Temple Sinai, S. Burlington, VT.

Rabbi David Edleson z Introduction to In the image of God

THE JEWISH VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE z B’tzelem Elohim z z B’tzelem elohim

▪ ַו ִּי ְב ָָֽ֨רא ֱאֹל ִּ ִ֤הים ׀ ֶאת־ ָֽה ָֽא ָֽד ֙ם ְב ַצ ְל ֔מֹו ְב ֶ ֶ֥צ ֶלם ֱאֹל ִּ ִ֖הים בָֽרָָֽ֣אאֹת֑ ֹו זָֽכָֽ ֶ֥ר ּונְקֵבָֽ ִ֖ה בָֽרָֽ ֶ֥א אֹתָֽ ם׃

▪ And God created humanity in the divine image… z HOW JEWS READ BIBLE: Mikra’ot G’dolot z digital version: SEFARIA

בְּרֵאש ִׁ֖ית רב ָ֣א אֱֹלה ִ֑ ים

▪ GENESIS 1: In the Beginning...... z CHEVRUTA STUDY

Study in pairs and small groups, unlocking and debating the meaning of texts is one of the central religious acts of the Jewish imagination. Study is not an “added value” to Judaism; study is essential, integral, and holy. God is seen to dwell in the act of study and particularly, studying with others to wrestle answers to the great religious questions. z TAKEAWAY

▪ Humans are innately curious and wanting to learn.

▪ We became humans when we ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We became moral agents.

▪ Thinking and study is one way to connect to God and the divine image within us.

▪ Wisdom lies in probing the complexity of a matter, not in oversimplifying.

▪ Humans are able to understand a variety of opinions that they may not agree with. Humans are able to be friends and family even with profound disagreements. z HILLEL AND SHAMAI: ELU V’ELU

▪ ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים הן והלכה כבית הלל

▪ ERUVIN: For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: The is in accordance with our opinion, and these said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion. Ultimately, a Divine Voice emerged and proclaimed: Both these and those are the words of the living God. However, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel.

▪ The Gemara asks: Since both these and those are the words of the living God, why were Beit Hillel privileged to have the halakha established in accordance with their opinion? The reason is that they were agreeable and forbearing, showing restraint when affronted, and when they taught the halakha they would teach both their own statements and the statements of Beit Shammai. Moreover, when they formulated their teachings and cited a dispute, they prioritized the statements of Beit Shammai to their own statements, in deference to Beit Shammai. z B’REISHIT - IN THE BEGINNING?

▪ RASHI: 11th C French Scholar: Rabbeinu ShlomoYitzchak

IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our explained it: Godבראשית ברא ▪ of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake ofראשית( ) created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning ,of His (God’s) increase’’. If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain senseראשית( ) Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”. The text does not intend to point out the order of the acts of Creation — to state that these (heaven and earth) were ”.At first God created etcבראשונה ברא את השמים וגו “' created first; for if it intended to point this out, it should have written

occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. E. g., (Jeremiah 26:1) “In theראשית And for this reason: Because, wherever the word ▪ his kingdom”; (Deuteronomy 18:4) “The first fruit ofראשית( ) the reign of Jehoiakim”; (Genesis 10:10) “The beginning ofבראשית( ) beginning of at the beginning of God’s creating. Aבראשית ברוא, as though it readבראשית ברא אלהים thy corn.” Similarly here you must translateראשית( ) ,which is as much as to sayתחלת דבר ה' בהושע, (similar grammatical construction (of a noun in construct followed by a verb) is: (Hosea 1:2 “At the beginning of God’s speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea.” Should you, however, insist that it does actually intend to point out that these (heaven and earth) were created first, and that the meaning is, “At the beginning of everything He created these, admitting is in the construct state and explaining the omission of a word signifying “everything” by saying that you haveבראשית therefore that the word texts which are elliptical, omitting a word, as for example (Job 3:10) “Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb” where it does not explicitly explain who it was that closed the womb; and (Isaiah 8:4) “He shall take away the spoil of Samaria” without explaining who shall take it away; and (Amos 6:12) “Doth he plough with oxen," and it does not explicitly state, “Doth a man plough with oxen”; (Isaiah 46:10) “Declaring from the beginning the end,” and it does not explicitly state, “Declaring from the beginning of a thing the end of a thing’ — if it is so (that you assert that this verse intends to point out that heaven and earth were created first), you should be astonished at yourself, because as a matter of fact the waters were created before heaven and earth, for, lo, it is written, (v. 2) “The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters,” and Scripture had not yet disclosed when the creation of the waters took place — consequently you must learn from this that the creation of the waters preceded that of the earth. And a further proof that the heavens and earth were not the first thing created is that the .from which it follows that fire and water were in existence before the heavensמים(, ) and waterאש( ) heavens were created from fire Therefore you must needs admit that the text teaches nothing about the earlier or later sequence of the acts of Creation. z OUR OWN CHEVRUTA z CREATION STORY I: Genesis 1

▪ ַו ִּי ְב ָָֽ֨רא ֱאֹל ִּ ִ֤הים ׀ ֶאת־ ָֽה ָֽא ָֽד ֙ם ְב ַצ ְל ֔מֹו ְב ֶ ֶ֥צ ֶלם ֱאֹל ִּ ִ֖הים בָֽרָָֽ֣אאֹת֑ ֹו זָֽכָֽ ֶ֥ר ּונְקֵבָֽ ִ֖ה בָֽרָֽ ֶ֥א אֹתָֽ ם׃

▪ And God created humanity in the divine image, in the image of the divine God created him; male and female He created them. z AND IT WAS VERY GOOD

▪ וַיִַַּ֤֤רְא אֱֹלהִּים֙ אֶ ת־כָֽל־אֲשֶ ָ֣ רעָֽשָֽ֔ הוְהִּ נֵה־טִֹ֖וב מְ אֹ֑ד ו ַיְהִּי־עֶ ֶ֥רֶ ב וַיְהִּ י־בִֹ֖ קֶריֶֹ֥ום הַשִּשִּ י׃ )פ(

▪ And God saw all that God had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. z IN OUR IMAGE

RASHI: כדמותנו. לְהָֽבִּ ין ּולְהַשְ כִּ יל: IN OUR IMAGE— with the power to comprehend and to discern. z What is MIDRASH

Midtrash is an interpretive act, seeking the answers to(מדרשׁ) religious questions (both practical and theological) by plumbing the meaning of the words of the Torah. Midrash responds to contemporary problems and crafts new stories, making connections between new Jewish realities and the unchanging biblical text. z BREISHIT RABBAH 8

▪ ... Said R’ Yirmiyah ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him [as] an androgyne/androginos, as it is said, “male and female He created them”. Said R’ Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created [for] him a double-face/di-prosopon/ du-par’tsufin, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back [t]here, as it is said, “Back/achor and before/qedem You formed me” [Ps 139:5]. z 3 FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS Yitz Greenberg

1. We are each of infinite worth – no one is expendable, and we cannot quantify the value of any human life

2. We are all fundamentally equal – no human being is an y more important than any other human being.

3. We are each totally unique – there is no one else like us, and no one is interchangeable with anybody else. z HESCHEL ON HUMAN NATURE

The Bible is an answer to the supreme question: what does God demand of us? Yet the question has gone out of the world (God in Search of Man, 168). Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man’s attitude toward history and nature. One attitude is alien to his spirit: taking things for granted, regarding events as a natural course to things. To find an approximate cause of a phenomenon is no answer to his ultimate wonder. He knows that there are laws that regulate the course of natural processes; he is aware of the regularity and pattern of things. However, such knowledge fails to mitigate his sense of perpetual surprise at the fact that there are facts at all. Looking at the world he would say, “This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23) (God in Search of Man, 45). The soul is endowed with a sense of indebtedness, and wonder, awe, and fear unlock that sense of indebtedness. Wonder is the state of our being asked. In spite of our pride, in spite of our acquisitiveness, we are driven by an awareness that something is asked of us; that we are asked to wonder, to revere, to think and to live in a way that is compatible with the grandeur and mystery of living. What gives birth to religion is not intellectual curiosity but the fact and experience of our being asked (God in Search of Man, 112). z HUMANS ARE GOOD, BUT….

▪ As in Islam, we are forgetful, and forget our true divine nature.

▪ We become jaded and lose our sense of “Radical Amazement” at creation (Abraham Joshua Heschel)

▪ We become jealous, want power, and rationalize our bad actions.

▪ Mitzvot and many Jewish customs are meant to remind us of who we are and what we are to do. (mezuzot, tzitzit, mitzvot, , daily prayer, etc). z TALMUD SANHEDRIN 37A

▪ Therefore, Adam was created alone, to teach you that anyone who destroys one of you it is as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one of you, it is as if saved an entire world. z B’TZELEM בְצֶ ֶ֥לֶם ִ֖ אֱֹלהִּ ים ELOHIM

▪ TAKE AWAY:

▪ Humans are created good.

▪ All humans are equal

▪ All humans are in the image of the Divine

▪ All humans are one family z CREATION STORY II: Genesis 2

▪ ְכָֹ֣ל׀שִָּ֣יחַ ההַשָֽדֶֶ֗ טֶֶ֚ רֶם יִּהְ יֶ ָ֣ה בָֽאָֽ֔רֶ ץוְכָֽל־עֵֶ֥שֶ ב הַשָֽדֶ ִ֖ה טֶ ם ָ֣רֶ יִּצְמָֽ ֑ח י֩כִּ לָֹ֨א ירהִּמְטִִּ֜ יְהוָֽ ִ֤ה אֱ ֹלהִּ ים֙ עַל־הָֽאָֽ֔רֶץוְאָֽדָָֽ֣ם אַ֔ יִּןלַ עֲבִֹ֖ ד אֶת־הָֽ אֲדָֽמָֽ ה׃ וְאִֵ֖ דיַ עֲלֶ ָ֣ה מִּ ן־הָֽאָֽ ֑רֶ ץוְהִּשְקָֽ הִ֖ אֶ ת־כָֽל־פְנֵי־הָֽ אֲדָֽמָֽ ה׃ ַו ִּיי ֶצ ֩ר ְיה ָָֽ֨וה ֱאֹל ִִּ֜הים ֶאת־ ָֽ ה ָֽא ֶָֽ֗דם ָֽע ָֽפ ֙ר ִּמן־ ָֽ ָ֣ה ֲא ָֽד ָֽ֔מה ַו ִּי ַ ֶ֥פח ְב ַא ָֽ ִ֖פיו ִּנ ְש ַ ָ֣מת ַחִּ ֑יים ַ וַּ֤ ְי ִּ ֶ֥הי ָֽ ה ָֽא ָֽ ִ֖ דם לְנֶ ֶ֥פֶש חַיָֽ ה׃

Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When the LORD God made earth and heaven— when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field hadו yet sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the earth— the LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. z Daily Morning Prayer from Talmud Brakhot 60b

When one awakens, recite: My God, the soul You have placed within me is pure. You formed it within me, You breathed it into me, and You guard it while it is within me. One day You will take it from me and restore it within me in… z Yom Kippur Prayer: ASHAMNU

Our God and God of our ancestors, let our prayer come before you and do not ignore our supplication. For we are not so brazen and stiff-necked to say to you,”Adonai, our God, and God of our ancestors, “We are righteous and have not sinned.” But, indeed, we and our ancestors have sinned. z AND GOD ַו ִּיי ֶצ ֩ר ְיה ָָֽ֨וה ֱאֹל ִִּ֜הים ֶאת־הָֽ אָֽדֶָֽ֗ ם FORMED THE HUMAN….

with two “yods”) Two inclinations (yetzer): the) וַ ִּייצֶר ▪ inclination to do good (yetzer hatov) and the inclination to be rebellious (yetzer hara’)

▪ Both inclinations are internal to the individual, not external forces. z YETZER HARA’

Bereishit Rabbah 9:7 Rabbi Nahman said in Rabbi Samuel's name: 'Behold, it was good' refers to the Good Desire; 'And behold, it was very good' refers to the Evil Desire. (It only says 'very good' after man was created with both the good and bad inclinations, in all other cases it only says 'and God saw that it was good’)

Can then the Evil Desire be very good? That would be extraordinary! But without the Evil Desire, however, no man would build a house, take a wife and beget children. z Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman

▪…sin is something we do, not something we are. z HIGHEST JEWISH ETHICAL VALUE PIKUACH NEFESH – SAVING A LIFE

▪ RABBINIC HERMENEUTICS OF VALUES

▪ TORAH Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep my statutes…which if a man do, he shall live by them.”

▪ BABYLONIAN TALMUD YOMA 85: The rabbis add: “That he shall live by them, and not that he shall die by them.”

▪ All other laws may be suspended in order to save a single human life.

▪ One is REQUIRED to break a ritual law in order to help someone who is sick or save a dying person. z LO BASHAMAYIM HI

▪ DEUT 30: 11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. ▪ 15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity…. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. z TAKEAWAY

▪ Humans are able to learn, grow, and discern good from evil in complex situations. It is in our power to be good and create a just holy society. ▪ Things are not ass simple as good verses evil; both the holy and the mundane are necessary. The truth lies in holding them in a constructive balance. z THE OVEN OF ACHNAI Bava Metzia 59

▪ Rabbi Eliezer came back and said, “If the law is with me, a voice from the Heavens they will prove it”; at that moment, a heavenly voice came out and said, “What is with you towards Rabbi Eliezer, for the law is like him in every instance?” Rabbi Joshua stood on his feet and said, “The Torah is not in heaven,” (Deuteronomy 30:12).

▪ What does “not in the heavens” mean? R. Jeremiah said: “Since the Torah was already given at Sinai, we do not pay attention to a heavenly voice, since You already wrote at Sinai in the Torah, 'After the majority to incline,' (Exodus 23:2).

▪ Rabbi Nathan met the prophet Elijah and said to him, “What did the Holy Bountiful One do in that hour?” He said to him: “He smiled and said, “My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me.” z TAKEAWAY: TIKKUN OLAM

▪ Humans have free will. Free will is fundamental to Judaism. Evil is caused by free will. Diseases, etc, are not evil per se, but the way of mortality. Evil is what humans do wrong, because we have the ability to know and do better.

▪ Humans are moral agents with the innate ability to know good from evil.

▪ Humans have an obligation to act to increase good and decrease evil.

▪ Humans are powerful; God listens to our arguments.

▪ Humans are partners with God in completing creation, or “repairing the world.”

▪ Mystical concept of mitzvot as “liberating sparks of Divine Light” z MITZVOT AND HUMAN NATURE

Observing the mitzvot helps us to:

1.Remember our better nature and live lives more reflective of being in God’s image .

2. Create a more just and holy society (am segulah)

3. Model being good in the world, a “light to the nations” (or lagoyim) z WE REQUIRE OTHERS

▪ וַיֹ֙אמֶר֙יְהוָֽ ָ֣ה אֱֹלהִּ֔ ים לֹא־ט֛ ֹוב הֱיֶֹ֥ות הָֽאָֽדָֽ ִ֖ם לְבַדֹ֑ו אֶ עֱשֶּה־לֶֹ֥ו עִֵ֖זֶר כְ נֶגְד ֹו׃

▪ The LORD God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.”

Humans are social creatures and flourish, must life in cooperative, just societies with a fair criminal justice system. z THE STATUS OF WOMEN

▪ וַיֹאמֶר֮ה ָֽאָֽדָֽ ם֒ זָֹ֣את הַפֶַ֗ עַם עֶֶ֚ צֶם מֵעֲצָֽמַ֔ יּובָֽשָֽ ִ֖ר ֑ מִּבְשָֽרִּ ילְזֹאת֙ יִּקָֽרֵָ֣א אִּשָֽ֔ הכִּ ֶ֥ימֵאִּ ִ֖ יש ל קֳחָֽה־זֹאת׃ ▪ Then the man said, “This one at last Is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman, For from man was she taken.” z TRADITIONAL VIEWS

▪ Men and women have differing spheres of control and power

▪ Homosocial organization of society outside the home

▪ Women are highly honored in the family.

▪ Women are exempt from time-bound mitzvot. Two views.

▪ The public arena is best suited to men z A RIGHT TO CHOOSE?

▪ In Judaism, life is inherently valuable. ▪ Women are sexual beings and have a right to be physically satisfied in marriage. Sex for pleasure is a key aspect of intimate relationships and happiness.

▪ Traditionally, we are encouraged to have large families. In many modern theologies, in order to reduce our impact on the planet, and save lives, smaller families are the more ethical choice.

▪ Legally, life begins at birth, or even after, when stable. ▪ The value of the mother’s life outweighs the value of the fetus’ life. Therefore, based on pikuach nefesh, if a pregnancy is endangering the life of the mother, it should be terminated up until birth. The is a range of interpretation of “endangering.” z PIRKEI AVOT – SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS

▪ Women as a distraction from study and piety

▪ 1:5 – Yosi ben Yochanan of Jerusalem said: Let your house be wide open and let the poor be members of thy household; and do not talk much with women. This was said about one’s own wife; how much more so about the wife of one’s neighbor. Therefore the sages have said: He who talks too much with women brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Torah and will in the end inherit Gehenna. z Women as “temptation.” The Mehitza z CHANGING ATTITUDES

▪ Jewish women were leaders in many organizations, especially the Labor movement, Education, and Zionism.

▪ LABOR: Rose Pesotta, Claire Lemlich, Rose Schneiderman

▪ ZIONISM: Golda Meir, Henrietta Szold, Hannah Senesh

▪ FEMINIST: Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, z WOMEN AS RELIGIOUS LEADERS

▪ RABBI : 1935, Ordained by the Liberal Rabbis Association in Offenbach. She purposefully remained in Germany, was in Theresienstadt where she taught courses and worked to comfort those imprisoned. She died in Auschwitz at age 42. z WOMEN AS RELIGIOUS LEADERS

SALLY PRIESAND: first woman ordained by major rabbinic organization, HUC-JIR in 1972 : first woman ordained by Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 1974 AMY ELLBERG: first Conservative woman rabbi, 1985 SARAH HURWITZ: first Orthodox woman ordained, 2009 z YESHIVAT , Bronx NY z FEMINISM AND JUDAISM

▪ Judith Plaskow: STANDING AGAIN AT SINAI

▪ Marge Piercy: THE ART OF BLESSING THE DAY

▪ Marcia Falk: THE BOOK OF BLESSINGS

▪ Adrienne Rich: YOUR NATIVE LAND, YOUR LIFE

▪ TORAH: A WOMEN’S COMMENTARY z WOMEN AT THE WALL z GENDER AND THE TALMUD

In the Mishnah, there are a number of different genders and sexes that are discussed. In addition to zachar, male, and nekevah, female, there are four other genders/sexes that the Rabbis recognize: ▪ An androgynos is "a person who has both "male" and "female" sexual characteristics" ▪ A tumtum is "a person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured." ▪ An ay'lonit is "a person who is identified as "female" at birth but develops "male" characteristics at puberty and is infertile." ▪ A saris is "a person who is identified as "male" at birth but develops "female" characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking male genitalia." z TRANSGENDER https://reformjudaism.org/blog/2013/07/15/profiling-first-generation- transgender-rabbis

Elliot Kukla, HUC-JIR, Reform, 2006 Eli Cohen, private ordination, 2005 Evily Aviva Kapor, private, “Conservadox” 2005 Abby Stein, Hassidic Rabbi, descendant of Baal Shem Tov, ordained 2011 before transitioning.