OPINION: Local rabbis support LGBTQ community
As Floridians, as mothers, as women of faith and as clergy ordained to read and interpret the Bible in its original and most sacred Hebrew text, we stand in solidarity with and in support of queer children and families targeted by House Bill 1557.
We stand in support not in spite of our religious convictions but because of them.
We stand in support because the Book of Genesis tells us that God’s first human creation was not Adam –Adam and Eve do not appear until Genesis chapter two. Rather, in Genesis 1:27, God forms one human being – just one, as denoted by the Hebrew singular object pronoun oto.
This human being is identified as both "zachar u’nekevah" – male and female – or what we might today call genderfluid. And it is this genderfluid human being whom God praises as "b’tzelem Elohim" – which means "created in the divine image."
We stand in support because we revere David – the greatest king over Israel, and the ancestor of the Messiah – and because I Samuel 18:1-4 and II Samuel 1:26 relate the extraordinary love he shared with King Saul’s son, Jonathan.
When Jonathan first heard David speak – "nefesh Yonatan nikshera b’nefesh David" – Jonathan’s soul was linked with the soul of David. And when Jonathan fell in battle, David mourned: “Nifleatah ahavatcha li m’ahavat nashim" – "Your love was wondrous to me, more than the love of women.”
We stand in support even though we know what Leviticus 18:22 teaches that “lying down with a man as one lies down with a woman” is a "to’eyvah" – or "an abhorrence."
That's because we also know that Deuteronomy 14:3 uses "to’eyvah" to describe the consumption of foods like pork and shellfish. So while "to’eyvah" might serve as a rallying cry against loving same-gender relationships, the term can also be used to condemn a family enjoying ham around their dinner table on Easter Sunday. We choose to condemn neither.
We stand in support because at this season about 2,500 years ago, according to the Book of Esther 3:8-9, a vizier named Haman told the king of Persia: “Yeshno am echad…ve’dahtehem shonot" – which translates to "There is a certain people whose religion is different." And we know that this is what Haman next told the king: "Yikatev l’abdam"– "Let it be decreed to destroy them.”
These certain people – this "am echad" – were our ancestors, and this month, during the holiday of Purim, we celebrate their narrow escape from persecution and slaughter. We stand in support because we know what it is to be seen as different, and to be hated for who we are.
We stand in support because we worship the God who creates every child of every gender and every orientation in the divine image. And we worship the God who through Isaiah 43:1-4 speaks these words to them, and to all of God’s children – if we are willing to listen:
“Bora’acha…v’yotzercha…li atah."
(“I create you…I form you…You are Mine.")
“Vakarta ve’einay, nichbadetah."
(“You are precious in My eyes, and glorified.")
“Va’ani ahavticha."
("And I love you.”)
Elaine Rose Glickman and Jennifer Singer are rabbis in Sarasota.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: You can stand up for your religious convictions by backing LGBTQ youths
