Friday, January 7, 2011

The Rabbi Lemming Radio Show-"Racist Rabbis"

No. This is not the way!

The name of Heaven was besmirched by those with hatred in their hearts, who would distort the Halachah to exclude "the other". In the following audio, I discuss the grotesque racist statement of the notorious "Tzfat Rabbis" who still believe that we are living in medieval times. I am calling for a more unique reading of the Halachah, which explains away what would appear to be a Halachic prohibition to sell or rent property to non-Jews. This is the racist reading of an untrained Halachic eye. One needs to learn Torah differently. For example, when reading about the Amalekites in the Tanach, we see what appears to be a call for genocide against an entire people. A false reading of the many commentaries seems to support this. However, the learned Jew understands that there is also a commentary to the commentary, as well as the commentary of opposites. The sages show us cruelty in order that we reject it. We need to ask ourselves the following question. Is G-d speaking to man, or is man speaking to G-d in this verse? Perhaps the Amalekite of cruelty is what we are speaking about. And indeed this is so. It is a call for humanistic introspection, whereby we accept the Halachah by rejecting the code of violence. The only destruction that occurs is towards the Amalekite within.

Peace. Equality. Open-mindedness. A sensitive eye that looks for loopholes in the Halachah to make it compatible with the pluralistic sensibilities of 21st Century morality. A call for a "shirah chadasha" (also the name of a unique open-minded orthodox minyan in Jerusalem) which is really a very old song that has sadly been forgotten. Havah Nagila! Come let us dance. Whatever our faith, or sexual orientation. Let the trans-gender Jew giggle with the Hindu eunuch. The Hasid and the homosexual. The Christian pilgrim and the side-locked settler. And of course, the dance of cousins.

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