Last night, I participated in an interfaith panel at Widener University. Alongside me on the stage were representatives of Islam, various branches of Christianity, Buddhism, Baha'i, Unitarian Universalism,
and even a woman who practiced Witchcraft! It was a big panel... But one thing that really struck me about the experience, about the whole evening, was how serious and somber the students were. Even as panelists tried to joke and be a little self-deprecating or just vulnerable and real, our audience just nodded slightly and stared at us. It was unsettling. I thought to myself, this truly is how many people view religion. No laughing matter. No compassion, no kindness, no flexibility. Just grave and severe. I even tried to address the climate in the room directly, and encouraged people to smile and engage. How did they respond? They nodded slightly... and stared.
Right now, the whole world feels a little unsettled. People are nervous and stressed. Our Torah reading this week offers us a model that might help us move forward. It's not a comfortable or easy one, but helpful nonetheless. God and Abraham are friends. They talk a lot. They have a bond. Our text offers us insight into
God's internal monologue (imagine that!), where God decides to tell Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are soon to be destroyed. Abraham doesn't like this at all. Looking at the situation objectively, we might say that this poses a threat to their friendship, to their relationship. They fundamentally disagree. Abraham takes a deep breath, and decides to risk the friendship in the interest of standing up for his own beliefs. He challenges God, stating: "Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?" (Gen. 18:23) Incredibly, God listens. God's mind is even changed, and the annihilation of Gomorrah and Sodom is postponed. In this day and age, who among us has actually changed someone's mind in an argument?? Or allowed our opinion to be shifted??? Let's be honest; that NEVER happens!
Zari Sussman, a rabbinical student at the Ziegler Rabbinical School in California, wrote a commentary on our Torah portion, and noted, "In an argument, the Godly thing to do is listen, learn, and possibly change one's own opinion." How can we move past the gridlock and
divisiveness in society today? We have to listen. I didn't say it was easy, and I certainly didn't say it was comfortable. But we must. In her article, Sussman also stated, "When I avoid debates, situations, and people who make me uncomfortable, I cheat myself out of a gift life is sending my way. Every person contains a unique spark of God, a teaching that I need to learn." It is easy to see the Divine sparks in someone who agrees with us; who is compassionate, funny, wise, or clever. But what if that person (or Higher Being) starts to talk about destruction, people getting what they deserve, and the wickedness of "those" people? Abraham didn't walk away, tune out, or "unfriend." Should we?
Religion has certainly been the cause of a lot of pain and suffering in the world. I can't deny that. But stories like these also remind us that there's a lot of compassion and unity in the texts of our tradition, and that the Torah does TRY to model good communication, mutual understanding, and moral behavior.
Nevertheless, people often view religion as authoritarian, cold, and rigid. When I talk about Guilt-Free Judaism and the importance of seeing humor in the Bible, I often get looks of confusion and disbelief. At this very moment in our lives, I think the Bible can actually help us make sense of some of the chaos around us. Our ancestors understood what we, today, are going through! They too felt our insecurity, our uncertainty about the future, and our unwillingness to see the perspective of The Other. These things are not new, so let's learn from some of their successes AND their failures. And above all, please remember that there's more to religion than just somber nodding and staring, I promise.
Photos in this blogpost:1. Image of bumper sticker created by Piotr Młodożeniec2. CC image courtesy of Ephraim Moses Lilien on Wikimedia Commons3. Screen shot of "unfriend" option on Facebook4. CC image courtesy of ThomasRibeiro25 on Wikimedia Commons
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