The spreading of silence
Condemnation of Jewish gays tlirough humiliation and silence.
GABOR MARK SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
■observed Vancouver's recent international AIDS conference as a physician and journalist. In preparing some comments on Jewish perspectives related to the conference, I recalled a recent experience in shul.
A few weeks ago the parsha (weekly Torah portion) included one of the passages in Leviticus which condemns male homosexuality. 1 followed it in Everett Fox's dramatic new translation of the Torah: "A man who lies with a male as one lies with a woman — abomination have the two of them done, they are to be put to death, yes, death, their bloodguilt is upon them!"
I had been unaware of such bloodthirstiness in our tradition towards homosexuality and wanted some explanation or interpretation of it, especially as in our shul gay men and women openly participate.
The Torah, I decided, invites us to become spiritually engaged with certain essential and eternal questions, in this case on how we relate to our own sexuality and the sexual practices of others. Do we act purely out of desire and passion, or do we perceive sexuality as a bond in a set of relationships with others and with
Gabor Mate is a Vancouver medical doctor and writer.
the universal? The specific answer available to the people who recorded the Torah speaks of their time and place; w e can honor their search for truth without accepting their views. We can even be appalled by them if we wish, although there seems little point in being appalled by human beings who lived thousands of years before our time.
In light of the ADDS conference, a silent gliding over such passages in the Torah does not seem appropriate either. It became abundantly clear that the AIDS contagion is far more than an illness that devastates the lives of individuals. If elsewhere in the world it speaks of mass poverty, famine and the dislocations of economic exploitation and war, in our own society it is partly a consequence of intolerance and the pimishing humiliation and isolation of people who difiFer from others only in the choice of partners with whom they feel comfortable, or motivated, to have sexual contact. AIDS is a social phenomenon and represents a societal malaise.
I refer to not only the contentious question of how much money should be spent on AIDS research and treatment — in Canada as much as, say, the combined annual salaries of our two professional basketball teams? More deeply, the high-risk behavior of some gay men, espe-
cially, can be understood not primarily as expressions of personal morality but of repression, culturally coerced self-rejection and social isolation.
Nowhere in the Jewish communities of North America has there been voiced the kind of hate-filled and vindictive theologies indulged in by some fundamentalist Christians, who insist that AIDS represents divine punishment (Although, to do them justice, strictly speaking, the Torah passage quoted would possibly allow for such an interpretation.).
What there has been volumes of, however, is silence. By and large the issue of gays and of how our own tradition and communities relate to them just has not been discussed very openly. In how many of the several synagogues in the Greater Vancouver area, it would be interesting to know, was Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 the subject of animated commentary and debate this year? Or in other years?
There were quite a few Jews at the AIDS conference: doctors, researchers and persons with AIDS. I'm sure I might see some of the doctors and researchers in shul here and there. Would persons with AIDS also be welcome? And would they still feel welcome if silence once more accompanies the parsha reading when Leviticus comes up again? □
A paper for all
Editor:
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how impressed we are with the "new" Bulletin. You have broadened the mandate of the paper to make it an informative, educational and newsy necessity in every Jewish home. The most important aspect of the changes is the broad focus towards all of your present and potential consumers.
I have lived in Vancouver for 50 years and was very involved in the community (UJA, Hadas-sah, on the board of the JCC for 17 years, first female president). For almost all of those years, the
paper was really directed towards those of us who were considered the "taxpayers" in the Jewish community. There was little reason to read the Bulletin for those who did not fall into that classification.
It is a joy to watch how you have elected to serve all ages, all economic classes, all aspects of committed and somewhat committed Jewry, all sexual orientations and all geographical areas where Jews live.
When I was in my late 20s and early 30s, I had little interest, other than in the "Milestone equivalent" in the Jewish Western Bulletin. Now I qvell (feel proud) for you as I watch our three sons and their wives refer
often to information they have received fi-om your paper.
You have managed to communicate to all Greater Vancouver Jewry in anon-patronizing, straight-forward manner. In 1996 it is extremely difficult to tie together such a vast array of Jewish people. I believe that you are to be commended in your efforts and that you are making a huge contribution to this dty in terms of aiding in building a cohesive Jewish community.
Congratulations to you and your obviously highly motivated staff.
Marilyn Gaerber Vancouver
Quotes from media around the worid and at home.
CCD
■ eople who aren't clean or hygienic always say those things about clean people."
- Sara Netanyahu dismisses an ex-nanny's charges that the Is-
raeli leader's wife is a neat freak.
"With abandon! With excitement! You're little kids jmd you're getting presents!"
- Zalmen Mlotek of Boston's Wholesale Klezmer Band explains
how to sing the Yiddish tune "Urim Burim."
"I
Pews are not put on earth just to give employment to missionaries."
- Statement from the American Jewish Congress regarding a Southern Baptist convention resolution to convert Jews.
I worked as an actor, a waitress, a dancer with plastic fruit on my head, at Chrysler industrial shows singing love songs to cars."
-Vancouver choreographer and fdmmaker Nikila Cole outlines
her resume.
I will change the world's idea of Palestinians. I'm going for peace, just to compete in the sport, not for politics, not for violence, not for war."
-Palestinian Olympic athlete Majdi Abu Mraheel describes what will be the first official appearance of Palestinians at the
Games in Atlanta.
Dry Bones
xt^ M\S
BIBI HAS ft)RG6D A R€fKL AJOl) 50L\l>
ALLIAKiCe I
^oJr course ^
ANJD ARIIC SHAROKJ
NOT IN) IT.
KIRSCHEN
JERUSALEM REPORT
Jerusalem
ISRAEL
Carloonisls & Writers Syndicate