Image: An old wooden fence post, criss-crossed with barbed wire. (LeoNeoBoy/Pixabay.)
Such male and female slaves as you may have—it is from the nations round about you that you may acquire male and female slaves. – Leviticus 25:44
We are reading Parashat Behar-Bechukotai this week, in which these words appear.
There are verses in the Torah that are downright painful to read, and Chapter 25 of Leviticus, with its rules for Jews keeping slaves, is one of them for me. These verses have been used to justify the practice of slavery in many different times and places in history. These verses justified the keeping of slaves by Jews, and they were cited to justify the keeping of slaves in my birth state of Tennessee.
Over time we have learned better. Jews no longer keep slaves. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gives a summary of the history of those changes in The Slow End of Slavery, a d’var Torah on Parashat Mishpatim. So what can we get out of reading these verses again and again, year after year?
First, while the practice of slavery is in our past, it is part of our history. As recently as the American Civil War, there were Jews as well as Christians who used the Torah to justify their ownership of other human beings. The memory of that should keep us humble. We should never forget that there may well be things we do lightly today that future generations will judge harshly.
These verses remind us that there are times and places in which we still, today, profit from immoral advantages over other human beings. For instance, “redlining” was banned 50 years ago, but the evil it did still impacts black families today.
Look at our synagogue communities: we make it difficult for Jews with brown or black skins to feel at home in our synagogues. We are quick to assume that they must be hired help or dangerous strangers. We leave them standing alone at the oneg. Even if we don’t say or do something overtly cruel, we fail to greet them with the same enthusiasm we might extend to a member who “looks Jewish” to us. If you don’t believe me, do a little reading. One good beginning is Kippahed While Black: The Troubling Resurgence of “Schvartze” and “Kushi” a short opinion piece in the Forward by Michael Twitty.
We American Jews have a favorite photo that we like to trot out whenever the subject of civil rights or race comes up:
In the photo, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (second from right) marches at Selma with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr in March 1965.* But we speak too often of this photo as if the work is done: “See! There’s a rabbi there! One of ours!” We speak of it as somehow each of us should get credit for Rabbi Heschel’s walk.
The trouble with this is that each Jew is responsible for their own self. ALL of us are commanded – individually! – to free the prisoner, to feed the hungry, to love the stranger, and to pursue justice. We can’t slide by on the righteousness of a single rabbi who took courageous action 53 years ago. We cannot stand by while our neighbors bleed, while African Americans are executed for holding cell phones on their own family’s property.
Each of us – me included! – needs to ask “What am I doing about racial injustice today?” We need to ask it not in the past tense, and certainly not by proxy. We need to be open to improving our behavior. We need to drop the defensiveness that keeps us from learning when we’ve messed up. We need to not be so fragile when someone points out that what we’ve said or done was, yes, racist.
We can do this. I have great faith in our ability to learn and to make change. We can do it in the voting booth. We can do it by speaking up at racist “jokes.” We can do it by biting our tongues at phrases like “Not all white people…” We can do it by inviting speakers and leaders of color to our congregation to speak. We can do it by including in our tzedakah budgets organizations that serve people of color. We can do it by doing the good work and then not insisting on credit.
Every year when Leviticus 25 comes around, I cringe. I don’t like being reminded of past wrongs – no one likes it. But if I use that discomfort to open my heart, to open my ears, then it will all be worth it. Shabbat shalom!
*For more about that iconic photo, read Susannah Heschel on the Legacy of Her Father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Civil Rights Movement, an article published in Moment Magazine in April, 2015.
Excellent blog today Rabbi.
I feel the same way. I’m a very outspoken person (sometimes getting me into trouble), but I always, always speak up when I see injustice or racist behavior. I never “let it go” or shrug it off. I’m grateful that I’ve taught my sons the same. My youngest son, especially, who spoke out to an 8th grader when he was only in 7th grade, calling this student out for saying,
“That’s so gay.” I was so proud of him. He said something like, “What do you mean by that? That he’s happy? Or did you mean something else?” It’s sometimes a lot more valuable when it comes from a peer. He also spoke out at a conservative award ceremony and the staff was floored when he said he wanted equality for gays.” (I guess I had something to do with his outspokenness.) He is also very outspoken when it comes to racial equality. Got that from me, too. Both my sons are young adults in their 20s.
Sorry about the long response, but it triggered something in me as well.
Thank you and Shabbat Shalom!
Your story about you son speaking up reminded me of some history of my own. My elder son got in terrible fights in the schoolyard in kindergarten. He refused to tell me what it was about. When I went with him to talk to the teacher, it emerged that “That’s so gay” was a common taunt on the playground, and every time he heard it he felt he had to defend my honor (I’m a lesbian.) In this particular school in 1989, a lesbian-led family was less welcome than “That’s so gay,” so we wound up leaving the school. I would handle it differently today but at the time, I was mostly concerned about getting him out of an environment where he was fighting every day.
When the people want change they must leave their ego at the door. Your words dovetail with the article reposted by Rick Cooley. Shabbat Shalom
Ego – in Jewish terms, yetzer hara, or selfish inclination – is a big enemy of change for the better. We have to strike a healthy balance to make anything good happen.
As a Christian these words make me cringe too. But as you said, they can also remind us that there are still practices today, which we are often complicit in which future generations will question. Race is one, but I was surprised that in a piece which references slavery you did not mention that slavery is still present today. In fact, it is estimated that more people are enslaved today than at any other time in history. Many of our everyday products are made in part by slaves. So I cringe at the verse, but only because it reminds me of my guilt and the long way we have to go. Thank you for educating me about Judaism.