I
heard a number of comments about my sermon last week; a
few remarked that it was political. Some of you even suggested
that it showed that I was supporter of one candidate in
the elections, while others of you opined that perhaps I
supported a different candidate. About half of you were
right.
This week, I’m afraid my topic will be a bit “political”
yet again, but let me reassure you- by next week, I hope
to be back to the irrelevant stuff.
This week, we read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's
a Hebrew school story in many ways, but there are two aspects
that I feel I must share with you that are particularly
relevant for us this Tuesday. We're familiar with the general
outline. God reveals to Abraham that the residents of Sodom
are indeed wicked, and that he will bring about their destruction.
Abraham bargains, unsuccessfully, with God, and in the end
the angels descend to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family,
and destroy the rest of the city utterly.
Abraham's bargaining, haggling with God, is one of the most
remarkable scenes in Genesis. Abraham asks, first, with
great gusto- what if there were fifty righteous people in
Sodom. You judge the whole world- can you not do justice
here?
He comes back with a certain timidity,
"I am but dust in the wind, . but what if there were
but 45."
God says ok, 45.
Abraham comes back with 40, 30,20.
I only hope My son doesn't learn to bargain like that when
he's getting ready to get his learner's permit.
He gets it down to 10, when God gets out of there before
Abraham makes him throw in a toaster oven.
As it turns out, only Lot is worthy of saving, and for want
of those 10 people, the city of Sodom is lost, and its neighbors
are destroyed as well.
Abraham's bargaining process is actually quite important.
It is a reminder that a few people, a miniscule minority
of a minority, can make the difference for an entire community,
an entire region.
On Tuesday, we each have an opportunity to make any nmber
of important decisions, proclaim where we stand. Some of
us may feel that one race or another is "wrapped up,"
- what's the value of waiting an hour, two hours, three
hours on line, when one's vote will be in a minority. We
truly never know whether it will be 50 votes, or 40 votes,
or 10 votes, that decide. Indeed, in the last national election,
there was a great deal of fuss about Florida. Oh, to never
hear the term hanging chad or butterfly ballot again. But
if 185 people had voted differently in New Mexico, Florida
might not have mattered. I have a funny feeling that we
may be seeing a similar scene played out in the courts of
our land by the end of this coming week. God help us all.
There is a second issue that I feel I must raise. Many of
us take for granted that we know which sins Sodom was punished
for. After all- the term sodomy lives on our language today
as a description for certain types of sexual behavior. As
for what the folks in Gemorrah did to merit their destruction-
I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet you can download pictures
of it off the internet.
Certainly, many of our neighbors who have a literal (if
inaccurate), view of the Bible would tell you that on Tuesday
that the Bible tells them that they must vote for the Marriage
amendment to Georgia's constitution. Those of you who were
here in the afternoon on Yom Kippur, are aware that I was
a co-signator of a letter which appeared in the AJTimes
this week which suggested that that was not the case.
What does our tradition say? †Sanhedrin 109a “fills
in the blanks:”
“’They
were wicked, and sinned before God very much’ [Genesis
13:13]
Wicked-
sins of the flesh
Sinned- sins of money
before God- sins of blasphemy
very much-bloodshed-“
Quite
a litany of offenses.
But which one was the straw that broke the camel’s
back?
Pirkei Avot describes the measure of Sodom as as place where
people say "what's mine is mine, what's yours is yours."
A selfish society.
How did they go astray, how did they get that way? Sanhedrin
tells us: God gave them a land of goodness- a land that
was so Good that Lot felt the need to move there. A land
where crops grew so well, and the streets were paved with
gold.
They said to themselves- “Why should we have strangers
come to our midst? They drain our resources.” When
a visitor came to town, they would do their best to abuse
him and be rid of him. There was a bed they used for their
guests. If the guest was too long, they shortened him by
lopping off his feet; if too short, they stretched him out.
If a poor man happened to come there, every resident gave
him a gold denar, upon which he wrote his name, but no bread
was given him. When he died, each came and took back his
coins. The society is worthy of destruction because it is
one in which it is possible to starve in the midst of plenty.
It was a society in which people knew how to be cheats and
thieves within the measure of the law. Jewish law states
that one who steals less than one p'rutah (a small coin)
is immune from prosecution.
If a man laid out a row of bricks, everyone would come and
take just one. "What is it to you, I have taken but
one brick" If a man laid out onions or garlic, each
person would take just one. “What is it to you, I
have taken but one clove?”
They describe four judges, Shakrai Shakurai, Zayyafi, and
Mazlei Dina- liar, awful liar, forger, and perverter of
justice. Their rulings were reminiscent of the rulings you
hear about today- you know when a burglar breaks his leg
while trying to rob a house, and then sues the homeowner
for an injury. If one man cut off the ear of a donkey, the
judges would say "give it to the person who damaged
it, to take care of it until it grows back.” If one
man hit another and drew blood, and the victim came to court,
the judge said "pay your attacker the customary fee
for bloodletting."
These stories, some of them fanciful, bear out the words
of Ezekiel (16:49):
“This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and
her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease,
but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and
did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them
when I saw it.”
There is always a hierarchy of values- it says that Sodom
was judged and destroyed, and OUR society is judged not
because of what it does in the bedroom, but because of what
it does in the courtroom. Not because of how they treated
those they knew (even in the Biblical sense) but because
of how they responded to the stranger, to the outsider,
to one who is marginal, to one who is different from the
norm. As a Jew, I am always deeply concerned when the law
of the land picks out any group to say that that group's
activities or interests are specifically not protected by
the law of the land.
This is not to say that our tradition is inherently liberal
on questions of sex and marriage. The rabbis would not have
been comfortable with Seinfeld's "not that there is
anything wrong with that.." Officiating at weddings
is one of the greatest joys in my rabbinate, and I am always
saddened when I meet a couple who are truly in love with
each other, but whose union I cannot solemnify, cannot sanctify,
because it is beyond the scope of that permitted by my understanding
of the tradition. I am saddened because I realize that this
is a distinction mandated by faith- by my uniquely Jewish
approach to the world, rather than by natural law, which
does not necessarily set bounds on the love between two
people. Furthermore, it is not my place to judge people
who observe differently than I do- for who knows which commandment
comes easily to them, but is beyond the scope of my will
and love.
I come to my religious standards with seriousness, and indeed,
I would hope, integrity. But I would never dream of imposing
those religious standards on others within the Jewish community,
let alone the larger world. I keep kosher in my home, I
demand that our synagogue maintain the highest standards.
I would encourage each of you to do so. But I would never
think of trying to bring a bout a state amendment banning
pulled pork.
If you want to defend marriage- by all means do so. Get
married and don't cheat. Support social services that help
keep families together. If people you know are getting married,
buy them a nice gift- off the registry, they will really
appreciate it.
On Tuesday, though- remember that a society is sometimes
judged, the balance is sometimes tipped, not by the apparent
majority, but by the righteousness and commitment of the
minority.
