Keep the Faith: 'In God's Image' — Pride Month!
The Torah, our Holy Bible, opens with the story of creation. In the first chapter of Genesis, we are taught that all people were created in the image of God. The text relates that God created fish “of every kind,” birds “of every kind,” cattle “of every kind,” creeping things “of every kind,” and wild animals “of every kind” and we learn later that everything that God creates has a purpose and a role.
But on the sixth day, when God creates human beings, this recurring phrase disappears. We never hear that God creates people “of every kind” as God creates just one man and one woman and they are created B’Tzelem. Rabbi Shai Held makes the following observation: With this subtle omission, the Bible makes a stunningly simple point: There are no “kinds” of human beings. Each human from the first two on is created B’Tzelem Elohim, in God’s image. Even with all of the diversity that we see today in humanity and in our communities, in our cores, we have a uniting Source which makes us each equal in value and worth as part of our world. Because each of us has the same Source, each of us is special.
That each of is special is echoed in our tefillot, our liturgy. Every morning, shortly after we rise, in Birkot Hashachar, the Morning Blessings (in Conservative and Reform liturgy), we recite, “Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, SheAsani B’Tzalmo. Blessed are You, Lord our God, who has created me in God’s image.” We use some of our first waking moments to thank God for allowing us to awaken to a new day. We acknowledge and appreciate our uniqueness, our connection to others, and our diversity.
In celebrating and acknowledging our diversity, representation is important, especially in faith communities. While we acknowledge that Love is Love and that each person is divine every day of the year, for the last number of years, we have designated two weekends a year to focus on uplifting and celebrating our LGBTQ+ community; one usually in October, Rainbow Shabbat, when we read the verses relating to the rainbow following the flood (Noah’s Ark) and Pride Shabbat in June.
Two weeks ago, we celebrated our June Pride Shabbat. Our guest speaker, Aharon shared that he, like everyone, wants to live in a safe, welcoming and accepting society. This also extends to religious communities. As a self-identifying gay man, he shared that he was shocked, in a good way, the first time he showed up for Jewish learning classes seven years before, and there were few LGBTQ+ persons attending the class. For him (and I would argue for all of us), it is always helpful to see people, like yourself, to feel more comfortable.
Through the years that he was attending services, classes and events, at Congregation Beth Israel, he was never disrespected in any way. He felt welcomed and included in the community. He felt like he could live his authentic self and not have to conform to anyone else’s expectations of what he should be. He also shared how Beth Israel helped him to release some of his own biases. “As a member of LGBTQ+ community, for many years only letter of this abbreviation “G” was important for me. Many gay people live in their own gay sub-culture, often ignorant to other members of LGBTQ+ family. I was one of those, mostly due to absence of interaction or exposure. Beth Israel gave me an opportunity to grow away from my biases for 3 simple reasons: 1) If the Beth Israel community is supporting me, shouldn’t I also extend support to other people? 2) I had a chance to interact with people from all ways of life and get over ridiculous biases I had before, 3) Beth Israel helped me to reiterate the importance of respecting each other inside and outside the community.” Aharon finished his talk with, “As I said before, Beth Israel gave not only gave place to feel accepted, but helped to be way more accepting and understanding to other people.”
We celebrate the diversity of our voices and of our physical beings. When we gather together and lift our voices in prayer, whether the voice is sweet and clear, off tune, loud or even silent, we model Jewish community: discrete voices united in saying the prayers and singing the songs. The range of voices reflects the range of individuals who make our Jewish community dynamic.
When we value each member of our community, each individual created in the image of God, we give thanks and renew the promise and hope of creation. Thank you God for creating me in God’s image. Thank you God for creating each of us in God’s image!
Rabbi Aviva Fellman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester. She is also an active member of Worcester Interfaith, teaches in W.I.S.E., and is a married mother of four.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: In God's Image — Pride Month!
