalty to one another. There are all kinds of families within our synagogues today. Tonight we honor the GLBT families among us. For too long you have been in the shadows. For too long, you have been accepted without praise. Tonight we offer you the praise and respect you deserve for continuing to be part of our community, for raising Jewish children, and for just being normal parents, partners, and people.
If I could choose my body, I would be six or seven inches taller, have perfect eyesight, a full head of hair, and remain the same weight I am now. I had absolutely no choice whatsoever in the unique combination of genes that made me who I am.
I did not choose to be heterosexual. I have never met anyone who has chosen to be gay or lesbian. We are simply born this way. Sometimes it takes us awhile to figure out who we are. That process can be pretty painful and trying. Once we understand who we are, there should be absolutely no difference in how society treats us. Let me repeat that-- there should be no difference in how society treats us.
Reform Judaism stands for inclusion, acceptance, and equal rights for all. Our synagogues, our rabbis, and our Reform community have worked and will continue to work for an end to civil disabilities for the GLBT community. We will not rest until full civil rights are extended to these members of our family.
Our Torah portion for this week contains the phrase with which I began this sermon, “Mah tovu ohelecha Yaakov, mishkinotecha Yisrael!” (How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!)
When the rabbis thought about this verse, they applied it to their immediate context, living within a compact and densely populated community. The rabbis begin with a statement from the Mishnah (Baba Batra 60a): “Within a communal courtyard, a person may not open a door directly facing another door, nor a window directly facing another window.”
Why was this concern to the rabbis? Rabbi Yochanan, a later sage from the land of Israel, answered this question with a verse from this week’s portion in the Gemara, the Talmud’s elucidation of the Mishnah, when he said, “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw the people of Israel encamped by the tribes (Numbers 24:2).” Rabbi Yochanan goes on to explain what this verse has to do with the Mishnah: “What did Balaam see? He saw that the openings of the Israelites’ tents were not directly oriented towards one another. These were worthy of having God’s presence shine upon them.” What was the rabbis’ concern here? What were they really discussing and how does this apply to us?
The rabbis here take “note of one of the central and defining elements of living within a community. A community is a space, actual or imagined, in which people live together. Rabbi Yochanan’s observation resolves the tension of protecting one’s individuality and privacy while living in community. Rabbi Yochanan said that the encampment of Israel is analogous to a shared courtyard in which no one’s tent opens directly toward another’s.”
The rabbis of the Mishnah and Rabbi Yochanan of the Gemara were concerned about protecting the tsniut, the modesty and the privacy of every individual who lives in the community. Even though we live in an encampment or within a public space, there are certain areas of life that are simply inappropriate for others to see. What goes on in the privacy of our own individual homes, unless hurtful or illegal, is not the concern of the community.
Another example—on a monthly basis, according to her biological schedule, a woman may immerse herself in the mikvah, but only at night. Why may women only go at night? It is not tsniut, it is not modest and certainly it is no one’s business, to see who may be having sex on a given night.
This midrash from our Torah portion applies directly to us on this important night. Issues of sexual orientation are, by definition, matters of tsniut, modesty. It is not the community’s business to view and make judgment upon another person’s sexual life and sexual orientation. It is not our society’s right to infringe upon the tsniut of its members and certainly not the government’s right to deprive its citizens of privileges in an area in which it has no legitimate inquiry.
As a society and as a Jewish community, we should be interested in ameliorating loneliness and promoting loving and loyal relationships. We should be engaged in supporting stable families. The sexual orientation of that family should not matter at all to us, and certainly does not matter one iota to God.
Tsniut is a primary Jewish value. The rabbis tell us that a community that values privacy and modesty may lay claim to this most poetic of many blessings: Mah tovu ohelecha Yaakov, mishkinotecha Yisrael! How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! When our tents are open and inclusive, but our privacy is respected, God’s Shechinah, God’s indwelling Presence will dwell in our midst.
Kein y’hi ratson-- may it soon come to be.
Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Steve Fink is spiritual leader of Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore.