Independent Jewish Spirituality Online
That’s how I felt when I watched Rabbi Benay Lappe’s ELI Talk.
The bottom line: you are a queer Jew, especially if you are here on PunkTorah.
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Post written by Rabbi Patrick Aleph, director of PunkTorah.
Defiant women, jealous husbands, and occultish rituals mark this week’s parshah, Naso. Following an accusation of adultery by a husband with no proof, a woman was brought before a Temple priest to undergo the enigmatic ordeal of bitter water. If she were innocent, she would survive and bear children. If she were guilty, she would not.
“The priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord,” our Torah describes. “The priest shall take sacral water in an earthen vessel and, taking some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tabernacle, the priest shall put it into the water. After he has made the woman stand before the Lord, the priest shall bare the woman’s head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest’s hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell. The priest shall adjure the woman, saying to her, ‘if no man has lain with you, if you have not gone astray in defilement while married to your husband, be immune to harm from this water of bitterness that induces the spell. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and have defiled yourself, if a man other than your husband has had carnal relations with you -’ here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman, as the priest goes on to say to the woman – “may the Lord make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the Lord causes your thigh to sag and your belly to distend; may this water that induces the spell enter your body, causing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, amen!’ (Numbers 5:16 – 22).
The entire experience would have been one of intense emotional turmoil. Such a woman, known as a sotah, would first confront the suspicions of a jealous husband and then endure the public shaming which undoubtedly accompanied a formal accusation. She would have been forced to appear in her community’s most sacred space in a state of humiliation, choke back the dust of the Temple floor, and wait for her body to respond. Our Torah offers no recourse for women who suspect their husbands of infidelity, nor advice to the husband who has wrongly accused his spouse.
Today, the majority of Jewish women worldwide do not define their existence exclusively by marital status or reproductive capacity. We do not put women on trial because their husbands are abusively possessive. We know infertility is not divine punishment. In the west, though we continue to navigate both covert and subtle elements of a patriarchal paradigm, we are closer to gender equality than ever before. Women of other cultures, however, are forced to endure the attitudes exemplified by this week’s parshah. Recently in Sudan, Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death both for adultery and for renouncing a Muslim identity. In both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, adultery remains punishable by death. In Somalia, a woman may be stoned if found guilty of infidelity and in Bangladesh, a woman may be publicly flogged.
I choose to read the above passage as a call to action. The description of ritualized misogyny is a reminder that such practices still exist. For me, parshah Naso recalls the powerful words of Devarim. “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Deuteronomy 16:20). My duty to God is my obligation to my sisters and brothers in our shared human family. Grateful for the privilege and freedom I enjoy as an American Jewish woman, I have the power to effect change for my sisters. This week’s parshah provides an opportunity to reflect on the evolving sphere of women in Judaism, as well as the current experiences of women worlds away from our own communities.
Akiva Yael is an enthusiastic participant in all that is holy, including Torah study, powerlifting, and the beauty of our world.
For many women as you reach your 20’s you begin the process of creating the building blocks and choosing your path in life. Questions emerge and hopefully are answered – which career will you choose? Will you marry and have children? Where will you live? What is truly important to you? This may also be the time you reflect on what it means to have a higher power in your life and what tools does religion provide you in having a relationship with God? More specifically have you chosen a religious path that is different from the way you were raised?
What does it mean to “become” Jewish? Many people in the religion were born into it; but if you chose Judaism – what are the core beliefs of Judaism that matched your own? What was the driving force that called you to Judaism? How has this choice impacted your life? And how has converting or thinking about converting changed your relationship with God?
A new docu-series pilot is delving into these questions and is looking for women who have chosen Judaism. If you are in the process of converting or have recently converted then they are looking for you!
If interested in sharing your conversion story please email contact below.
Patti Karnes
Watercooler Casting
Casting.pkarnes@gmail.com
267-221-7313
Written by Patti Karnes. Edited by Rabbi Patrick.
At times, our Torah may appear alienating. After all, what resonance in our modern lives has a G-d of furious vengeance threatening to destroy us? Religious observance continues to shift as we evolve both as a Jewish people, and as one larger human family. Issues of equality, personal fulfillment, and obligation challenge us individually and collectively. A dedicated faith emerges as almost counter-culture and the tone of our Torah can seem far removed from our everyday lives.
Such may be the case with this week’s parsha, Bechukotai. In this final portion of Vayikra (Leviticus), we learn that should the Israelites “faithfully observe” the commandments, they will be blessed with abundance and peace. However, they are warned, “…if you do not obey Me and do not observe all these commandments, if you reject My laws and spurn My rules, so that you do not observe all My commandments and you break my covenant, I in turn will do this to you: I will wreak misery upon you – consumption and fever, which cause the eyes to pine and the body to languish; you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you…” (Leviticus 26:14 – 17).
What follows is an exhaustive list of terrors, each more ghastly than the one before, that will be visited upon those that fail in their commitment to the mitzvot. As 21st century Jewish women, we know such rhetoric has no literal application. Our lives move forward uninterrupted by our neglect of Shabbat, or our omission of proscribed prayers. We may enjoy challah from the grocery store, with little concern of its kashrut status. Today, affixing a mezuzah is optional.
We are inherently generative creatures. Our capacity for love and creation is nearly limitless. Artistic expression arises from within and is manifested in all manner of mediums – poetry, dance, digging in the earth, quilts under which to cuddle and lullabies for skies seared with lightning. We are architects of skyscrapers and builders of bridges. We mold meaning from our days and forge paths of enlightenment, for ourselves and others. We know blessings of peace and abundance when our hearts are open and our imaginations unleashed.
We also know what it is to feel our internal landscapes cursed. The detritus of depression suffocates our creative potential. Fear and anxiety shrink our capacity to love unconditionally. Anger disconnects us from community, and grief imprisons joy. We know what is to feel adrift, beset by our enemies, the shining face of providence no longer visible. Indeed, we have all felt misery wrecked upon and within us.
Emerging whole through such a dark sojourn can prove daunting. We cannot see our way clearly and we have no guideposts by which to measure progress. Perhaps what parsha Bechukotai can give us is a lamp to illuminate the shadows of our experience. Our mitzvot are always available for engagement. They are gateways to learning, personal growth, and connection with something greater than ourselves. The divine commandments of our Torah exist as opportunities, jewels to enrich our journey, and experiments in understanding. In those moments when we feel most alone, rudderless, without sight or heart-centered breath, perhaps we might begin to play with these elements of faith. What can the light of the Shabbos candles kindle within you? Awakening to confront another day, what solace may be found by thanking the divine for preservation of your soul? What may the binding of tefillin unwind within your own heart? Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” We may view the mitzvot as steps along such a road. The curses and blessings of this week’s parsha, so vibrantly conveyed, may be understood as metaphors for passages on our individual voyages – the depth, breadth, and substance of which is entirely up to us to discover.
Akiva Yael is an enthusiastic participant in all that is holy, including Torah study, powerlifting, and the beauty of our world.
In modern metaphor, the earth is our mother. Like pop culture depictions of motherhood, our earth is nurturing and formidable, willing both to gently yield and strike with immeasurable ferocity. The tempo of our planet is cyclical, much like the rhythms of our lives and our bodies. As we move through the seasons, we watch new life take root in the earth, relax under clear skies, and fulfill ourselves with the bounty of a well-tended harvest. As we move through our days, we ride the ebb and flow of relationships, and confront the realities of our ever evolving physical forms. In this week’s parsha, the divine instructs Moses, “…the land is mine. You are but strangers resident with Me” (Lev 25:23), and proscribes a year free from labor in the fields, as well as the forgiveness of all debts. This s’hmita, or sabbatical year, is to occur once every 7 years. There is to be no sowing of seed, or harvest of crops. All that is owed, no matter how great the sum, is forgotten. It is a reminder to whom the earth truly belongs. It is a command to treat one another as sisters and brothers. S’hmita emphasizes the necessity of rest in a long cycle of activity.
Women throughout history and across the globe, have waged war for ownership of their bodies. Today, the bodies of women and girls are bought and sold. They are commodities in a trafficking industry that shows no signs of abating. In western culture, our bodies are vehicles for the sale of liquor, cars, and cologne. We have no space to acknowledge our own cycles. We have no system to recognize the value of maturity.
Our tradition teaches that we are crafted in the image of the divine. Our bodies are not public property, nor are they where our true value resides. Parashat Behar reminds us that the earth is a gift, the ownership of which ultimately resides with G-d. So too, our bodies are gifted to us as shelters for our souls. They are the means of bringing light to the darkness of our world. It is through our bodies that we do the work of tzedakah and chesed. It is with our bodies that we comfort, create, and build a better world for all.
Parashat Behar commands us to give heed to cycles. It teaches us that in the midst of activity, it is essential to rest and come together as one community. We can apply the same principle to our lives and bodies. We can honor both by recognizing their inherent cycles, and we can give ourselves the blessing of rest and supportive relationships. The earth benefits from support of her cycles, and we benefit from support of our own.
Akiva Yael is an enthusiastic participant in all that is holy, including Torah study, powerlifting, and the beauty of our world.
