When people ask me where our religion stands on abortion, what I’d like to respond with is that perhaps we shouldn’t be consulting an Iron Age document written for a specific people to help build 21st century laws in our nation. But alas, as a rabbi, I cannot and so, instead, I emphasize what the Bible says about abortion.

The tools and helpers are out there; the ideas are being created, the wheel reinvented. But  before congregations start hiring new clergy and new staff, and placing young families in leadership positions, they must first make a full understanding of where they are: rehab or hospice.  Only with that knowledge can they decide their fate in this changing world.

The Talmud states, understanding the beauty of differing opinions: “eilu v’eilu divrei Elohim chaim hein” (both these and those are the words of the living God).  In closing, friends, there is no need to fear politics from the pulpit or within our walls.  It has always been with us, sitting next to us in the pews, as we sing and pray about justice, righteousness, and peace.

This is not, in any way, meant to show disrespect to the Messianics, as I know many and have even studied with many.  I am happy to sit with them, study with them, and engage in interfaith dialogue with them, but it is time they also acknowledge that it is “interfaith” dialogue, as they are no longer associated with the Jewish faith.

So, in conclusion, as Jews (and Christians) in 2022, we no longer need to concern ourselves with God collapsing the universe because of gray areas instead of binary categories, we no longer have to worry about our children becoming idol worshippers and thus emulating their practices, nor do we need to associate power sex between men with the acts of an outside tribe or nation.

Lashon Harah, loose talk, evil speech, lying speech, gossip, whatever it is called by the sages, is known as one of the most damaging sins one can commit in Jewish thought.  One need only skim through the pages of the rabbinic works to find the weight of this sin.