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Does the Torah offend you? If not, why not? Aren’t you paying attention?
What should we do about the horrifying parts of the Torah? Abandon it as fundamentally immoral? Act as defense attorneys and justify everything? Have you noticed that I am only asking questions, because I sure as heck have no answers? Let’s talk about this elephant in our Jewish room.
Bill Finn invites you to a proctological exam of the Torah. Let’s look at the stinky stuff. Theft, child sacrifice, war, and genocide – all the stuff done by the good guys.
We may be repelled by the stink, but as every gardener knows, manure provides opportunity for growth. Just as the most base parts of Creation connect us to the most rarefied holiness, the most disgusting parts of the Torah provide opportunities for insight and compassion.
Among the really excremental stuff we will be digging through will be:
· Jacob was a goniff who robbed his brother. A Yaqui Indian dance helped me understand the ritual behind the stolen blessing.
· After G*d killed every living thing on the Earth, He promised never to do it again. Are we cool with that? By comparing the waters of the Flood with the dew at the revelation at Sinai, the nature of G*d’s rainbow is revealed.
· When Sarah expelled Hagar, was she just being a Jewish princess? Spoiler alert: Nope, she wasn’t. However, their story defines the nature of Jews in the world.
· Child sacrifice as a practical joke. Does G*d have a sick sense of humor? There are a million interpretations of the binding of Isaac. I want to hear yours and I will tell you some of mine.
After careful examination of the offensive parts of the Torah, I often realize that my initial self-righteous outage was misplaced. Sometimes G*d is not at fault! Imagine that!
William Finn: Congregations in Berkeley, San Diego, Scottsdale, and Jerusalem have laughed at William Finn’s Unorthodox Torah lectures. His humorous work has appeared in the Jewish Frontier, Jewish Currents, New Menorah, and Funny Times. His comic adventures in Israel are described in his book, Where Will the Atheists Pray? His genuinely weird Torah commentary can be found in his blog at unorthodoxtorah.wordpress.com . Under the name of Reb BillBob, he wrote religious poetry which appeared as Doggerel in the Aquarian Minyan and other newsletters. Finn has been an off-and-on member of the Minyan for over 40 years; his wife, Linda Elyad was an original member. Old-timers may remember Bill as the balloon man.