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Rabbi Ariann Weitzman - Tetzaveh - Torah Honors Policy Dvar Torah 2.20.16 Rabbi Ariann Weitzman - Tetzaveh - Torah honors policy dvar Torah 2.20.16 Several weeks ago, Rabbi Elliott opened a communal conversation by asking this question about our ritual life, specifically the honors surrounding the Torah service: What is the best way to embrace people who aren't Jewish and welcome them into Jewish life and encourage maximal Jewish practice, which may include conversion? Today we're going to explore the historical question about how Jewish community and non-Jews who are part of Jewish community have experienced the holiness of the ritual reading of Torah. Hopefully from there, we will be ready to start talking about how expanding the role of non-Jews in the Torah service might impact the holiness of this ritual. Rabbi Elliott began this conversation with a d'var Torah about the meaning of the word aliyah. I'm going to start by expanding on the idea of aliyah. Although it shares the same Hebrew root, oleh, that means "ascending," in the context of the Torah service it means "to be counted." The term originates from a rabbinic statement "Anyone counts (olin) among the seven for Torah," that is - any Jewish person makes an acceptable Torah reader and can take on any of the traditional seven aliyot, including those historically excluded from ritual participation, particularly women and children. The rationale for counting anyone in the Jewish community as a Torah reader is that all members of the Jewish community are required to hear words of Torah. There is a rabbinic principle, "Anyone not obligated in a particular matter may not release the public from their obligation" (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:8). For example - Since women were not required to pray three times a day according to the ancient rabbis, they could not be public prayer leaders, praying on behalf of the community of men who were required to pray. Since women were required to light Shabbat candles, they could release their families from the commitment to light Shabbat candles by doing it on their behalf. But because women and children are required to hear Torah according to Jewish tradition, they're also theoretically permitted to read Torah on behalf of the entire community, so that others can hear Torah, too. 1 Rabbi Ariann Weitzman - Tetzaveh - Torah honors policy dvar Torah 2.20.16 Historical restrictions on women or children blessing the Torah then came not from actual prohibitions, but from a concern that Jewish men would miss out on opportunities to bless the Torah. Or, perhaps someone might think "don't we have any qualified men around to bless the Torah? We have to ask women to do it?" However, even this expansive understanding of who is permitted to bless Torah still assumes that the only people who are permitted to read from the Torah and thus, to bless it, are Jews. I'd like to share another rabbinic text to contrast with this one. In Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, he writes about a Torah procession which takes place on Yom Kippur, as the Torah is passed among the people leading up to the High Priest. This procession is not a ritual moment, that is, it does not have particular sanctity itself and there are minimal guidelines about how to make it happen. Nevertheless, he writes, "All those who are impure . even a Samaritan, may take hold of a Torah and read from it, for a Torah cannot contract impurity" (Mishneh Torah, Tefillin 10:8). Maimonides' fear here is that the Torah will be passed among a mob of people, some of those people may be ritually impure, the Torah may also become impure, and then when the High Priest touches it, he too will become impure and incapable of performing the Yom Kippur rituals in the Temple. So first we have to dispense with the idea of the Torah becoming impure. What's interesting is that he includes a Samaritan in his list of people who might be impure. Samaritans are a religious group that broke off from the Jewish people roughly 2000 years ago and in Maimonides' day, there was doubt about whether they should be counted as Jews. So what we learn from Maimonides is that a potential non-Jew, who is nevertheless connected to the Jewish community and Jewish rituals, can actually read out of a Torah scroll, although outside of the usual ritual reading. I'll give you one more case. Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, past president of the Jerusalem Rabbinic court, speaks about the case of a Jewish man who is not circumcised who wants to have an aliyah. Theoretically, he is permitted to do so, but Rabbi Waldenberg forbids him to do so. He writes: 2 Rabbi Ariann Weitzman - Tetzaveh - Torah honors policy dvar Torah 2.20.16 In regard to taking hold of a Torah, we concur with the Sage being asked that it is permissible from the essence of the law, and even though the rule is such the hour does not require this and it is undesirable to make this person similar to a Jew to permit them use of holy items while they are yet uncircumcised for a destruction will result from this that they will be lazy about entering the covenant of Abraham our Father for they see that uncircumcised people are not prohibited from such a matter. (Tzitz Eliezer 11:9) Rabbi Waldenberg adds a sociological principle to his argument to disallow something that Jewish law theoretically permits. He worries that people will become lazy about circumcision when they see that it doesn't bar a person from Torah honors. Jews will start forgetting to circumcise their sons. Or converts to Judaism will skip circumcision on their way to the mikvah. The optics of the situation are not favorable, according to Rabbi Waldenberg. We could extend that argument to a common one made about non-Jews having an aliyah - if there is nothing that a non-Jew cannot participate in ritually, what is the rationale for converting to Judaism? Even people who desire conversion will become unmotivated. At Bnai Keshet, our most recent policy on Torah honors follows similar reasoning. We do not permit non-Jews to lift and wrap the Torah, for example, even though there is actually barely a halakhic case against it and these activities are more similar to Maimonides' case of a Samaritan reading Torah than the issue of who can have an aliyah. The perception of the particularly Jewish nature of the moment led to the decision that this was one area to be reserved exclusively for Jews. Rabbi Waldenberg has one other sociological concern. He writes, "the hour does not require this." What does this mean? It means that there's no urgent reason, in his case, to allow someone who doesn't perfectly meet his criteria to have an aliyah. We might ask ourselves now, does the hour require a change in our perspective on Torah honors at Bnai Keshet? Is there an urgent reason to change this policy, or does the hour not require it, or not require it yet? The person who stands to bless the Torah is in a position of incredible honor in the community. They are our representative, allowing the entire congregation to hear words of Torah and representing the best that is in us as a community. There is a tradition in the Sefardic rite that the person receiving an aliyah responds to the 3 Rabbi Ariann Weitzman - Tetzaveh - Torah honors policy dvar Torah 2.20.16 Torah reading with the words emet torateinu k'dosha, our holy Torah is true. In what way are the words of Torah true, in what ways are the words of Torah holy? Even without including these specific words, standing and blessing the Torah is an affirmation of both the truth and sanctity of the words it contains. Rabbi Shimon taught, "When the Torah is taken out in public for recitation, the gates of Heaven are opened, supernal love is awakened, and a person should say thus: Blessed is the Name of the Sovereign of the World" (Zohar 206a). I would suggest that the words of Torah are true and holy only when they make the statement of Rabbi Shimon true. When they open the gates of Heaven, that is, when they make us feel like we are part of something bigger and more ancient than ourselves. When they awaken supernal love, that is, when they arouse feelings of compassion and empathy. When they force us to say "Blessed is!" That is, when they create within us a response of awe. The Torah service is a moment of teaching, but liturgically, it is a recreation of the moment of revelation at Sinai. That moment is perhaps not historical, but as sacred myth it has held the idea of the Jewish people together for at least 2500 years. The mythic moment of revelation at Sinai was directed primarily at Jews, but according to our tradition, it included a sizable minority of non-Jews. According to the Torah, non-Jewish Egyptians, moved by the miracles of the plagues, joined us in the Exodus and stood at Sinai with us. According to later Jewish tradition, every soul that would eventually belong to a Jew was standing at Sinai - that included all of the people who would eventually convert to Judaism, a sizable group! For me, this explains why Maimonides was concerned about a Samaritan who wanted to read Torah. The historical reality of the Jewish people is that we as a people, and our ritual practice as an institution, have attracted non-Jewish members throughout history.
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