ed note–as we begin this little discussion, let us get one ‘protocol’ established here that needs to be understood in Kristol-clear clarity viz what has been the legalized murder of as many as ONE HUNDRED MILLION unborn children in America for the last half-century, which is that those on the ‘Christian right’ who champion Israel, champion the Old Testament and champion the Jews as ‘God’s chosen people’ are primarily to blame for it.
If someone willingly invites a deadly, poisonous and aggressive viper into his home–as a pet, a ‘friend’ or what-the-hell-ever–and this viper does what it is biologically and zoologically designed to do, which is to bite people and kill them, who is to blame?
Not the viper. He’s doing exactly what he was built to do, no different than fish swimming or birds flying.
This is precisely what the leaders of the ‘Christian right’ have done with their incessant and intolerable quoting of ‘Genesis 12’ and all that ‘I will bless those who bless thee and curse those who curse thee’ nonsense–invited the viper into our national home, given him (and his children) free reign over everything and protected them from both criticism and prosecution via the ‘protocols’ of that ‘old time religion’, rather than viewing these dangerous creatures, these ‘vipers’–the exact words that Jesus Christ Himself used in describing them–as the existential threat to us all that they are.
Yes, the ‘Christian right’ spoke out against child murder/infanticide for the horrendous crime against God, nature and mankind that it is–
But then, when the same thing happened in places such as Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and everywhere else that the vipers were free to roam and free to do what vipers are biologically and zoologically ‘built’ to do–
It was championed as ‘God’s will’ and as the ‘fulfillment of prophecy’ and something that Jesus Himself wants to see happen.
And it is not just the nutty evangelicals who play with poisonous snakes in their church services, do a lot of hollering and yelling and all the other theatrics and ‘Jrama’ that have come to typify any Protestant church in America and the West who are to blame.
Shamed to say, it is Christendom itself that is to blame.
2,000 years ago when the fateful decision was made to co-mix the narrative of the person of Jesus Christ–the Prince of Peace–in with the gangsters of La Kosher Nostra (as their biblical CVs describe them) i.e. Abraham, Lott, Moses, Joshua, David, etc, what the world is witnessing right now became an inevitability. Rather than listening CAREFULLY AND CRITICALLY to what Jesus was saying concerning these ‘vipers’ and these ‘children of their father, the devil’, the ‘easy’ (and completely unwarranted) line was drawn between them and JC, when in fact the 2 were/are/always will be as different from each other as wolves and sheep, again, using the exact same comparison that Jesus Himself used.
As the reader will plainly see, the murder of America’s children through the process of abortion on demand is indeed a ‘Judaic’ commodity, not just in the fact that it was the followers of Judah-ism, the ‘children of Israel’ as they love to refer to themselves, who did the ‘heavy work’ in pushing it through the legal system in America, just as they did with pornography, gay marriage and all the rest of our national social ills, but indeed, a ‘Judaic’ commodity in the sense that this is what Judah-ism demands, and therefore, the followers of this bloody cult can be considered pious, devout and stalwart practitioners of their faith, in effect, ‘good Jews’.
After all, lest we forget–
When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and hands over to you the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall save nothing alive that breathes…You shall show them no mercy. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…–Book of Deuteronomy
Rabbi Daniel Bogard for SF Chronicle
The Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade sent shock waves throughout our country when it was leaked this week. If the ruling stands, abortion access would be decimated in huge swaths of the country, and the rights of Americans everywhere will depend on whether they happen to live in a blue state or in a red state. Beyond being a violation of the human rights of pregnant people, limiting access to abortion is an imposition of governmental Christianity on us all.
And it infringes on the religious liberty of every American Jew.
For Jews, it is no exaggeration to say that access to abortion services isn’t just tolerated, it is a religious requirement, and has been for thousands of years.
Surprised? Let’s dig into some of the texts.
In Exodus chapter 21:22 of the Torah, we see a clear statement that a fetus is not a person: ‘When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined.’ This stands in sharp contrast with the next verse, which makes clear that if the pregnant person themselves is injured, then the punishment is ‘a life for a life, an eye for an eye.’
The Torah couldn’t be more explicit: A fetus is not the same as a human life.
The Talmud, a central religious text for Jews written over 1,400 years ago, makes this even clearer by stating that ‘a fetus is considered a part of the pregnant person’s body, equivalent to their thigh.’
Even earlier, we hear in the foundational legal text the Mishnah, written 1,800 years ago, that if a pregnant person is set to be executed, that execution should not be delayed, for the fetus is not an independent life until it can breathe on its own.
In a different section of the Mishnah we are told explicitly that if ‘a person is having trouble giving birth (and their life is in danger) they must abort the fetus. If, however, most of the child has come out already they do not touch it, for we do not push off one life for another.’
Perhaps no idea is more central in classical Jewish legal texts thinking about abortion than that of the ‘Rodef’ or ‘the pursuer.’ Rodef is a legal category in Judaism for someone or something that is about to kill another human being. Jewish law obligates us to stop a Rodef at any cost — up to and including taking the life of an aggressor. A pregnancy that endangers life is considered a Rodef, and thus it must be terminated.
This is what rabbis mean when we say that ‘access to abortion is a religious requirement for Jews’, because there are situations where Judaism doesn’t just allow abortion but in fact requires it when the life of the pregnant person is threatened.
Jewish legal rulings from the last 1,000 years additionally make clear that there are other circumstances beyond a pregnant person’s life being in physical danger wherein abortion must be performed. Judaism also recognizes personal well-being, mental health and all sorts of other situations where a person might choose to terminate a pregnancy.
What we — a rabbi and a Washington state legislator — have presented here are Jewish texts showing why access to abortion services are a religious requirement for Jewish Americans. But the beauty of our country is the diversity of backgrounds and experiences which we weave together into the tapestry of America. Many Christians interpret these biblical verses differently. Which is fine! American Jews aren’t interested in imposing our faith on our neighbors; we just ask that our neighbors not impose their faith on us.
That is the exact point of the First Amendment — to protect minority religions’ free exercise of religion, including abortion. And that is exactly why this draft Supreme Court opinion, this reversal of abortion access, is so wrong, so un-American, and is a threat to the human dignity and religious liberty of us all.
Daniel Bogard is a rabbi at Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis. Tana Senn is a Washington state representative and co-president of the National Association of Jewish Legislators.