Dear Friends,
The Torah appears in conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
We read in this week’s Torah portion that no priest “who has a defect shall be qualified” to serve as a priest. (Leviticus 21:17) Torah elaborates, listing the delimiters, precluding one who is blind, lame or deaf, one with broken limbs, a hunchback or a dwarf, one with a growth in the eye, a boil-scar, scurvy or damaged testes. (Leviticus 21:18-20)
Clearly, if one could not perform the physical demands of the priestly office due to bodily constraints – a broken arm or a broken leg – that should preclude such a person, at least temporarily, until the priest has healed, from such work.
Yet, do the other conditions matter in the functioning of the priest?
It appears that the Torah wanted persons who appeared and functioned as “whole” to serve in the sacred precinct. Perhaps unqualified persons would deter Israelites from bringing offerings, if they found such priests to be repugnant. It is terribly upsetting to read this in our most sacred text, and there is no rationale given, leading to our conjecture.
But, more compelling for today is the conversation we have over our comfort and engagement with persons who are differently able. Clearly, this is not a new discussion. The ADA was passed in 1990, and amended about 15 years ago, and is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and many public and private places that are open to the general public. Its provisions are almost a given today, and even though synagogues and other religious institutions are exempt from the provisions of the ADA, we are not morally exempt from its message. Indeed, the ADA undergirded our decision to build a ramp inside our sanctuary a couple years ago.
Simply stated, it is neither permissible nor conscionable to recognize one with a disability – or better put, today,” differently-abled” – as unable to function in the normal pursuits of today’s society. Not only have we made accommodations in our buildings and busses, but we have grown our beliefs and confronted our biases towards dissolving the previous substandard standing of one with a physical limitation.
I believe that this is a great achievement of our generation. We see the wholeness and sanctity of the human being in God’s image, irrespective of physical limits or conditions. And, we are willing to transcend or supersede the dictates of our Torah – building a fuller value system above the limited foundation which Leviticus provided us.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
The Torah appears in conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
We read in this week’s Torah portion that no priest “who has a defect shall be qualified” to serve as a priest. (Leviticus 21:17) Torah elaborates, listing the delimiters, precluding one who is blind, lame or deaf, one with broken limbs, a hunchback or a dwarf, one with a growth in the eye, a boil-scar, scurvy or damaged testes. (Leviticus 21:18-20)
Clearly, if one could not perform the physical demands of the priestly office due to bodily constraints – a broken arm or a broken leg – that should preclude such a person, at least temporarily, until the priest has healed, from such work.
Yet, do the other conditions matter in the functioning of the priest?
It appears that the Torah wanted persons who appeared and functioned as “whole” to serve in the sacred precinct. Perhaps unqualified persons would deter Israelites from bringing offerings, if they found such priests to be repugnant. It is terribly upsetting to read this in our most sacred text, and there is no rationale given, leading to our conjecture.
But, more compelling for today is the conversation we have over our comfort and engagement with persons who are differently able. Clearly, this is not a new discussion. The ADA was passed in 1990, and amended about 15 years ago, and is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and many public and private places that are open to the general public. Its provisions are almost a given today, and even though synagogues and other religious institutions are exempt from the provisions of the ADA, we are not morally exempt from its message. Indeed, the ADA undergirded our decision to build a ramp inside our sanctuary a couple years ago.
Simply stated, it is neither permissible nor conscionable to recognize one with a disability – or better put, today,” differently-abled” – as unable to function in the normal pursuits of today’s society. Not only have we made accommodations in our buildings and busses, but we have grown our beliefs and confronted our biases towards dissolving the previous substandard standing of one with a physical limitation.
I believe that this is a great achievement of our generation. We see the wholeness and sanctity of the human being in God’s image, irrespective of physical limits or conditions. And, we are willing to transcend or supersede the dictates of our Torah – building a fuller value system above the limited foundation which Leviticus provided us.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn