Jewish Musings Wednesday, March 27

[hollygail]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[hollygail]

While reading the part in this week's Torah portion, we learn about the burnt offering (olah, sometimes translated as “holocaust”). It must be burned entirely. It must be kept burning on the altar all night long, and the fire of the altar must burn perpetually. Moreover, the priest is responsible for carrying the ashes of the sacrifice outside the camp to a pure place.

One lesson we can take from that section is that in Judaism, no one is too special to be involved in small things. The priest is not exempt from the “dirty work” of Jewish living. He, and not a subordinate, is responsible for cleaning up from the sacrifice.

It seems to me that not having a "hierarchy" of Jews means that each and every one of us is special in our own way and not one of us is more "important" than anyone else, the first aliyah's offer to Kohanim, second to Leviim notwithstanding (and I must say that in more recent years, I don't see that tradition being practiced in many of the Conservative synagogues I've been in; Reconstructionist, Reform and Renewal never had the practice). I was raised with the teaching that democracy is possibly the highest form of government. The Declaration of Independence says "all men are created equal," although in those days, it may be true that those specific 5 words applied only to white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male landowners; still, the wording sounds (to 21st century ears) like everyone is equal. I like to think that in a true democracy, everyone's rights are equal and everyone gets treated equally. I am more than aware that what I like to think differs from the reality of American life, but I still hold out hope that democracy is the best (or at least one of the best) forms of government. I have in my lifetime fought for democracy, for equal treatment for all people, regardless of skin color, gender, sexual identity, and certainly what house of worship a person chooses or chooses not to attend.

How about you? Do you see a democratic (lower case "d") vision in Judaism and/or government, whether here or anywhere else?

[gazelle18]

I like that in Judaism, humans are generally accorded equal respect and dignity. (Oh, I recognize that in those days, women were considered inferior, and people could own slaves, and I’m not excusing that. But in the ethos of the day, all humans had dignity.) For example, tradespeople are commanded to use honest “weights and measures. “ This applies even to female customers ! When we are commanded not to murder, this includes all humans. Even the high priests were not exempt from living according to the various commandments of the one God, who was the same God for all humans.

I think that my family is considered “Levi” for purposes of reading from the Torah. My brother, a Reform rabbi, does not recognize these distinctions, but if he is in a shul that does, he will begrudgingly accept the Aliyah of the Levi if no one else steps up. (But he has expressed to me that he dislikes doing this.) Since I have always been a Reform Jew, this never came up for me.

[peachymom1]

The issue of calling a Kohen for the first aliyah is such a small vestige of tradition that it doesn't bother me when people do it, though I don't think we need to make that distinction anymore.

In my lifetime, I have seen great leaps toward equality for women and other groups, and even when we have back-sliding points in time (like now), I'm still optimistic that we will keep moving forward. Like in the Torah, though, some generations are going to have to die off before we can make even greater strides. I'm so tired of the pathetic refrain, "I grew up in a different time!" used to excuse misogyny, racism and homophobia. My MIL gave me that line, and I countered with, "Well, then, you should stop wearing pants, having your own bank account, using credit cards and driving a car, shouldn't you?" Blank stare...