Before Facebook and blogs, when people went on a trip they might have kept a journal. If not a real journal, then maybe they just kept an itinerary – a list of the places they visited. It’s easy to forget the places along the way if you don’t write them down.
The Torah portion Masei is exactly that: an itinerary, a recounting of the forty-two places we stopped during our journey through the wilderness on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses was the journal keeper: the Torah tells us he wrote each stop down. “We’re not quite there yet … but we’re about to enter.” So the Torah is telling us: stop, look back, and remember where we’ve been along the journey.
On July 24, 2011, we reached a major milestone in a long journey…the journey toward marriage equality. On that day, New York became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. That victory doubles the number of Americans who live in states with the freedom to marry. It is indeed a milestone worth celebrating.
This milestone came up in a conversation I had this week with a young man who grew up in our congregation. Now a senior in college, he came to talk with me about his recently discovered desire to become a rabbi. He had always thought he wanted to go into politics… and gay marriage was one of the issues he worked on as an intern in Washington. Through that work, he learned about the Reform Movement’s advocacy for gay marriage and had come to see that you can influence politics through religious commitment. He explained his desire to do political work came from the Jewish values he had learned from his family and from our temple —primarily his belief that all human beings are created in the image of God. He told me he was really moved to look back and see the steps our Reform movement has taken on the journey towards marriage equality that contributed to the milestone we celebrated last week.
Here are some of those steps:
1965: (I was 15 years old): The Women of Reform Judaism (National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods) resolved: “We…deplore the tendency on the part of community authorities to harass homosexuals. We associate ourselves with those religious leaders and legal experts who urge revision in the criminal code as it relates to homosexuality, especially when it exists between consenting adults.”
1972: (the year I entered rabbinical school): The world’s first LGBT-outreach synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, was founded in 1972 in Los Angeles and affiliated with the Reform Movement.
1977: (the year after my ordination): The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR, the Reform Movement’s rabbinical organization) passed a resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults and an end to discrimination against gays and lesbians.
1983: Rabbi Eric Weiss became the first openly gay man to be accepted to Hebrew Union College, the Reform Movement’s rabbinical school.
1987: The Union of American Hebrew Congregations ( UAHC, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism, the Reform Movement’s national body) resolved to “encourage lesbian and gay Jews to share and participate in the worship, leadership, and general congregational life of all synagogues….and to encourage Reform congregations to continue to develop educational programs in the synagogue and community which promote understanding and respect for lesbians and gays, [and to] employ people without regard to sexual orientation.”
1990: The CCAR endorsed the acceptance of gay and lesbian Jews into Hebrew Union College and the rabbinate, although many gay and lesbian came out as gay after they were ordained.
1993: The UAHC passed a resolution recognizing gay and lesbian partnerships.
1995: I officiated at the Jewish marriage of Rabbi Lisa Edwards and Tracy Moore.
1996: The CCAR passed a resolution supporting the rights of gay and lesbian couples “to share fully and equally in the rights of civil marriage."
1997: The UAHC passed a resolution in support of “secular efforts to promote legislation which would provide through civil marriage equal opportunity for gay men and lesbians,” while, at the same time, resolved to “encourage its constituent congregations to honor monogamous domestic relationships formed by gay men or lesbians.”
1998: The CCAR’s Ad Hoc Committee on Human Sexuality declared that, “kedushah [holiness/sanctity] may be present in committed same gender relationships between two Jews and that these relationships can serve as the foundation of stable Jewish families, thus adding strength to the Jewish community.”
2000: The CCAR passed a resolution allowing Reform rabbis to officiate at same-sex commitment ceremonies, leaving the decision up to individual rabbis.
2003: Hebrew Union College accepted its first openly transgender rabbinical student, Reuben Zellman.
2006: The Reform Movement opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment, as well as state amendments to ban same-sex marriage. The President of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, stated, “Gay Americans pose no threat to their friends, neighbors, or co-workers, and when two people make a lifelong commitment to each other, we believe it is wrong to deny them the legal guarantees that protect them and their children and benefit the broader society.”
2008: I officiated again at the wedding of Rabbi Lisa Edwards and Tracy Moore, this time with State Assembly leader Karen Bass and the sanction of the State of California.
I am proud to be a Reform Jew and to have been part of this journey. Like our ancestors in the Book of Numbers, we’re not yet there…there is still a way to go before we enter into the Promised Land. Gay marriage is not legal in every state; it is still unclear what will happen to those married in one state if those marriages are not recognized in another. The journey continues. But as the Torah portion and this future rabbi remind me: at a milestone, it is important to stop, look back, and recognize the work and courage of individuals and of movements to bring us to this moment. Look how far we have come in our own lifetimes.
The Torah portion names the forty-two steps along the journey of our people through the wilderness. It may well take more than forty-two steps to real marriage equality. Forty-two is also the number of letters in the secret, unpronounceable name of God. Perhaps we are meant to learn from this that we can discover Divinity by paying attention to the steps of all our journeys: our own, the journey of our people, and the journey of our country toward marriage equality and the recognition that all human beings are in fact created in the image of God.
Rabbi Laura Geller
Thank you for a graceful and clear exposition of Reform Judaism's leadership for LGBT rights and marriage equality. I'm proud to join so many others on the path to a future when we all stand together for justice.
Posted by: Ellen Isaacs | August 03, 2011 at 12:09 AM