Dear TBZ community:
The news of the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe, though unfortunately not surprising, shook me this past week. It made real the possibility that our country will be going backward to a time before Roe v. Wade. The future of abortion access is on the line, and overturning Roe means people who can get pregnant will lose access to autonomy, to control of their own bodies and to vital, lifesaving healthcare. Assuming this leaked draft is our future and Roe is overturned, trigger bans will come into effect, and abortion will become illegal nearly immediately in 26 states. Over half the country will mandate forced birth. And yes, this will deepen and entrench every structural inequality that currently exists in devastating ways, and create new ones. Abortion justice is an economic justice issue. It’s a racial justice issue. It’s an immigration justice issue.
And it’s a Jewish issue.
Jewish tradition cherishes the sanctity of life, including the potential of life during pregnancy, but our tradition does not believe that personhood and human rights begin with conception, but rather with birth. Like everything in Jewish law and tradition, abortion is complicated but Jewish teachings in the Torah and Talmud support the Halachic (Jewish Legal) necessity of access to abortion.
You can read an update/summary from the CJLS (Committee of Jewish Law and Practice) written by Rabbis Elliot Dorff and Pamela Barmash here. The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has a toolkit on Abortion and Jewish Values that you can access here. I also invite you to check other resources that NCJW has put together with op-eds by Rabbis and other materials that can be helpful to learn more about this. I especially invite you to read the blogpost from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: The Torah of Reproductive Freedom - The Jewish Case for Abortion Justice.
Rav Tiferet and I are part of a group of Jewish Clergy (Rabbis for Repro) who have signed a pledge to raise our voices and speak out for reproductive health, rights and justice. Learn more about this at: https://rabbisforrepro.org
This week's parasha, which begins with the call to be Holy:
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
You shall be holy, for I, your God יהוה, am holy.
In this parasha, God lists the ways in which we are to become holy: honor our parents, keep Shabbat, treat our employees fairly, give away parts of our crops to those less fortunate than we are, and many other obligations that speak to what holiness might be, within ourselves and within a society that recognizes the dignity of all human beings, a society where we care for each other, especially for the less fortunate. This parahsa includes the well-known verse, Love your neighbor as yourself, which we sing weekly at TBZ as an intentionality to our religious practices, recognizing that religious practice without caring and loving for human beings is not possible.
One of the verses in parshat Kedoshim reads:
לֹא־תַעֲשׂוּ עָוֶל בַּמִּשְׁפָּט
לֹא־תִשָּׂא פְנֵי־דָל וְלֹא תֶהְדַּר פְּנֵי גָדוֹל
בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ
You shall not render an unfair decision
do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich
judge your kin fairly
This verse speaks directly to the judges, this verse demands fairness for all humans, no matter their privilege. Do not favor one or another based on their wealth or their privilege. Judge them all fairly.
We know that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, it will be the less privileged who will suffer the most. The efforts to restrict reproductive freedom acutely discriminate against communities of color and people with lower-income.
Rabbi Ruttenberg writes:
"Those most impacted by them are people who are struggling financially; BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities; young people; those in rural communities; immigrants; disabled people; and trans men and some nonbinary people. People who are denied access to reproductive health care are more likely to live in poverty and to remain in abusive relationships as a result of that denied care. A national abortion ban would also lead to a 21% rise in the number of overall pregnancy-related deaths — and a 33% rise in such deaths among Black women. This is because of systemic racism in health care and beyond—food deserts, unjust wages, mass incarceration, and more"
As a Rabbi, I have supported and accompanied women in our own community who have had to make this decision and who have choosen an abortion. No one that I have known who has had to make this decision has done it lightly. Knowing that our community and our tradition supports the access to abortion is truly life-saving.
Torah teaches us to act and to live a life of values. Loving our neighbor and living a life of meaning, means supporting those who are in situations where they have to make the most difficult decisions of their life, with dignity.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom שבת שלום
