On Thursday night, March 17, the Board of Trustees of our congregation made a courageous and deliberate decision.  The Board decided that Congregation Shomrei Emunah would take a stand as a traditional Jewish community and affirm that the Torah does not stigmatize homosexuality.

In reaching this decision the Board, after listening to many voices within our community, chose to affirm the conclusions adopted  by the Ritual Committee, chaired by Geoff Sadow, arrived at through a process of many months of study and deliberation under my guidance.

I am extremely proud of our community and its leaders! This was a decision that could have easily been tabled or deferred. But the Ritual Committee and then the Board felt that this issue, and the challenge it posed, was too important to  avoid.

How did this happen?

You may know that I have consistently advocated for the full inclusion of  LGBT persons in our greater community and within the Jewish community. For years it pained me that the very Torah that I love, and that I have dedicated my life to living and teaching, has been read in a way that condemns homosexual activity. Specifically, there are two verses in the book of Leviticus that have been read for millennia as clear pronouncements of disgust and prohibition directed at homosexuality. I was appalled that the Torah could be seen as a justification for hatred and for inflicting emotional and physical harm upon human beings who, I knew, were just as worthy of love and respect as anyone. Could the Torah really be so wrong?

But one of the most precious aspects of the Torah is that She lives through ongoing interpretation. Miraculously, Jewish tradition has been able to preserve every letter of the Torah, exactly as written in ancient times, while it has simultaneously read those unchanging words in creative ways in order to hear the voice of the Torah speak in every age and to every age. That process is called “midrash” – the act of seeking new meanings in the words. And the presentation of the fruits of this process, through translation into the vernacular of the never-changing, sacred Hebrew words, is called “targum.”

After much struggle, I was blessed to achieve a breakthrough and find a new way to read the verses in Leviticus. The very same words that people had read with their homophobic assumptions could be read to say something very different! The very Hebrew words that seemed to be saying something completely and gratuitously hateful, could be read to be making a strong moral statement that we need to affirm.

Years ago I published my research and translation. And ever since I have been here, at Shomrei, I have made sure that, when we encounter those verses during our public reading of the Torah (on Shabbat and on the Holidays) I would preface our reading with this new targum. In fact, shortly after I arrived at Shomrei the Days of Awe were approaching and I was asked a pained question by a congregant. That person had been asked to read the Torah portion on Yom Kippur afternoon, a reading that includes one of these notorious verses. I was asked how we could justify reading such a deadly pronouncement. I assured that person that we would be reading the verse with a very different translation. It was extremely important to me that the sacred practice that we perform with such care at Shomrei, the full reading of the Torah throughout the year, should not be a tool for advancing a pernicious teaching, responsible for pain, suffering and death to persons living among us right now.

But there is no denying that our printed volumes – our Bibles and High Holy Day prayerbooks – have the old translation printed right next to the Hebrew words. And the printed word has enormous power. It is always there, in authorized form, ready to be discovered any time someone turns to that page, whether at the synagogue or at home. My alternative interpretation, on the other hand, has depended on my speaking out at the moment and hoping that those attending that part of the service were taking note. And as quickly as my words pierced th air, they disappeared.

So last Yom Kippur I wondered out loud whether this community would be willing to go a step further. Beyond allowing me to teach my approach for as long as I had the opportunity and the strength, would the congregation, as a community, think it important enough to take a stand to give voice to a different, more inclusive Torah message? Would the community think it important enough to counter the established published translation and incorporate a printed version of the new translation into every volume used in our synagogue?

Some found this challenge very unsettling. Was I contemplating vandalizing our sacred texts? I tried to reassure everyone that I was not thinking of tearing out pages or crossing out sentences. And, of course, the whole point of my efforts was to preserve the integrity of the original Hebrew text. But their worries simply confirmed the urgency of my argument. The printed word has incredible status. Even when the material is mere paper, when the word is written down it may as well be written in stone! So, if we were serious about offering an alternative to the established translation, we would have to find a way to include a printed version in our books.

The results of our wrestling with this challenge are numerous. I have  produced a one page document that includes the new translation of the two verses in the Torah as well as a basic explanation of why this effort is so urgently needed. (This is included separately in this issue.) I am grateful to the Ritual Committee and to some anonymous readers for their assistance in bringing the document to its present form.

This one page statement will be placed into a sleeve that will be glued into the back of every Etz Hayim Torah volume and every Lev Shalem High Holy Day prayer book. Thus the page will become part and parcel of each copy of these sacred books.

The plan is to help everyone in the congregation achieve a better understanding of the many issues involved in this endeavor through a series of learning opportunities. These study opportunities will take place in conjunction with our public reading of these texts from the Torah. So they will happen this Spring and next Fall.

The verses in question are found in two Torah portions, Aharei Mot and Q’doshim. These two Torah portions are often read together on the same Shabbat. This year, however, they are read separately and consecutively. So we will read the first verse on Shabbat morning, May 7, and the second one on the next Shabbat morning, May 14. On the first Shabbat we will have a good number of our Etz Hayim volumes prepared with the sleeves in back. We will then distribute the pages to everyone in attendance and after a brief explanation, we will, as a congregation, all place these pages in their new positions. A more extensive study of the translation will take place beforehand, at our early morning Torah Study group. On the following Shabbat we will hold a special “Lunch and Learn” Kiddush gathering so that we can have a broad discussion about the topic.

The verse from Aharei Mot is also read at the Yom Kippur  afternoon (Minchah) service. So, in preparation for the High Holy Days we will schedule a number of adult education sessions in the Fall. It has also been suggested that I devote my sermon on Kol Nidrei night to a theme or themes raised by this topic.

Indeed, there are many aspects to this complex issue, all deserving thoughtful examination. Of course, the public declaration that homosexuality is an acceptable form of human sexuality is crucial to this entire project. Without that conviction I would have had no impulse to delve into the Torah to find new meaning in Her words. Yet, such a declaration also challenges us to grapple honestly and openly with our views of human sexuality as a factor in our lives. This is a topic about which many people prefer to keep silent. Ironically, even that choice needs to be discussed. And there are so many other important questions.  Some of these include: What is our approach to the Torah as a book of guidance in our lives? What shall we do about troubling texts and verses in the Torah? How has the Torah been interpreted and how should it be interpreted? And by whom? What is our role as a community in advancing any specific approach to Judaism as a whole or with regard to any aspect of it? And the list can go on.

It is to the great credit of Shomrei that, through the efforts of the Ritual Committee and the Board of Trustees, we have chosen not to shy away from these essential questions.

I usually devote my Kol Emunah column to an examination of a portion of our daily prayers. I will close with a look at the blessing of the Amidah which we have reached in our studies. This is the second of the middle blessings of the weekday prayer. It reads: “Return us, our Parent, to Your Torah, and draw us closer, our Sovereign,  to Your service, and bring us back before You in full repentance (return). You abound in blessings, Eternal One, Who desires return.”

This blessing asks God to help us return to Her. Such returning is often called “repentance.” But there is a peculiarity to this formulation that expands the  blessing’s  meaning. We begin by asking that God return us to God’s Torah, and not just to God alone. I suggest that this prayer follows upon the prayer for wisdom and intelligence because it means to inspire us to continually renew our efforts to understand the Torah. We should not think that the Torah is amenable to one set of understandings, a given set of understandings that we can accumulate or ignore as we choose. This blessing tells us that we should always seek to return to the Torah because the Torah always has more to offer. If we will use our God-given gifts of wisdom, understanding and discernment (celebrated in the previous blessing) then we will be able to plumb the depths of the Torah for new and fresh truths. And the blessing assures us at its conclusion: God desires such a constant seeking, such a return.

Image(s):  courage © Quinn Dombrowski used with permission via Creative Commons License

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Rabbi David Greenstein

Rabbi David Greenstein arrived at Shomrei Emunah in August 2009 with a rich, broad and deep background as a rabbi, cantor, artist, scholar, and teacher. He retired midyear 2022, and spends his time teaching and painting.

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