Rabbi, get thy head out of their tents – The Times of Israel
Posted By admin on July 14, 2022
The chutzpadik gall of Orthodox leaders cheering the US Supreme Courts rejection of Roe v. Wade subverts Torahs values, while doing great lasting damage to women. What do these rabbis think they are doing? Dont they understand the sublime blessing of a civil society? We need to understand how to apply a true Torah approach.
In Israel and a week later in the Diaspora, we are immersed in the Torah reading relaying the prophesy of the non-Jewish seer Balaam, engaged by Balak, the Amorite king, to curse the Israelites as they travel by. In a riveting tale Balaam employs omens and sorceries to do his evil intention, but God consistently drags him over to the good side. From Balaams lips flow blessings. In the final scene, Balaam dispenses with black magic and decides to see for himself the nature of this people. Perhaps a clear mountain top view would reveal Israels sins, justifying their eradication. The opposite occurs seeing Biblical Israels worth, dwelling tribe by tribe [Numbers 24:2], exclaims, Mah Tovu! How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! [ibid. 24:5]. Rashi explains that For he [Balaam] saw that their tent openings were not situated one opposite the other.
Rashi, the Bibles greatest commentator, extols the value of privacy. We would expect a small people with a complicated legal system to be tempted to peek in and view what their neighbors are up to who is doing what to whom all in the name of sacred mission. From such motives emerge Modesty Patrols peeking in and informing authorities about all sorts of infractions.
The principle of privacy as a human right to dignity, which women have endlessly been deprived of, was a core principle of the Roe v. Wade decision to allow abortion for a woman who demands it. Would I, as an Orthodox rabbi, argue for great moral caution in employing abortion to women who would seek my counsel? I would, and I have, but then I have shut up, as women must make their own moral decisions. I would and have kept my head and eyes out of their tents. I have not met a woman who delighted in abortion. Issues assuming dignity definitionally cannot be made by others, especially when obliterating womens own dignities. Terminating Roe v. Wade additionally threatens women with being the subjects of voyeurs, informants, and all sorts of callous nudniks who have opinions of how they should live their lives.
If religious men are anxious to see something, they should consider an incident as reported by a Gadol [a Great sage]. After receiving semikhah [ordination] in New York, I spent a few months in a modest Jerusalem neighborhood in the mornings, sitting at the study table of Rabbi Yitzchak Arieli to listen to how he decided issues of Jewish law, as a stream of questioners came for rulings. The rabbis responses were quick, succinct, and to the point. When the individuals left, he would invite my own reflections. Sometimes, I had something.
One Friday, a woman came in with a chicken with an abnormality and questioned its status. The rabbi looked and simply said: Kosher. I hardly contained my disapproval. Rabbi Arieli shushed me, saying: I know the problem. When I was a young man, about your age, I sat at the study table of the luminary Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, Rav of Jerusalem, your great-grandfather. To this table, he continued, came many weighty questions, but on Fridays, preparing for Shabbat, women came with food issues. Rabbi Arieli related that once a woman came with a chicken that had a certain problem with how it had been slaughtered. Rav Frank ruled it unkosher. Minutes later, a second woman came with a second chicken but with the identical problem, which is rare. Rav Frank ruled: Kosher. Rabbi Arieli remembered being astonished. Before he could say more than a shout of protest, Rav Frank said: Di Flegel ir gezen; dos froys pnim hostu nit gezen. The chicken you saw, the womens face you did not see. Rav Frank saw the desperation of an impoverished woman facing Friday night without being able to feed her family.
Religious leaders and their minions (and minyans), to be truly on the path of our Torah, must keep their eyes out of the tents of others, as women make excruciating decisions. If they must gaze, they should look up from the Talmud for a moment and imagine peering into the face of a pregnant and alone 15-year-old girl; or a 45-year-old woman whose doctor says that the probability of her giving birth to a child with multiple defects who, in the end, wont survive is high. Legitimate, compelling moral pronouncements can only emerge from those who can see such faces and then allow for a civil society that assures privacy and respects individual agency.
Rabbi Daniel Landes is founder and director of Yashrut, building civil discourse through a theology of integrity, justice, and tolerance. Yashrut includes a semikhah initiative as well as programs for rabbinic leaders.
See more here:
Rabbi, get thy head out of their tents - The Times of Israel
- Iranian Diplomat: The Jews Have a Plot to Lay Claim to the British Royal Familys Wealth - Middle East Media Research Institute - October 6th, 2022
- Remarks by President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff at a Reception to Celebrate the Jewish New Year - The White... - October 6th, 2022
- 'Jerusalem of Lithuania' remains witness to the horrors of the Nazi genocide and their willing collaborators - Cleveland Jewish News - October 6th, 2022
- Meet the rabbi who made it possible to live a Jewish life in the UAE - Cleveland Jewish News - October 6th, 2022
- A Daf Yomi Scout: Literary Critic Adam Kirsch Shares Insights from His Seven-Year Study of the Talmud with YU Students - Yu News - September 29th, 2022
- Book Review | Studying Talmud with Beruriah - Moment Magazine - September 29th, 2022
- Why Bats Sleep Upside Down and The Secret of Yom Kippur - aish.com - Aish.com - September 29th, 2022
- 5 things to know about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - WDJT - September 29th, 2022
- New chapter in 'lost Jewish library mystery' as books returned to Lublin - The First News - September 29th, 2022
- Allegiance To The Monarch - aish.com - Aish.com - September 29th, 2022
- Embracing a Spiritual Discipline of Reparations - Word and Way - September 29th, 2022
- Hidden Meaning in the Talmud's Cures and Fables - aish.com - Aish.com - September 18th, 2022
- Everyone's Buddy - aish.com - Aish.com - September 18th, 2022
- I Never Wanted to Get in the Pool. My Daughter (and the Talmud) Changed That. - Kveller.com - September 18th, 2022
- Abortion and Jewish law - JNS.org - JNS.org - September 18th, 2022
- Jim Crawford is loving Tallaght atmosphere as his side set to face Israel in crunch Euro 2023 play-off... - The Irish Sun - September 18th, 2022
- Becoming Elijah: Prophet of transformation by Daniel C. Matt - Church Times - September 18th, 2022
- Rome, Babylon, and 1 Peter 5:13 Revisited | Nicholas Gulda - Patheos - September 18th, 2022
- Bnot Brak the ultra-Orthodox answer to Real Housewives - Australian Jewish News - September 13th, 2022
- What happens when a heretic and a rabbi walk into a bar? - Jewish Herald-Voice - September 9th, 2022
- Gorbachev was different he had a heart - The Jewish Standard - September 9th, 2022
- Being On The Team - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - September 9th, 2022
- West Temples Rabbi Lader to retire in June 2023 - Cleveland Jewish News - September 9th, 2022
- From Peru to Israel: the Long Journey of the Inca Jews - aldianews.com - September 9th, 2022
- We have faced Amaleks like Putin forever, but with morality we can prevail J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - September 9th, 2022
- Upcoming holidays and events in 2022 - NEWS10 ABC - September 9th, 2022
- The angels who saved my husband's life | Shira Pasternak Be'eri | The Blogs - The Times of Israel - September 9th, 2022
- 'Quiet quitting,' the sudden trend in work, sounds sort of Jewish? (Hear me out.) - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix - September 9th, 2022
- The Choice: A Novel of Love, Faith, and the Talmud - reviewed by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen J-Wire - J-Wire Jewish Australian News Service - August 30th, 2022
- What If It Were 'Zalman'? - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- Q & A: The Mantle Of Leadership (Part II) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- It is Caught with Two Hands Torah.org - Torah.org - August 30th, 2022
- Anger, Procrastination, and Elul - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- You say you want a revolution? Try the Bible - Religion News Service - August 30th, 2022
- When was the Old Testament Written? - The Gospel Coalition - August 30th, 2022
- Straus Center Fall 2022 Courses: The Wisdom of Solomon, Rembrandt and AI - Yu News - August 30th, 2022
- Maimonides on the Liberty of the People - Brownstone Institute - August 30th, 2022
- Asking the Clergy: Your faith and recreational marijuana - Newsday - August 30th, 2022
- The Evening Shema: The Perfect Place to Begin - Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters - Lubavitch.com - August 13th, 2022
- 'You don't want to take my money, do you?': Mandarin-speaking rabbi fights antisemitism on Chinas TikTok - Yahoo News - August 13th, 2022
- Tisha B'Av: The Arch of Titus an alternative view - The Times of Israel - August 13th, 2022
- At Oakland's 'Base,' rabbinic couple wants you to make connections J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 13th, 2022
- Chazanut and music: tradition and today - Australian Jewish News - August 13th, 2022
- VA'ETCHANAN: In this week's Torah portion, a command to love J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 13th, 2022
- Don't Believe in Other Gods Versus God is One - aish.com Ancient Wisdom & Modern Psychology - Aish.com - August 10th, 2022
- Discerning Between Darkness and Light - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 10th, 2022
- Activist-writer Elana Dykewomon dies, just as her first play debuts J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 10th, 2022
- Reading the Book of Psalms in the Twenty-First Century - Jewish Journal - August 10th, 2022
- Tuesdays primaries offered a glint of hope for Democrats this fall - The Guardian - August 10th, 2022
- Talmud - Jewish Virtual Library - August 1st, 2022
- STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT! - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 31st, 2022
- War News And Gefilte Fish - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 31st, 2022
- Blinded by Hate | Michael Laitman | The Blogs - The Times of Israel - July 31st, 2022
- Making sense of the sedra: Matot-Masei - Jewish News - July 31st, 2022
- At least 9 cities in the Twin Cities metro targeted with antisemitic, racist flyers - Bring Me The News - July 28th, 2022
- The God Squad: From the mailbag | Opinion | pressrepublican.com - Plattsburgh Press Republican - July 28th, 2022
- Free Online Bible Library | Talmud - BiblicalTraining.org - July 27th, 2022
- Rebuilding Together - Jewish Journal - July 27th, 2022
- Twenty years after Ben and Marla and the Hebrew University bombing - The Times of Israel - July 27th, 2022
- Woven together: Lessons from bringing Israeli rabbis to the U.S. - eJewish Philanthropy - July 27th, 2022
- The God Squad: From the mailbag | Opinion Columns | union-bulletin.com - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - July 27th, 2022
- Respect Yourself - Respect Others - aish.com The Color of Heaven - Aish.com - July 27th, 2022
- Abortion is a Jewish right and a rabbi says hers was a blessing - Business Insider - July 27th, 2022
- The Flood and Canaan: God's Patience Revealed - Patheos - July 27th, 2022
- Pinchas and the broken vav | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net - July 27th, 2022
- PJ Library Focuses on Widening its Reach - Publishers Weekly - July 27th, 2022
- The Three Weeks And A Message Of Peace - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 27th, 2022
- Jewish people have a different set of priorities - The Jewish Star - July 14th, 2022
- With Biden in Israel, we must spread the blanket of peace far and wide - JNS.org - July 14th, 2022
- Shaming women who have abortions is not a Jewish ethic - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - July 14th, 2022
- Advocating for respect and unity - The Jewish Standard - July 14th, 2022
- Politics and the Parah Adumah - Jewish Journal - July 10th, 2022
- Mass prep 3 points/30 seconds: What was the Samaritans mercy? Understanding the Greek - Aleteia - July 10th, 2022
- Don't Use Judaism as a Weapon in the Abortion Debate - Jewish Exponent - July 10th, 2022
- Why Being Firstborn is a Blessing and a Curse - aish.com Spiritual Odysseys, Featured, Spirituality - Aish.com - July 10th, 2022
- David Halivni's Great Light | David Novak - First Things - July 8th, 2022
- What Happened to the Truth? - aish.com Personal Growth, Featured, Spirituality - Aish.com - July 8th, 2022
- Q & A: Offering Tefillin To Passersby (Part VII) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 8th, 2022
- The 8 Genders of the Talmud - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - July 4th, 2022
- Is It Proper To Go On Vacation To A Place With No Minyan? - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 4th, 2022
Comments