Parashat Pinchas: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back – Delivered on Friday night June 28, 2013
This week my cousin Erica, who has kids around the same age as ours, shared a great story on Facebook about her older daughter Anna. A couple weeks ago, eight-year-old Anna was getting organized for Day Camp at their JCC in Newton. She learned that all of the different camp units or age-groups were named after the different tribes of Israelites- names like Judah and Simeon, Levi and Benjamin. Being the feminist 8-year-old that she is, she was troubled. All of the camp units, were named after male heads of tribes. There wasn’t a single female Israelite name in the bunch!
So, she wrote the camp a letter! In the letter she described what she noticed, and expressed to the camp director that she thought it was unfair that there were no women represented. The camp director wrote back saying that she had a good point, and that this year it was too late to make any changes. But next year if they end up adding a unit, they would consider a female name. Not exactly the answer she was hoping for. But a pretty good step forward.
This week on the first day of camp, when my cousin dropped her daughter off, they were surprised to see that Anna had truly made a difference. In fact, this year, the camp did add a new unit. And they named it “Leah.” And, as they perused the camp bulletin board, there was Anna’s letter, publicly displayed for all to see.
Such an inspiring story! And a wonderful example of standing up for equality. It also shows what it is like to advocate for what you believe in and to try to move the world closer to justice. So often, the experience is that of: “two steps forward, one step back.” Or it is that of slowly turning a very, very large ship around. Anna’s camp didn’t respond immediately to her request, and they didn’t respond fully. The fairer way would be to rename all of the units, half male names and half female. Or to use non-gender specific names. She made progress, but there is still lots more to do.
In our Torah portion this week, we also have an example of women standing up for themselves and publicly bringing a complaint to the leadership. Moses has just completed a census of the Israelites and has told them how the land of Israel will be divided among them, based on their tribes and the ancestral clans within each tribe. In those ancient times, any land that was assigned to a clan would pass down from father to son.
After Moses has announced how the land will be divided, five women approach him in front of all of the people who are gathered. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah are sisters and are the only children of a man named Zelophechad, who is the head of a clan in the tribe of Mannasseh. Zelophechad had died, and his five daughters come to Moses and demand that they be allowed to inherit the land assigned to their father. Moses brings their plea to God, and God replies that “the plea of Zelophechad’s daughters is just; you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them.” God goes even further to legislate this in all similar cases –that if there are no sons, then the daughters should be next in line to inherit their family’s land.
This story beautifully illustrates what it means to speak truth to power and advocate for justice. The Torah’s solution may not quite line up with today’s sensibilities that men and women should inherit equally. But for its time, it is quite revolutionary.
Sadly, this revolutionary law gets rolled back only chapters later. The male heads of the daughters’ clan appeal the ruling. They are afraid that daughters will marry men outside the clan, and then the land would leave the clan with them. And so, God narrows the law saying that that in order for the women to inherit, they are required to marry men only within their clan so that the land will stay in its tribe.
Two steps forward, one step back. Making a difference and losing ground. There is still so much work to do!
In our own country this week, we saw this same dynamic at work at the Supreme Court. I have felt quite conflicted this week, as I imagine many of us did. I’ve been bouncing from the joy of the Defense Of Marriage Act and Prop 8 being defeated, bringing our country one giant step closer to marriage equality for gays and lesbians on the one hand, to the worry about central provisions of the Voting Rights Act being overturned and the real possibility that states will pass laws that are meant to suppress the votes of minorities, on the other hand.
This week was one to celebrate the expansion of civil rights of gays and lesbians, with the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act, which blocked the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage. Now gays and lesbians who have been legally married in a state that allows gay marriage are not blocked from being recognized by the federal government as legally married. It is still up to states whether to allow and recognize same-sex marriage, and there are many details to be worked out related to federal recognition of these unions. The Supreme Court also refused to hear a lawsuit regarding same-sex marriage in California, allowing to stand the ruling of a lower court which upholds the rights of gays and lesbians to marry in that state.
As Jews, we recognize that all human beings are created in the Divine Image, and full marriage equality is one very important expression of that value. There is still a lot to do to bring about full marriage equality in this country, but these are huge steps forward.
In the same week, the Supreme Court overturned a major provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that requires jurisdictions with a history of blocking voting of minorities to get approval before making changes to their voting policies. The decision is probably fair in theory, given that much has changed since 1965, and the list of jurisdictions under this provision is likely no longer up to date. Some may need oversight – others may not – and still others that aren’t on the list should have oversight. However, this decision presents an enormous challenge to the critical project of enfranchising all Americans regardless of race. It opens the door to states instituting new laws whose intent is to suppress the voting of minorities, and some states are already walking through that door.
As with the case of the daughters of Zelophechad, the Voting Rights Act was a huge victory after a difficult struggle. And now the justice and equality that was won all those years ago is again in danger.
My friend, a Modern Orthodox rabbi named Avi Orlow, shared a drash this week about these rulings, looking at the events through the lens of a saying from the Mishnah. The Mishnah in Pirke Avot says, “Al tifrosh min ha-tzibur” “Do not separate yourself from the community.” He reads it in two ways. The first reading take the saying at face value. “Participate in the community – engage with it – do not abandon your people or separate from them!” His second reading interprets the word, “yourself,” in a more intensive way. This interpretation is – don’t divide yourself into separate pieces within yourself.
Rabbi Orlow and I both hope that the Supreme Court’s rulings around gay marriage will go a long way to help gay individuals feel more whole within themselves –that especially gay youth will feel safe being themselves in all of their fullness when they participate in community and will not need to fragment and hide important parts of themselves. He makes the point that this ruling helps to bring our country closer to a more perfect union –a more perfect community. However, he says that this ruling and I would the one overturning the Voting Rights Act as well, leave us with some big questions that I will leave us all with tonight:
Now that these decisions have been handed down, how will we follow the Mishnah’s instructions? How will we be sure not to separate ourselves from the community? How will we engage with the community, come close to the seats of power and make our demands known? How will we be a part of taking our community, our country forward toward that more perfect union– step by step by step?
