Download Parashat Tazria-Metzora 5772: "What is Out of Bounds?"

Shabbat Parashat Tazria-Metzora 5772, April 28, 2012: What is Out of Bounds?
Rabbi Eric Yanoff
Shabbat Shalom.
So, as your rabbi, I would say that a good part of my job, at this point in Jewish
history, is just to get people to enjoy being Jewish. I mean, maybe I shouldn’t be
saying this out loud, but you all have plenty of things you could be doing today, or
on any day that you choose to do something Jewish. And (not all, but) part of my
strategy of getting you all to like Judaism is getting you to, well, to like ME. (I’d
like to think that I’m doing an okay job of that…. I’d like to think that it’s not just
the candy in my office that brings people in. I’d like to think that the back-handed
compliment that “I’m pretty cool… for a rabbi” is not just about how low the bar
for a “cool rabbi” is…. I’d like to think it’s because you like me. I’d like to think
that this isn’t coming off as just fishing for compliments here… shameless, I
know.)
Because if you like hanging out with me, it’s a pretty good chance that when you’re
with me I’m going to be doing something Jewish, then you’re more likely to have a
good experience doing something Jewish, and walk away a little bit more attached
to Judaism.
And part of my strategy of getting more people to like Judaism is defining our
community broadly enough to make people feel included – not outside Judaism.
I want to push ourselves to be as inclusive as we can be. Because I know that
many people – because of ambivalence about their Jewish experience, because of
desire to blend into society at-large, because of physical or emotional challenges or
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economic insecurity or multiple-faith household or sexual orientation or single
parenthood or some other way in which they don’t fit the so-called “cookie-cutter”
version of a Jewish family – many people feel like they are on the outskirts of the
Jewish community.
At any given point in time, our society is defined by those who on the margins –
and by those who are just outside the margins. When I was in Rabbinical School, I
read a doctoral dissertation that sought to define different religious communities by
their ancient laws of excommunication – the idea being, if these people were sent
“out,” then we could define the boundary-line between who is “in” and who is
“out.” And I spend most of my time figuring out ways that we can push ourselves
to define as many people and approaches and ideas as INSIDE the bounds of who
we are as a community.
But in the past few weeks, I have been asked the opposite question a surprising
number of times: I’ve been asked, What is OUT OF BOUNDS? What would
define someone as OUTSIDE of the community? It’s a hard question, in a time
when we are working so hard to keep people INTO their Judaism – that we would
ask what would cause us to place someone on the OUTS?
It feels like an archaic question – especially in light of this week’s Torah portion
– that goes into great detail about skin ailments and sexual conditions that cause
someone to be quarantined, outside the encampment of the People of Israel. We are
told clearly that once someone has these symptoms, they are immediately
OUTSIDERS – they must cry out, “Tamei!
Tamei! – I am ritually impure,
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ineligible, ostracized!” – and immediately be shut out of the camp for at least a
week, or until the priest brings them back in.
Now, in ancient times, medical symptoms were seen as punishments for ethical
transgressions – so if we struggle to put ourselves into that biblical mindset, in that
way of thinking, a person who had such a symptom must have done something that
was worthy of being defined as OUTSIDE, excommunicated. The words in our
Torah portion are “V’nich’r’tah ha-nefesh ha-hi” – that person should be CUT
OFF from the rest of the community, the rest of the people.
So, back in a time when communities were very defined and separate – for reasons
of economy and protection and family, among others – that may have made sense.
But nowadays, when our communities are so porous – people coming and going as
we please – how would strongly define someone as OUTSIDE?
It’s not a feel-good question… but it’s an important question, especially in a time
when we stretch ourselves to be as inclusive and embracing as we can. So I thought
about it… and I came up with a possible answer, in the context of
commemorations and celebrations we have marked on the Jewish calendar over the
past two weeks.
Last week, we marked Yom HaShoah, Holocaust
Commemoration Day, and this past week, we marked both Yom HaZikaron –
Israel’s Memorial Day for those who have fallen in defense of the Jewish State,
followed immediately by the outburst of celebration that is Yom HaAtzma’ut,
Israel’s Independence Day, marking 64 years since the miraculous Declaration of
the Modern Jewish State of Israel.
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So I thought about what would define someone as outside the Jewish People, in
modern times – in the same way that our Torah portion defines certain afflicted
people as outside the Camp of Israel. And I think that that’s it: Someone, even
born Jewish, who purposefully and mindfully denies or minimizes the Holocaust
defines himself as outside the Jewish People. It’s just too central a definition of the
history of Jewish persecution and survival against all odds. I don’t mean it as a
punishment – to be cut off from the Jewish People; really, it is a point of fact:
You can’t be Jewish, a part of the Community of Israel, AND overlook or minimize
or give legitimacy to any doubt of the evils of the Holocaust.
And similarly, since the existence of the State of Israel and the return of Jews to
Jerusalem and the rebuilding of that city is the single most significant event in
Jewish history since the the Destruction of the Temple in the year 70 (almost 2000
years ago) – then anyone who denies this modern-day miracle similarly defines
himself as outside the Jewish People. I’m not saying we have to agree on politics or
specifics – God knows, Israelis don’t; it’s the 2000 year old tradition of “two Jews,
three opinions” – but to not support the right of a Jewish State to exist in peace
and security, as the eternal home of the Jewish People – someone who does not
support such a central aspect of Jewish identity and peoplehood defines himself as
out of bounds, outside the camp, not part of how we define the Jewish People.
So, in modern times, Holocaust denial, and sentiment against the existence of a
secure, peaceful, Jewish State of Israel: Those are the things that would cause us to
say “v’nichr’tah ha-nefesh ha-hi” – to define someone as out of bounds. I know
it’s not necessarily feel-good – but we are not just some open, undefined,
unbounded mass of community. We strive to be welcoming, to widen the tent as
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much as possible – but we do stand for something, we are ideals-driven. And if
you think about it, you wouldn’t want it to be any other way – because if we stood
for everything, then we would really stand for nothing. There would be nothing
to join, nothing to feel a part of – because we would be indistinguishable from
everything else out there.
So yes, I want you to love your Judaism – and yes, I want you to love being here
with me as your rabbi. But I don’t want that love to be some vague, diffuse
feeling. We stand for more than that. I want you to love your Judaism… but I
also want you to be PROUD of your Judaism. I want you to feel like you belong
to something important. I want you to feel that, on certain fundamental and
central principles, we can agree; we can stand together. And the only way to do
that is to say that we stand for certain things – and necessarily, that certain things
are outside of those bounds. I only pray that, as we proudly define ourselves, based
on our ideals and the 3500-year-old vision of our People – that we continue to
inspire one another to greater heights, greater togetherness and unity, and
greater ahavat Yisrael – the love of Israel and of our Judaism. Keyn yehi ratzon So may it be God’s will. And let us say: AMEN.
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