Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner Temple Beth Or
Shabbat Shimini April 1, 2016
I Never
Expected to Talk About THAT From the Bemah
An alien offering before God! Nadav and
Abihu spurned their father’s authority, spurned God’s command, and were
immediately consumed by fire. This is a difficult portion to explain, one of
the more challenging for B’nai Mitzvah students, like our Bat Mitzvah this week,
to have to grapple with.
Frankly, most years I choose to teach
from other parts of this particular parasha. It is not that I shy away from
difficult issues. You know me too well than to think THAT would dissuade me.
Nadav and Abihu offer AISH ZARAH an alien offering, an offering so offensive
that it morphs into the Hebrew label for idol worship: AVODAH ZARAH. This alien
offering caused God’s immediate and irreversible wrath resulting in the
spontaneous combustion of Nadav and Abihu.
I never thought I would have a salient
reason to teach about this portion, until the convergence of North Carolina’s
House Bill 2 and Parshat Shemini. A week and a half ago, a special session of
the legislature convened to deal with what they deemed a clear and pressing
emergency: the legislation of what bathroom one is allowed to enter or not
enter. HB2 has set off a firestorm in our state. It has consumed the media,
from North Carolina, to around the nation. It has elicited the wrath of several
states and municipalities who have banned official business travel to the
state.
And, perhaps the biggest fire bomb of all to
our particular state, it has threatened the future of the religion to the
masses of North Carolinians – NCAA basketball.
Now, I know that there are some who will
say: Rabbi I don’t come to temple to debate politics. I come for a spiritual
sanctuary from a screaming, violent world. The spiritual sanctuary of Shabbat,
of the rituals of our heritage, are not meant to be an escape from the world.
Rather, they are a platform on which we hone our ideals so that we can bring
that “light unto the nations.” Albert Vorspan, renowned, director emeritus of
Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action, teaches: “Of course Judaism is
more than a passion for justice, but Judaism without that passion is an
oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, a failed mission, an exhausted and
caricatured promise.”
We are facing a moral fight that looms
larger than one hastily enacted law. Nonetheless, this law is a microcosm for
the fear and greed that is overtaking our state and nation. HB2, the alien
offering of our state, is framed in the guise of protecting North Carolinians
from people who choose which public bathrooms to enter based on their gender.
Earlier this year the city of Charlotte had passed a measure making it more
welcoming and safe for transgender persons to use the restroom. State legislators
called the “emergency” session to override the city of Charlotte’s ordinance.
Have you ever accidentally walked into
the wrong restroom? Women, tell the truth. (A few men too perhaps) Have you
ever used the wrong bathroom because the line to get into the right one was so
long and there was no line to get into the wrong one? All of us who have done
this and thought we could still be upstanding citizens are living in the wrong
state. That behavior now constitutes a citable, legal infraction.
While I speak sarcastically about the threat the law brings
to almost every person at one time or another, HB2 brings real and present
danger to transgender persons. Discrimination has spawned an alarming suicide
rate among transgender teens and adults. The 2011
National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS). It found that in the U.S., 41 percent of transgender … people
had attempted suicide, compared to a national average of just 4.6 percent.
The suicide rate directly correlates with the level of
discrimination that trans people face. Journalists Zack Ford reports:
(From a new study from Canada:) There, the suicide
attempt rate for transgender people was similar to what other studies have
found: about 18 times higher than the general population. But the study found
that some factors greatly reduced the attempt rate. For example, when
transgender people had affirming parents, the rate dropped by 57 percent.
Access to legal documentation consistent with their gender identity dropped
rates by 44 percent. Trans people who experienced low levels of anti-trans hate
were 66 percent less likely to attempt suicide. And perhaps most importantly,
the further along individuals were in their transitions — i.e. the closer they
were to having a body and outward identity that matched their internal gender
identity — the less likely they were to attempt suicide.
“There is significant evidence to suggest that
transgender identities have
a biological origin, and there is already consensus
among medical professionals that the best way to support
transgender people is to affirm
their gender identities.” (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/06/22/3672506/transgender-suicide-rates/)
HB2 is legalizing discrimination that threatens the
lives of North Carolina’s transgender citizens.
Nonetheless, this is not the only deleterious impact of
HB2. Last night on a conference call with clergy across North Carolina Bishop
Tonya Rawls, a Black, lesbian, woman, clergy member, and social activist from
Charlotte, said that the bathroom part of this bill is not even the most
significant part.
Beyond regulating restrooms, the bill codifies
prejudice by making it illegal for any county or municipality to enact
legislation protecting those in the LGBT community from discrimination and hate
crimes.
Though seemingly unrelated to the restroom emergency,
the bill also makes it illegal for cities and counties to require their
contractors to guarantee their workers a living wage above minimum wage.
Further, it makes it takes away recourse for employees
facing discrimination of any kind. Up until HB2 employees could file a state suit
alleging discrimination against employers. HB2 denies all state law suits for
discrimination for race, sex, religion, nationality or disability.
Our legislators have served up an alien offering. Now
our state is being consumed by the fire of this immoral bill.
Economically: 100 CEOs and counting have signed a
letter to Governor McCrory calling for repeal of HB2. Cities and states across
the country have banned official government travel to North Carolina.
* The NCAA and NBA are strongly considering moving
basketball tournaments and the all-star game out of North Carolina.
* Lionsgate entertainment, the production company
filming the remake of Dirty Dancing in North Carolina is reconsidering all
future filming in our state. They have already abandoned rentals and hiring for
a comedy pilot show that was in the early stages of filming, and moved
production to Canada.
* Theatre composer Stephen Schwartz is encouraging a
boycott of the state for all composers’ works. From Schwartz’ works alone that
means no theatre in North Carolina can produce his shows including the likes of
Wicked, Pippin, & Children of Eden.
* Brailburn Pharmaceutical Company, who recently
announced they would build a $20 million plant in Durham, is putting those
plans on hold and considering cites outside of North Carolina because of the
bill.
This is a real and serious setback to the economic
well-being of North Carolina’s citizens. HB2 threatens the livelihood and
welfare of our State.
EDUCATIONALLY: Beyond the economics and discrimination
HB2 threatens the loss of $4.5 billion in Federal education funding. School
districts that comply with the law will be in violation of Federal Title IX
legislation. In addition to the Title IX funding loss that puts school
districts at risk for massive law suits and loss of funding from other federal
agencies as well.
HB2 has unleashed a fire threatening to consume our state.
It is an alien offering, alienating our citizens, alienating corporations,
states, and even the President of the United States. The law causes real and
measurable harm. It is the perfect fire-storm of the dual towers of fear and
greed.
I urge you to contact your legislators
and the governor. Demand an immediate repeal of HB2. Let them know that we will
not be silent in the face of the desecration of the moral, economic, and
educational values of North Carolina.
Our prophetic call is to quench the alien
fire. Our task as Jews, as human beings is to reduce the pain and suffering in
our world, to replace the tower of greed with tzedakah and loving kindness; to
supplant the tower of fear with compassion and hope.
AMEN
Copyright 2016
Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner
Temple Beth Or, Raleigh, NC
