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Rabbi Josh Zweiback October 31, 2008
It’s Good to Be Together—Vote “No” on Proposition 8
Shabbat Shalom. As most of you know, I’m a mid-westerner. Born in
As an elementary school boy, I still remember what the typical playground put-down was: if you wanted to say something really nasty about another boy, it was pretty simple--you just called him a “fag.” And if you wanted to say that something was un-cool, you would label it “gay.” I didn’t grow up knowing any openly gay people. There was no one at my high school who was “out”. It wasn’t really until college that I came to know openly gay people. It was the first time I saw same-sex couples holding hands or dancing together at parties or just walking around campus. It wasn’t really until rabbinical school, though, that I started to think more deeply about gay rights and about Jewish teachings and attitudes around the issue. Of course, this issue is in-escapable today in
My colleague, Rabbi Ken Chasen, writing with his intern, Rabbinical Student Rachel Timoner, remind us in a sermon they published before Rosh Hashana that “while marriage and its purposes continue to be disputed, what is indisputable is that over the centuries our laws, our attitudes, and our religions have evolved and adapted. They have evolved and adapted to reflect tolerance of new configurations and understanding of family and marriage across religions, race, ethnicity, gender and class. Marriage itself has evolved to reflect social progress, and to reflect new appreciations for women’s rights and civil rights.” Chasen and Timoner point out that “4,000 years ago, in the time of Abraham and Sarah, wives were the property of their husbands. Marriage has changed since then. 4,000 years ago in the time of the Torah, it was legal to stone wives for adultery. Marriage has changed since then. 4,000 years ago, in the time of Jacob, a man’s wealth was measured in how many sheep and wives he had. Marriage has changed since then. Over the course of the past 4,000 years people of different races, as well as people of different religions were prevented by law from marrying each other. Marriage has changed.” [1] Marriage has changed. We understand it differently than we once did. Even those who purport to be defenders of traditional marriage are not suggesting—I hope—that we should return to Biblical norms. They are not advocating for the traditional practice of polygamy, for instance. They are not suggesting that wives should be treated as property. But an essential element of marriage has not in fact changed for thousands of years. Marriage was and is in its most fundamental sense, a covenant between two people. And the question before the voters this Tuesday is actually a rather simple one: should any two people be permitted to enter into this covenant or shall it be restricted to heterosexuals? I want to share 2 answers—one from our tradition and one from my heart. Of course, invoking Jewish tradition around this issue is complicated because the tradition itself is contradictory. On the one hand, the Bible, in chapter 18 of Leviticus, seems to be pretty clear on the issue. Homosexuality is a problem. It’s called a to’e’vah—an abomination. Scholars can argue about this verse but no one would claim that a text like this supports the sanctification of same-sex unions. But the same biblical tradition that shows no tolerance for same-sex covenantal relations, also makes it clear that the ideal state for a human being is in a covenantal relationship. Last week’s Torah portion tells us that this truth is a part of the very fabric of creation. Our story of how the world was made includes God’s realization that it is not good for a person to be alone: “lo tov heyot adam levado.” It is not good for a person to be alone. When two people find one another and choose to commit themselves to each other, this, according to the plain logic of that verse, is “tov”—it is good. It should not simply be allowed, it should be encouraged. Ultimately, I privilege the Genesis text over the Leviticus text and believe deeply that same-sex relationships can and should be sanctified just as heterosexual relationships are. But I won’t offer a halakhic, Jewish legal argument here because it’s not the logic of Jewish law that leads me to conclude that we have a moral obligation to vote against proposition 8. What leads me to this conclusion is my heart. I know gay and lesbian people. I have witnessed gay and lesbian couples. I’ve watched them love each other and raise children together and support one another. I’ve seen them live the best of what a covenantal relationship can be. Look, when I was a kid, I thought “gay” meant abnormal or deviant. But as I grew, as I experienced the world, I changed. I came to actually know gays and lesbians. And now I don’t see them as deviant or abnormal. I see them simply as people. Not inherently better or worse than heterosexual people. Just people. People who deserve to enjoy the same rights and privileges and responsibilities as others. My experience of the world, my understanding of the world, shapes the way I view Jewish texts and moral issues. Last week’s Torah portion begins with an ideal vision of what the world can be. It can be the Garden of Eden. It can be a place where a human being finds her soul mate. A place of warmth and shelter and love in a world that would otherwise be cold and lonely. I want each of us to have a chance to find a soul-mate in this world. Each of us deserves to experience a little bit of Gan Eden, a little bit of what it is to share life’s challenges with a partner. I want to do anything I can as a person, as a teacher, as a rabbi, and as a voter to make sure that others can enjoy those same rights that I cherish in my own life. It’s for these reasons that I will vote “no” on proposition 8 and urge you to do the same. Shabbat shalom. |
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