Rabbi Heidi Cohen

How do our choices affect us? And do they only affect us? It’s like the pebble that, when tossed into the water, creates ripples for as far as it can go. 

Today, we read in our Torah: 

You stand this day, all of you, before your God יהוה —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer—to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions…I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God יהוה and with those who are not with us here this day. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your children will live—

Deuteronomy 29:9-11; 30:19

There stood Moses, speaking with the Israelites as they were about to conclude the final part of their 40 year journey. They are on the border of entering into the land of Israel and Moses reminds them, ‘just as you all stood at Sinai in receiving Torah, so too do you stand here today, every single person. No matter your wealth, profession, gender, or age, every single person stands here restating that you accept the covenant of God and all the rules that go with it.’ 

And it is not just the people who stood there at that moment, it was each and every generation yet to come. 

Today, we too stand on the border of blessings or curses. Every choice we make is not just a choice that will affect us, but those around us and those who come after us. Our choices in how we live and what we do are like the pebble in the pond, rippling on and on and on.

This afternoon’s Haftarah, the story of Jonah, also calls out to us to choose our actions carefully so that we might be a blessing and work within our entire community, not just the Jewish community. We are called to repair the whole world, tikkun olam. 

Jonah was called to go to the people of Nineveh and call them to repent from their lives as robbers and sinners. Jonah was sad and frustrated when the people of Nineveh listened to him and put on sackcloth and repented. How could they so easily follow this call to action when Jonah’s own people, the Israelites, who had been warned time and time again by their own prophets, refused to listen, refused to act.  Would God judge the Israelites unfavorably because of their inaction? Rashi teaches that God was not concerned only about the actions or inactions of the Israelites but that all people are responsible for our world. We have the obligation to cry out when we see injustice anywhere in the world, not just our own problems. Be it education, climate change, and the right for every person to have a voice.

We stand on the border of free thought and education. Over the past few years during Covid, our students had the challenges of learning how to pivot from learning in person, to online and back to in person. But another barrier was put in their way, books being banned. Many Books that we read in school, books that are a part of the very fabric of Americana are being stripped from our classrooms and libraries, purging ideas and identities of our nation. 

Schools are being told to remove such classics as 1984 by George Orwell, books teaching the Holocaust such as Maus by Art Speigelman, more recent favorites, The Hunger Games, and even a picture book called Everywhere Babies! Most of the books that are targeted are written by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. A Tennessee lawmaker, Representative Jerry Sexton, suggested the banned books should be burnt. All I can see are the images from 1933 Germany of the Nazis burning books in the middle of cities and towns. 

There are educators who understand that they have a choice to comply or to speak out in defense of our children’s education and in defense of all families and individuals. Cassandra Oetinger-Kenski, a third-grade teacher in Florida’s Palm Beach County is one of those educators. She was recently told to yank any books from her classroom that are not “in compliance” with new state laws circumscribing instruction on race, racism, gender and LGBTQ issues. “Oetinger-Kenski, who is married to a woman, does not want to hide books that feature families like hers. As the school year begins, she has decided not to comply. ‘I have books in my library that talk about all kinds of family makeups, two moms, two dads, one dad and a grandma, you name it,’ Oetinger-Kenski said. ‘I am not removing them.’ If pressured, she said, ‘I would strongly consider leaving.’” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/17/book-ban-restriction-access-lgbtq/)

Choose education for all so that we and our children will live.

On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrated the birth of the world. When God began to create the world, the Zohar, our mystical tradition of text from which the Kabbalah comes, says, “there opened and flowed from it one river…Like a fountain – a water spring – filling  a large reservoir, from which flow rivers and streams in every direction;  so…through one slender channel, unknown, that gushing river flows forth; and from there springs and streams are conveyed, filled by it.”  Melila Hellner-Eshed, of the Shalom Hartman Institute, explains this to mean that the river is a metaphor for divinity which descends into the world. God’s divinity pours forth to overflowing until it becomes like gushing rivers. Nature sparkles with divinity and, when everything works as it should, everything and everyone is satiated, there is an abundance of the divine.  

Rabbi Suzanne Singer in her work with RAC-California asks some very important questions. What happens when everything is not working as it should? When we are not able to welcome the Divine or even to create a connection to that which is greater than us? What happens when we as humanity forget about the partnership that exists between us and God and instead focus on only that which will benefit people without considering how our actions cause the world to slowly die?

We are asked to be partners with God in caring for the world so that it will exist for generations to come. And as with every generation before, we must renew the covenant with the land in order to ensure abundance. The Talmud teaches, bal tashchit, “Do not destroy My world, for if you do, there will be nobody after you to make it right again.” (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13).  Our actions or inactions can mean destruction as well.  Climate change is now our reality. It is not an issue that we can say, let my children or grandchildren deal with it. 

Water is one of the most precious resources we have and we know here in California, we are in a drought. And while we are lacking water here in Southern California, there is an over abundance of water in other places, especially as we saw in Jackson, Mississippi. Just last month, Jackson experienced severe flooding and at the same time dealt with a lack of water to flush toilets, or produce enough drinking water for the residents. More than 180,000 people were in crisis. The flooding of Pearl River compromised the water treatment plant that was already in danger because of a neglected public infrastructure. And this neglection is not unusual in southern Black communities. 

Jackson Mayor Lumumba said that they always knew that it was not a matter of if the system would fail, but when. The water plant had been in operation for over 30 years and had already been running on backup pumps. A newer plant would have had a better chance of withstanding the heavy rains and flooding. Unfortunately, there were bills to address the needs of the aging water plants presented to the Mississippi legislature that failed to pass. 

In 2015, there was great concern about the high level of lead in the water in Jackson and while some measures have been addressed, reports even in the past year show higher than normal levels of lead. And in 2020 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an emergency warning that something was going to need to happen soon regarding the water plant in Jackson but to no avail. 

Unfortunately, Jackson receives less tax money than other cities in Mississippi and we have to ask the uncomfortable question, is this because the population is 82% black and nearly a quarter of those in the city live under the poverty level? Is this another example of environmental injustice? A recent study shows that “​​Historically marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution from heavy industry and agriculture – one study last year found that Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans were more exposed to air pollution from nearly every source when compared to white Americans.” (​​https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf4491) 

And with Hurricane Ian just last week, we see how minority and low income communities are disproportionately impacted by the devastation left behind. Of the 1.8 million households in the nine counties President Biden claimed as disaster areas, “only 29 percent have federal flood insurance, according to an analysis of government records by POLITICO’s E&E News. That leaves 1.3 million households at ground zero without federal flood coverage. In Hardee County, only 100 households have federal flood insurance — out of 8,000 households in the county. That’s a 1.3 percent coverage rate. Hardee has one of the lowest income levels of any Florida county, and 44 percent of its residents are Hispanic.” (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/01/hurricane-ian-will-financially-ruin-homeowners-00059615) 

We make the choice to ensure that all communities, and all people, no matter their race or wealth, have the resources they need for safe living conditions. “You stand here this day; Choose life—if you and your children will live—” We choose to be a blessing when we choose to protect the earth. 

And finally, we choose to be a blessing when we choose to ensure that every voice is represented.

Since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we understand that we cannot sit idly by and take for granted that these two rights establish that every person, no matter their race or gender, has the right to participate in our election process. Each person has the right to vote for whom they want and for the issues that mean the most to them and reflect their values. Free, safe, and accessible elections are a part of a healthy democracy. However, we see this being challenged with gerrymandering and voter suppression. 

The John Lewis Act has passed the House but is still waiting for a vote in the Senate. “The John R. Lewis Act would restore critical protections against racially discriminatory laws and move us toward a democracy that responds to the needs and priorities of voters. The right to vote is fundamental in a democracy and we must ensure that elections are accessible for all by passing this critical piece of legislation.” (RAC.org) The choices we make today will affect the next generation and we have the choice to bless them with a fair democratic process.

This morning, after services, we invite you to take action. We have postcards already addressed and ready to be sent to voters in Arizona reminding them of how important it is that they vote in the elections on November 8. The Religious Action Center in partnership with Reclaim Our Vote have provided these postcards and text so that we can remind all people that their voice is a blessing. Please take a few minutes after services, fill out one or two of these postcards and we will mail them for you or you can mail them on your own. 

We choose to be a blessing when we choose justice for all. 

The ripples of all of our choices do not only affect us, they affect all people. You stand before Me, on this day, to choose to be a blessing. You make this choice not just for yourself but for future generations. This world that you have been given is not yours alone, it belongs to all people and you only have one world. 

Alden Solovy writes, (Why Do You Slumber? -Alden Solovy)

?מה לך נרדם? / מה לך נרדמה
Mah lekha nirdam? / Mah lakh nirdama?Why do you slumber? (Jonah 1:6)
Child of humanity?
When your brothers die?
While your sisters cry?
While anger shakes us?
When terror breaks us?

!קום קרא אל־אלהיך
Koom kra el elohekha!
Get up, cry out to your god (Jonah 1:6),
Cry out for justice and for peace.

?מה לך נרדם? / מה לך נרדמה
Mah lekha nirdam? / Mah lakh nirdama?
Why do you slumber? (Jonah 1:6)
Child of God?
Your heart is noble,
The need is global.
This is the hour,
To act with power.

!קום קרא אל־אלהיך
Koom kra el elohekha!
Get up, cry out to your god (Jonah 1:6),
Cry out for justice and for peace.

?מה לך נרדם? / מה לך נרדמה
Mah lekha nirdam? / Mah lakh nirdama?
Why do you slumber? (Jonah 1:6)
Child of love?
The call is urgent,
The cry resurgent,
To embrace each other,
And bless one another.
To rise from slumber.
To live in wonder.

!קום קרא אל־אלהיך
Koom kra el elohekha!
Get up, cry out to your god (Jonah 1:6),
Cry out for justice and for peace.

So get up and cry out for educational rights! Cry out for our protected planet! Cry out for the impoverished! Cry out for those in harm’s way! Cry out for voters rights! Throw the pebble and set the ripple upon the waters of change. Choose wisely and act with strength! Choose life—if you and your children will live—

Amen

The post Our Choices Are For the Future first appeared on Hanefeshoc.

Rabbi Heidi Cohen

Recently, we’ve been wrestling with the state of our world, our country, our community? Why is it people are behaving the way they do? Over the past few years we saw the best in people as they supported each other at the beginning of Covid. And we saw a deterioration of character as people reached boiling points and took advantage of others, such as that of business closures. In Northern California, a group of stores were ransacked over an 8 hour period of time. The store owners watched the security video as a large group of people swarmed into the store and stripped it down to nothing save a few large items. Where were the police? Unfortunately, they had to make a choice; the group was so large that trying to go into the stores would have put their lives at risk; they chose between materials and their lives. This act of standing back, of being bystanders, excused the behavior, giving permission to those who ransacked the stores. 

Over the past year and half, we have seen the actions of our country’s leaders that are becoming more the norm than not. Their words, actions, and deeds are calling into question the direction of our country and those who are shaping the laws and future. And here we are on the cusp of midterm elections that can affect our lives and the future of our democracy. As we prepare to vote, which each of us must do, we must ask, what is integrity? This question has been at the forefront of the January 6th committee hearings over the past few months. 

As we’ve watched the hearings, the presentations by the committee members have been well thought out and presented in order to make it accessible and understandable to all. Each member of the committee has spent an extraordinary amount of time becoming well versed in the details of the events leading up to and including those of January 6th. And every statement made by the committee members, including the questions they pose to the witnesses, are meant to get to the truth about what took place in our nation’s capital. Each committee member understands the scrutiny they are under, but none so much as the two Republican members of the committee, Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Both of them made a very conscious choice to put their integrity before career knowing that their work on the January 6th committee puts not only their current positions into jeopardy, but also their personal safety and the safety of their families. 

Congresswoman Liz Cheney and I may not share the same political positions, but I am impressed and grateful with her honesty, integrity, and determination to do what is right. Congresswoman Cheney understood that taking on the work of co-chairing the January 6th committee and bringing truth to the country would have a negative impact on her career. And as predicted, on Tuesday, August 16th, Congresswoman Cheney lost the primary in Wyoming. However, her concession speech continued to showcase her integrity and willingness to do what was right.

She spoke about a note she received from a Gold Star father that said, “Standing up for truth honors all who gave all,” and she has thought of those words every day. These words are a reminder of how we are to conduct ourselves. We share this value of kol yisrael arevim zeh ba’zeh, all of Israel is responsible for one another. But it is not limited to just one people, one group, it is a value that each and every person should hold – we are all responsible to stand up for one another and give honor to one another. Yet, this value is not held by all. Liz Cheney knew that if she continued the line of lies and behavior of many in her party, she could easily have re-taken her congressional seat. However, this was a path she was not willing to take. She said, “No House seat, no office in this land is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect, and I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.”

Liz Cheney’s integrity was more important to her. She knows that having integrity and acting on that integrity is not easy, but one of the most important things one can do. 

What does it mean for a person to have integrity? It is beyond honesty, it is what one does, even when no one is paying attention. Brene Brown offers this definition of integrity: “Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.”

It is easy for anyone to say, ‘this is what I believe in,’ or ‘this is what I would do.’ It is a whole other thing when we take action and show the courage to stand up for what is right even when it may not be the most popular choice.

When we think of someone who we say has integrity, we picture someone who is honest, upright, and honorable. But what does this mean? It is multi-faceted. It means that we work toward fulfilling the promises and commitments that we make. As Rabbi Shammai, the great Talmudic sage, puts it: “Say little and do much (Pirkei Avot 1:15). And the Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a) continues with saying little and doing much is in fact the defining quality of a truly righteous person — and that someone who promises much and doesn’t deliver on those promises is the very opposite of a righteous person.

Say little and do much. Yes, one can say they are going to do many things but it is a person of integrity who will actually do them; who fulfills their promises. Starting in Torah, with Abraham, we learn that he was a man of integrity. When three men came to his tent he greeted them and offered them shelter, food and drink. But it was not just with bread and water and a floor to sleep on. Abraham put together a feast fit for a king, with his best fruits, meats, and wine overflowing their cups. Abraham went beyond the minimum.

And again later, when Sarah died and Abraham needed a place to bury her, he went to the Hittites and asked to purchase a piece of land to bury her. At first, the Hittites offered Abraham any piece of land he wanted as a gift. But Abraham insisted on paying for the land and buying the cave at Machpeleh from the landowner, Ephron. In front of everyone, Ephron told Abraham that he can have the cave for free, and once again, Abraham insisted that he should pay full price for the land. Ephpron replied, “what is 400 shekels of silver between us, what is that between you and me?” And so Abraham paid the 400 shekels which the rabbis suggest was an over-inflated price for the land but Abraham did not argue. The rabbis suggest that Ephron said much and delivered little for his intention was not to deal honestly with Abraham.  Ephron behaved as if he was doing Abraham a favor but in the end he took advantage of him with an exorbitant price for the cave. 

Author Stephen Covey makes the distinction between honesty and integrity. He writes, “Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is … conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words — in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. This requires an integrated character, a oneness, primarily with self but also with life.”

In Judaism, we learn of three fundamental principles that guide our lives; honesty, justice and peace.  In Pirkei Avot it says, on three things the world stands, honesty, justice and peace. 

I have heard from many about how distressing our world seems. There is fear in how fractured it is and wonder if there is any hope, any chance of our being able to regain trust in people coming together to work for the greater good for all people. There is a lack of trust in our country, trust in our leaders, trust even with our neighbors. We judge one another based on the news we watch and we are afraid to engage in conversations because we want to avoid confrontations or arguments. But then there is silence. There is a fear of speaking up or speaking out because we are afraid of the backlash or being discriminated against because of our beliefs and stances.

Along with Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger also stepped forward to be a part of the January 6th commission because he knew he could not continue the lies being shared by his party members and he couldn’t stand by silently and watch as our democracy is being challenged and dividing our country. Like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger knew that by being a part of the January 6th committee, he was putting his career as a House Representative on the line and also putting himself and his family at risk. Over the past few months, Adam Kinzinger’s staff in Washington DC took messages left by people calling him all sorts of names that I definitely cannot repeat here, as well as threatening not just him but his wife and family. These callers tell him they know where he lives, they are coming after him and his family, they hope he dies, and what a weak person he is and that he has no right to be a member of congress.  

Congressman Kinzinger made the choice to not run for re-election, rather to find another way, a bi-partisan way, in which he could use his integrity and do the hard work of protecting democracy and our country. Adam Kinzinger started an organization called Country First. He states: “Country First believes key democracy reforms are needed to incentivize healthy dialogue, good leadership, and ultimately the results Americans deserve.  If we don’t act, the cycle of doom and dysfunction will only continue and politics will remain a “win at all costs” sport where we ALL ultimately lose. It wasn’t always this way, and it doesn’t need to stay this way.”

Country First recognizes that in order for democracy to survive we all have to have the confidence to vote and know that every vote matters. All the voting and election laws must be carefully crafted in a bipartisan manner. Just as our own Reform Movements Religious Action Center, Country First states: “Americans deserve a democracy that values and holds sacred the freedom to vote. Generations of brave Americans have died protecting this, our most fundamental right.” 

The Religious Action Center has as its primary campaign, Every Voice, Every Vote. “Every Voice, Every Vote Campaign is a nonpartisan effort, grounded in our Jewish values and commitment to racial justice, to strengthen our democracy by encouraging and protecting voter participation. As Reform Jews, we believe democracy is strongest when the electorate reflects the population – and it suffers when citizens are shut out from the democratic process. Voting is how we determine our future. It is how we fulfill the Talmudic teaching that a ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted. It is our prayer. It is our voice.” 

Both the RAC and Country First understand the importance of ensuring the integrity of not only our system of justice and country, but also calling for our leaders and each of us to live with integrity in ensuring that we remain a country that is for the people and by the people. This work is not easy and right now it is more important than ever because our country is at risk. 

Integrity means having the courage to take risks and speak our values and truths. To be upstanders, not bystanders who watch as someone is wronged or bullied. As the upstander, we take on the responsibility of speaking out against intolerance, inequality, and violence. Having integrity is choosing to not remain in what seems comfortable, but having the courage to speak out on behalf of those in need, those whose voices are silenced, and for the very values that we hold as integral in our lives as Jews and as humans. 

Tonight, as we stand here together, examining our lives, our actions and setting a direction for our future, each of us ask the important question, how is our integrity measured and how can we be a part of not allowing the very fabric of our country to unravel? How can we summon the courage to not remain silent but rather to speak out even when it seems risky? 

There is the story of the great Talmudic sage, Rabbi Zusya, when on his deathbed was surrounded by his students. They saw that he was in agony and they asked him if he was in pain. The pain was not physical, the pain was deeper. His students asked and tried to comfort him;  “Rabbi, why do you weep? You are almost as wise as Moses, you are almost as hospitable as Abraham, and surely heaven will judge you favorably.”

Zusya answered them: “It is true. When I get to heaven, I won’t worry so much if God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Abraham?’ or ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Moses?’  I know I would be able to answer these questions.  After all, I was not given the righteousness of Abraham or the faith of Moses but I tried to be both hospitable and thoughtful.  But what will I say when God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Zusya?’

How are we measured? Are we able to say, I dealt faithfully, honestly and with integrity in order to strengthen our world? As we examine our past year and as we set our path for the year to come, may we remember to live by three important Jewish values; honesty, justice and peace. And then, hopefully someday our world will come back into an order in which we all can live together in peace, with respect and with integrity. 

Amen

The post Integrity in 2022 first appeared on Hanefeshoc.

Rabbi Heidi Cohen

On June 24 we were all shocked yet not surprised. 50 years after Roe v Wade was passed, after the Supreme Court ruled that a woman had the right to her own reproductive care, it was taken away. It was as if the rug was pulled out from underneath us. There were many who said, ‘the Supreme Court will never do that! They’ll never take away reproductive rights.’ Yet here we are, after years of having to fight, then 50 years of being grateful for this freedom, we are back to where we started so many years ago. All progress has been lost and women’s rights are deteriorating before our eyes. The first lesson we learn, never say never. 

We have heard and read the many tragic stories of women and girls who right after June 24 were denied access to reproductive health care. The 10 year old girl who was raped and was denied an abortion in Ohio. Luckily, her family had the means to travel to a neighboring state, Indiana where she was able to have an abortion and not have to carry a baby, being a baby herself. Or the 16 year old who was denied being able to have an abortion in Florida because the judge felt she was not mature enough to have an abortion but felt she was mature enough to have a baby. Or the 19 year old whose water broke at 15 weeks, when the fetus was not viable. Yet, because of the fetal heartbeat law in South Carolina, they could not perform the procedure that would allow her to save her uterus. Representative Neal Collins, who voted for the fetal heartbeat law, had a hard realization after hearing her story. During the State House Judiciary committee meeting regarding the next bill that included a near-total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, Representative Collins explained his change of position to voting against the new ban. His testimony focused on the 19 year old in which he said, “First, she’s going to pass this fetus in the toilet. She’s going to have to deal with that on her own. There’s a 50-percent chance — greater than 50-percent chance that she’s going to lose her uterus, and there’s a 10-percent chance that she will develop sepsis and herself die. That weighs on me. I voted for that bill and we’re having a meeting on this…. That whole week I did not sleep.” (https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article264911724.html) 

Let’s be very clear, reproductive justice and health is a Jewish issue. We can start with our Torah reading for today. It focuses on the akeidah, God testing Abraham by telling Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. The Akeidah takes place after many more encounters between not only Abraham and Sarah, but also with Hagar. 

Earlier in the Torah, God promised Abraham that he will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands in the sea. However, Sarah is unable to conceive. How is her husband going to be able to see the fulfillment of this promise when his own wife cannot provide him with children? In a final act of desperation, Sarah encourages Abraham to lay with her maidservant, Hagar, and have a child with her. This surrogacy will allow the promise God makes to come true. Let’s look at Hagar as not only helping to fulfill a covenantal promise, but also through the lens of reproductive justice.

Hagar is an enslaved woman. She is a stranger in our text without any linguistic or kinship ties to Abraham and Sarah. Therefore, we are not even certain that she has any kinds of protection that we might find in another enslaved person who might be deemed an indentured servant. Torah does not give us any of Hagar’s backstory except that she is an Egyptian. We are not sure how or when it is that she came into Sarah and Abraham’s lives. 

The Torah says:

 וַתִּקַּ֞ח שָׂרַ֣י אֵֽשֶׁת־אַבְרָ֗ם אֶת־הָגָ֤ר הַמִּצְרִית֙ שִׁפְחָתָ֔הּ מִקֵּץ֙ עֶ֣שֶׂר שָׁנִ֔ים לְשֶׁ֥בֶת אַבְרָ֖ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַתִּתֵּ֥ן אֹתָ֛הּ לְאַבְרָ֥ם אִישָׁ֖הּ ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃ 

So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her enslaved-woman, Hagar the Egyptian—after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as wife.  (Beresheit 16:3)

Nowhere in this verse or other parts of this story do we hear Hagar give consent to having her body taken (וַתִּקַּ֞ח) or given (וַתִּתֵּ֥ן). Hagar is not given the dignity of being asked to be a surrogate or a choice. 

Ishmael was the first son of Abraham, but later, as promised, Sarah conceived and bore a son, Isaac. Sarah was concerned that by having Ishmael around, Isaac would not be in the line of blessing and she said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (Genesis 21:10). 

Again, Hagar has no voice in this, and Abraham does what his wife asks of him. But not until after God promises Abraham that all will be fine with them and that Ishmael too will be the father of a great nation. He gives a skin of water and some food to Hagar and sends her and Ishmael out into the wilderness. 

Hagar has no right to make decisions about whether to have children, or the right or ability to parent the child she did have in a safe and sustainable way. There was never any moment that Hagar was given access to justice for herself and her child. Hagar is the marginalized minority woman whose voice remains silent and for whom there is no one there to speak for her or stand up for her. 

SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Collective, is a Southern based membership organization whose purpose is to “build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.” SisterSong defines Reproductive Justice as “‘the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.’ Reproductive Justice brings a racial and economic justice framework to the work for reproductive freedom, recognizing and addressing disparities in social, economic, and political power and how this impacts access to reproductive health care. The work for Reproductive Justice was started and continues to be led by Black women and other women of color.” 

Black women are 3.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy related issues. Studies show that “Among White and Hispanic women, causes of maternal death ranked somewhat similarly. However, for Black women, preeclampsia/eclampsia was the leading cause of maternal death, followed by postpartum cardiomyopathy, embolism, and hemorrhage. Ectopic pregnancy, the fifth leading cause of maternal death for Black women, was not a leading cause for white or Hispanic women.” (https://www.prb.org/resources/black-women-over-three-times-more-likely-to-die-in-pregnancy-postpartum-than-white-women-new-research-finds/)

Black women, indigenous women and all women of color are impacted greatly by the overturning of Roe V Wade. And this decision also impacts those who are struggling financially, the immigrant community, and the trans and non-binary community. The ripple effect of the Supreme Court’s decision continues to impact more people than we can imagine. Abortion access and reproductive care access is about the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children women have in safe and sustainable communities. Deny anyone this and we deny people Reproductive Justice. 

Allow us to hear from  Alejandra Pablos: 

When I became pregnant, I knew the current political situation would devastate the family I would create. The same people who would force me to continue my pregnancy are the same people who would rip my baby from my arms and deport me because of my immigration status. I can’t ignore the irony of lawmakers whose only mission is to control a woman’s body, and refuse to support us in accessing childcare and livable wages for our families.

I chose an abortion because comprehensive sex education wasn’t a thing. I made this choice because I did not want to be a parent. The decisions we make are supported by our very own lived experiences. Trust us. I know that when a mom is separated from her daughter, whether it is a country that separates them or an immigration prison, you might as well rip her heart out. I know this because my mother had to suffer through our separation once. I was detained in an immigration prison for two years, and my mom and my family visited every weekend.

The difficult part for me really was the fear I feel every day. I am afraid that the broken, cruel immigration system in the U.S will tear me away from my family, from my child if I had one. I see it every day, everywhere, families ripped apart by ICE, parents displaced in prisons, daughters in jails, sons in deportation proceedings. Fear. I cannot begin to think of planning a family when I know I am facing a racist system that is here to oppress brown and immigrant people.

In December 2020, there were reports of women who were in ICE custody who were medically abused by a gynecologist at the detention center at the Irwin County ICE Center in Georgia. The allegations included more than 40 women who came forward to tell their story which included being put under general anesthesia and having a hysterectomy. Never did these women ask to be sent to the gynecologist or approve of any procedures. Like Hagar, their voices were silent.

Alejandra was all too aware of the situations in these ICE facilities as well as the stories of many who were deported. She did what she felt was best for her and her family from the fear of how she would be treated because she was a non-white immigrant. 

Reproductive justice is not only a ‘women’s issue,’ it is also an issue for trans and non-binary people. 

Cazembe Jackson shares their story: 

I was 21 years old and a junior in college when I had my abortion. After surviving a rape that ended in an unwanted pregnancy, I went to a Planned Parenthood in my hometown to get an abortion. My family was supportive of my decision because of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. I’m committed to making sure all people can have a good experience having an abortion, regardless of their reason. 

I am excited to lift up the voices of [other] Black trans men who have had abortions and want to give birth . . . Often when we think of abortion access or even pregnancy and childbirth we call these ‘women’s issues’. This erases the experience of trans and gender nonconforming folks who also have abortions and give birth to children 

. . . I wish that folks understood that men have abortions too. That gender is separate from the ability to reproduce children. That every person who has the ability to create children is capable of determining when if ever is the right time to do it.

Cazembe and people like them want to have the choice to decide when is the right time and the right circumstances for them to have children. To have the government make these decisions on behalf of anyone is unethical, for who are those within the government that feel they have a right to anyone’s body? There are so many factors when it comes to reproductive rights and the desire to have or not to have children. These are personal decisions that belong to the woman first, as it is her body, and her family if she so chooses. Unfortunately, women and people who are wrestling with these decisions are being put into the same position as Hagar, without a voice. 

And finally, the reversal of Roe v Wade affects those who have always dreamt of having children, yet, for a number of reasons, they, like Sarah, are not able to conceive. 

Sarah was barren for her whole life and desperate to help her husband fulfill the covenant of his being the father of a great nation, she turned to Hagar as the surrogate. She did not have access to medical care as we do today and the continued development of reproductive research leading to such procedures as in vitro fertilization. However, the reversal of Roe v Wade jeopardizes even the development of research and procedures in which individuals and couples are able to fulfill their very hope of having a family. 

Fertility clinics work with individuals and couples to find the right treatment to help them toward having children. IVF, in vitro fertilization is when a woman’s eggs are extracted and are fertilized in the lab in hopes of transferring the fertilized eggs back into the woman’s womb. Clinics typically use two people’s genetic material to create multiple embryos because they don’t know which ones will grow to the right stage or which ones will result in a successful pregnancy.

Dr. Marcelle Cedars, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, fears that with the new laws being put into place in many states, family building treatments will also be affected. He fears that freezer companies and clinics could face criminal charges for discarding embryos not used or if a freezer malfunctions and the frozen embryos are destroyed. “When fertility clinics accidentally discard embryos — which happens far too often — they are destroying potential life,” he said. “Might fertility clinics and their embryologists face homicide or manslaughter charges for their misconduct? When the manufacturer of a freezer that holds embryos goes kaput, that freezer company has destroyed potential human life.”

Dr. Shefali Shastri of a fertility clinic in New Jersey said, “The current cause for concern about the future of these treatments stems from the fact that fertilization treatments may produce multiple embryos. And at a time when abortion laws across the nation are changing, the result in some states may be that patients are required to implant and produce all of the embryos that result from fertility treatments,” said Dr. Shastri. “If this is the case, there could be a variety of ramifications including more people simply forgoing the opportunity to have children.”

Abortion access is about the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. When abortion access or reproductive access are denied, all of us, every person, is denied reproductive justice. This is not only a women’s issue. This is a human issue affecting all people. And as the Jewish community, we affirm that bans on abortion are against our religion for the life of the mother comes first – both her physical and her mental health. 

What can we do? First, stay informed. Yes, those of us here in California are fortunate to live in a state where reproductive health care is accessible. Yet, there are those of you who are outside of California who might live in a state where abortion access and reproductive health care is not as readily available. Find out what your state’s policies are and what abortion access is available. AbortionFinder.org provides a list, state by state, and “features the most comprehensive directory of trusted (and verified) abortion service providers in the United States.” 

We know that voting works, voter turnout is so important as we saw from the elections in Kansas where Voters in Kansas rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have said there was no right to an abortion in the state. 

While abortion is legal here in California and in other states where some of you are joining in with us, contact your local Planned Parenthood office and volunteer to walk women into the clinics. And remember, Planned Parenthood does not only provide abortion care, the majority of their work is reproductive care, from wellness exams to family planning. Unfortunately, there are those who strive to embarrass and harass anyone going into Planned Parenthood. By being a personal escort for those entering the clinics, you are providing these people with the dignity they deserve.

And most important of all, during this season of t’shuvah, as we have read about Hagar and we are more aware of the harm that was done to her, we are more aware than ever that we can and we must do better. We must fight for a world with more light, with more dignity, with more wholeness for everyone. 

God of our ancestors–

We affirm that you have created each of us in Your sacred image, endowed with the inherent right to dignity and autonomy

We ask that you guide us towards a caring and loving community and nation that reveres this dignity in each of us.

We affirm that reproductive freedom– the sacred right to own the personhood of one’s own body–is a fundamental part of the just society for which we strive in Your name. 

We ask that you endow us with the strength and resolve we need because the path that lays ahead is challenging and we all need resilience, strength and courage.

We ask that you protect the most impacted and marginalized among us, because it is they who are most at risk. 

We do this work in your name, O God, because we are the compassionate loving creations of a compassionate, loving and just God. It is holy, sacred work.

May our country become a place of liberty and justice for all, and may our care for one another include care and respect for each other’s right to good and affordable healthcare, including abortion care, and right to live safely and securely as we each follow our path of conscience and the God we each do or do not believe in.

AMEN.

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The post Reproductive Rights Is A Jewish Value first appeared on Hanefeshoc.

Shortly after our leaving Egypt and being free, we were given the responsibility of Torah and the 613 commandments. Our Jewish journey began here with learning the commandments and integrating them into our new freed lives. And that journey includes studying and challenging our text so that we might live by the ethical teachings of our traditions and life. 

Our commandments are there to be a guide in our lives. Yes, we have the freedom to either accept or reject, we are autonomous in that way. 

The debate about freedom goes in so many directions. From teens whose freedom is challenging their parents about what they can and can’t do. What time to be home or how to leave their room. To the freedom we have as adults in how we choose to be active citizens in our country and world. And understanding that every one of our actions can and do have an impact on others.

We have the ability to act on and shape history. But freedom has not always been simple. There have been tyrants throughout our entire Jewish history, over 3000 years, in which their goal was to challenge our existence and rule with an iron first and establish laws  regarding how they believed the world should exist, suppressing and coercing others into living and doing what the leader wants and demands of them. From Amalek, to the kings of the lands the Israelites traveled through, to leaders throughout modern history, such as Stalin, Hitler, and others. Those wanting to define what freedom means through their eyes and who is deserving of it. 

There is creative freedom, allowing each individual to create their own interpretations of how to live and contribute to the world. However, each individual’s freedom not only affects them, but also those around them. One action by one person can create change and challenges for those around them or even those who they do not know. 

Andres Spokoiny says: “That liberation indeed freed the enormous creative potential of the individual and allowed for the incredible progress that we have seen in the past few centuries. But the problem with that vision is that it sees freedom as purely an individual matter. Anything that impinges on individual freedom is bad by definition and everything that removes barriers from the individual is good. In that context, my social obligations, my concern for the wellbeing of others, are unnecessary limitations. When that idea is taken to its extreme—when the “greed is good” philosophy is fully unleashed—there can’t be any limit for the individual to exert his powers. The “world of right” then becomes the “world of might”. Following this logic, one can even defend slavery in the name of freedom; the “freedom” to hold slaves was once a rallying cry for a major segment of the U.S., and hundreds of thousands were ready to fight and die for that “freedom”.”

Today, we see the freedom we know being challenged. And just as the argument to hold slaves vs the call for the emancipation of slaves in the south brought about the civil war, we have to wonder if we are on the precipice of another type of civil war? Our country is so divided right now and we ask, what is the breaking point?

Judaism teaches that there is a balance between four players: me, my fellow human beings, society and God. “a delicate equilibrium between my freedom and yours; between freedom from (the lifting of constraints) and freedom to (the capacity to work towards a goal beyond myself); between freedom as an end in itself and freedom as the foundation of a collective project.”

Judaism believes strongly in freedom of the individual, even before the United States came into being and the call for freedom. We teach that each person is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of the Divine, and therefore, there are rights for freedom inherent in this tradition. If one person is not free, then really, no one is free. The issues of Reproductive Rights or Prayer in Schools, where it is hard for a student, especially our youngest students to “opt out” of a prayer that the teacher insists they participate in, or the freedom for our students and teachers to not feel like they are risking their lives when they go to school, do not only affect women or students and teachers; these freedoms affect us all. 

Judaism understood that true freedom is not the absence of bondage, but the presence of justice and purpose. Martin Luther King, Jr. paraphrased the prophets when he wrote that “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”.

Freedom has a higher purpose – not to just serve us, the individual, but rather all of those around us as well. 

We taught our 3-5 grade students this year about achrayut, responsibility. The root of that word is “acher” other.  Only when we understand that we have a responsibility to the other can we achieve true freedom. We cannot be so focused on only our needs, but rather, we have to focus on our needs AND the needs of others if we want to achieve true freedom. It is the balance of me and my fellow humans.

This Fourth of July, as we are all wrestling with the state of our country and our world, as we continue to fight for freedom, equality and compassion for all, may we continue to balance the needs of the self and the needs of others. May our passions for the issues that are before us not drive us toward hate but rather toward working for bringing together people. May we recognize that the founders of our great country had a vision that all people are created equal (well the woman part took some time) and deserve autonomy to live their best ethical life. There is a brokenness in our world that is challenging us at this very moment. But together, taking what Judaism has taught us and given to us, even 3000 years later, we can return the balance of freedom and peace for all. 

Amen

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The post What is Freedom? Especially Today first appeared on Hanefeshoc.