Earlier this month, I marked the completion of my seventh year of work with the Union for Reform Judaism. Ah-ha, I thought, time for a sabbatical!
And so it was that this past Wednesday, I boarded an Amtrak train in New York's Penn Station and headed to Washington DC to visit - for the first time -- the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Reform Movement's advocacy and lobbying arm.
Once outside Union Station, my first stop was the Rayburn House Office Building where, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the RAC was scheduled to testify at the House Education and Labor Committee's hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Long overdue and, it seems to me, a "no brainer," this legislation (H.R. 3017-S. 1584) would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Unbelievable as it seems, even today, in more than two dozen states, discrimination based on sexual orientation and in more than three dozen states based on gender identity is still legal.
By the time there was space in the hearing room for several RAC staffers and me to enter, the committee was about to hear from the second set of panelists that morning. We were directed to seats in the first row - right behind those queued up to testify. Just as I sat down, Vandy Beth Glenn began her remarks, which you can watch here:
(Yes, that's me just over her right shoulder, watching a wall-mounted monitor in order to see her face.) As I listened to her powerful words, I was infuriated at the Georgia General Assembly, moved by her story, and inspired by her bravery.
In testimony that followed Ms. Glenn's, Rabbi Saperstein noted, "Our belief in ENDA's importance stems from a core teaching shared by an array of faith traditions, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. In the words of Genesis, (1:27), 'And God created humans in God's own image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them.' We oppose discrimination against all individuals, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender men and women, for the stamp of the Divine is imprinted on the souls of each and every one of us."
"Of course," Rabbi Saperstein continued, "support for ENDA rooted in biblical text alone is insufficient justification for public policy that applies to Americans of all faiths and no faith. We also believe this legislation to be a wise and measured civil rights bill that addresses the scourge of employment discrimination and upholds the values on which our nation was founded, equality and justice chief among them. Indeed, the struggle for equality is a defining narrative of our nation. From the abolition movement, to the suffrage movement to the civil rights movement to the gay rights movement, women and minorities in this nation have worked tirelessly to achieve equal rights as guaranteed them in the founding visions of the United States. It is this vision too that compels us to support ENDA." You can view Rabbi Saperstein's testimony in its entirety here:
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Often I hear leaders of our Movement -- in response to those who claim that politics has no role in religion and that it is not the place of religious organizations to take positions in this realm - espouse the belief that indeed it is our prophetic mandate to address the great moral issues of the day. So often in fact do I hear and write these words that, for me, they have become, sadly, almost rote.
That sense of rote, though, was dispelled last week as I sat in the nerve center of our nation's public policy infrastructure. Listening to Rabbi Saperstein's eloquent and pointed message, I was reminded of just how powerfully the directives in our ancient Torah tradition dovetail with our own efforts to fight contemporary injustice in its many ugly forms.
Indeed, my "sabbatical" on the Hill and later at the RAC -- the richly historic building where so much of our Reform Jewish policy gets shaped -- did just what a sabbatical is supposed to do. It refreshed my soul, renewed my spirit and inspired me to continue to work, in my own small way, to set the world aright.
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