Yesterday was the Jewish holiday Lag Ba'Omer, the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer. During this time of year almost 2,000 years ago, the Jewish tradition teaches, a plague killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva's students because they did not treat one another respectfully. According to a medieval tradition, this plague ended on Lag Ba'Omer. Thus, in modern times Lag Ba'Omer is treated as a festive day with celebration.
Yesterday, on Lag Ba'Omer 2012, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to fully endorse same-sex marriage. There will be those who will surmise that the president's statements were made for political gain, but his words were powerful and historic and appreciated by millions.
Homosexuality is not an easy subject to deal with in Judaism. Based on a few words in the Torah, the issue is one of the most divisive in Jewish communities today. However, in very recent years, and based on several monumental decisions, many in the more progressive Jewish communities have come to see this issue as a matter of human dignity (k'vod habriyot).
For gays and lesbians who have fought for marriage equality, Lag Ba'Omer 2012 was an epic day on which a plague ended.
Marriage in the minds of millions is the joining of a man and a woman in a holy union. We all have that traditional image of marriage because that is all we have known. However, times change. And with the changing of the times, the conventions we have long maintained change as well.
For many Jewish people, the Torah's stance on homosexuality will continue to be clear, certain and immutable. However, for a good many people, there is much room for interpretation. And the interpretation of the Torah will be impacted by several factors including the dignity of real, living and breathing human beings who desire to love and be loved. Human beings who seek the equal rights of marriage regardless of their sexual orientation.
When I began my rabbinical studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York in 1998, I believed that homosexuality was a sin in Judaism. Admittedly, I hadn't spent much time studying the applicable texts in the Torah or the commentary on the subject. I also didn't know any gay or lesbian people (or at least I didn't know they were gay or lesbian at the time). Throughout the course of my time at JTS, I came to understand how our community's treatment of gays and lesbians has real and lasting effects on people's lives. I got involved in a group called Keshet (rainbow), which advocated for the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the rabbinical and cantorial schools of JTS.
During my final year at JTS I served as President of the Rabbinical School Student Organization. On the last day of my term in office, I signed off on a major allocation of funds to be directed to Keshet and used for programming to educate the Seminary community about LGBT issues. During my first years as a rabbi I watched with great interest as JTS students worked hard to encourage the Seminary to open its doors to gays and lesbians who wished to lead the Jewish community as rabbis and cantors. With great admiration and appreciation from afar, I witnessed change being implemented.
The passing of a teshuva (religious opinion) by the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards in December 2006 paved the way for gays and lesbians to enter JTS in the rabbinical and cantorial schools. The teshuva was co-authored by my teacher and friend, Rabbi Danny Nevins, who now serves as the dean of the rabbinical school there. It was his understanding that LGBT issues fit into the category of human dignity that served as the foundation of the teshuva.
Just as we've seen major change occur with regard to domestic partner benefits, the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis and cantors, and the ability for rabbis to perform commitment ceremonies, we are now witnessing the epic moment when marriage equality will be realized for the LGBT community. President Obama's statement will be regarded as a watershed moment for this cause.
Same-sex marriage does not mean we no longer take the word of the Torah to heart. It doesn't mean we are overruling God. It means that we are giving homosexuals the same rights to be in a committed, loving relationship that has been blessed and sanctified. That is certainly a matter of human dignity in my opinion.
Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, teaches that the appearance of a rainbow will bring redemption just as a rainbow appeared following the great flood in biblical times.
In addition to Lag Ba'Omer being the day on which the plague was lifted from the students of Rabbi Akiva and they stopped dying, it also corresponds with the date on which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai died. While the anniversary of a great sage's death seems an odd time to celebrate, we learn that on the day Rabbi Shimon passed away a great light of endless joy filled the day. The happiness on that day was to the sage and his students "like that of a groom while standing under the canopy at his wedding." In modern times, religious Jews flock to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the city of Meron on Lag Ba'Omer, where they sing and dance.
Another tradition on Lag Ba'Omer is for children to play with bows and arrows. The "bow" symbolizes a rainbow because it is believed that a rainbow was never seen during the lifetime of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Tradition tells us that the sage himself was the sign of the rainbow.
And so, it is inspiring and meaningful that on Lag Ba'Omer, a day celebrated for a plague ending and the anniversary of the death of a great sage who was compared to a rainbow (keshet), the symbol of the LGBT pride movement, the President of the United States articulated his convictions that gays and lesbians should have the right to marry.
May the gentle radiance of the rainbow be a sign of God's blessings on all of us who seek dignity and equality for all human beings. May the love that two people have for each other, regardless of sexual orientation, be blessed and made sanctified for the entirety of their lives together. Thank you Mr. President for helping to bring about this necessary freedom of equality.
Rabbi Jason Miller, an entrepreneur, blogger and social media expert, is president of Michigan-based Access Computer Technology. He blogs at http://blog.rabbijason.com and is on Twitter @rabbijason.
For more on the Omer, join the conversation and community by visiting the Omer liveblog on HuffPost Religion, which features blogs, prayers, art and reflections for all 49 days of spiritual renewal between Passover and Shavuot.
Follow Rabbi Jason Miller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rabbijason
Definition of MARRIAGE
1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage b: the mutual relation of married persons : wedlock c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage
2: an act of marrying or the rite by which the married status is effected; especially: the wedding ceremony and attendant festivities or formalities
3: an intimate or close union
WHY CHANGE THE MEANING of a WORD:
Makes more sense to me to make a new word or give the deduction to anyone living together HAVING SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. What about 2 cousins or friends not having SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. Should they be denied? Just because they are not having Sex.
Many married couples don't have Sexual Relationships. Should we take the title of MARRIAGE away from them
Sometimes taking the word of Torah to heart means rejecting that word FOR THE SAKE OF TORAH - i.e. because it's not true and/or appropriate for us nowadays.
"It doesn't mean we are overruling God."
It does if you believe that the Torah is written by God. And therein lies the problem!
If we think reasonably enough to accord dignity and acceptance to gays, we might ALSO be reasonable and say that the Torah is not literal, nor were the acts/words of "God" as depicted in the Torah any more real than the gods of other peoples which likewise played a role in their national stories. And once you do this, the problem of incorporating gays into Jewish life simply evaporates.
BTW, nice "drash" on the keshet/rainbow.
What is a god's word? Is it the Old Testament, the oral stories descended from men who spoke to god without witness? The stories being told and slowly distorted for ages, before they were written down in a way that was acceptable in it's Bronze age cultural context? These stories, written, translated, rewritten and edited?
Or did you hear a booming voice in your head, or did your bush felt like it was on fire, but on close examination there were no flames? Does a god whisper in your ears, or do you believe a god created the Universe twice, but once?
Or is a god Allah? A god championed by a slave-owning paedophile? Or is he Karma, that which does not talk, but speaks to us all?
Enlighten us, Oh you who knows better than all.
Jason Miller is certainly entitled to advocate any “religious” opinion he desires. Within Conservative Judaism the individual Rabbi is autonomous. As a denomination there is no binding “religious law” with the exception of three “standards” relating to intermarriage, divorce and affirming matrilineal decent.
No individual can really speak in the name of “Conservative Judaism”. The movement grew out of “the historical school” and sought to “conserve” traditional Judaism while acknowledging modern historical scholarship.
"Haven't you read the Scriptures?" Jesus replied. "They record that from the beginning 'God made them male and female.
For myself, I do not care if the President "affirms" gays or not, in the privacy of his heart. I want him to fulfill his oath of office, and defend the innate human rights of my gay nephews. As it is, the President has declared them second class citizens for the duration.
This was just the same old dog and pony show we always see out of the President's camp, and he expects gays to be the poodle who now jump through his hoops. The heck with that.
This man spent his whole life teaching, and writing, and being the champion of the idea that equality and civil rights are under federal protection. All that he is issued from that truth, and all that he has done has championed that truth. Then he casually tosses over everything he ever claimed to believe, and throws 30 million gays under the bus of state's rights. This is way beyond amoral pragmatism or hypocrisy.
In the end I am not surprised by a politician saying and doing anything to hold on to the power he craves, but what is completely perplexing to me is the way liberal media leaders and activists pretend Obama did something brave this week. Every last one of them knows what the words "state's rights" mean. When they pretend they don't it is a betrayal of the first order. Shame on them, and all who pretend along with them.
All these men had the character and manhood to do whats right even when it cost them. The President does not. He declared gays under state's rights. He threw 30 million American gays under the bus of the religious right that controls 33 state legislatures. Even his pathetic "affirmation" of feelings only came AFTER his gay bundlers told him they would cut off 40% of his money for the campaign. Then suddenly he evolves to a new feeling.
Look, I acknowledge the President's right to be the only possible Democratic Presidential contender who puts gay equality under state's rights. I acknowledge his right to stand with Romney on how he sees the Constitution and it's protection of minorities. That is his privalege, but please, don't call it bold or brave.