We have some relief from the Iranian president calling us a filthy germ that must be destroyed, the continued fall of rockets on Sderot, residents' demonstrations in behalf of greater protection, and mounting pressure for an operation in Gaza.
A Member of Knesset turned our attention to earthquakes. Recent quakes have been minor. But we are on the edge of the Syrian-African rift, and there is a history of major quakes.
Shlomo Benizri's explanation of earthquakes is homosexuality. He urged the Knesset to debate how to end sexual relations between men, and thereby prevent earthquakes.
Benizri has been minister of health and minister of labor and welfare, and is prominent among the 12 member delegation in the Knesset of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party SHAS.
This is not his first time in the religious spotlight. While attending an international meeting of health ministers, he avoided meetings devoted to public health and medicine until he was convinced that the hotel would be serving him kosher food.
The parliamentary head of the SHAS delegation attacked a recent decision by the attorney general to allow adoptions by homosexual and lesbian couples. According to this Knesset member, the attorney general's decision will lead to the corruption and destruction described for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18, 19).
Yet another SHAS MK compared single sex relationships to bird flu.
The organizations of homosexuals and lesbians are protesting. Media commentators plus some secular politicians are sharpening their ridicule. Politicians who need SHAS votes now, or are likely to need them in the future, are quieter and hoping this will pass.
Religious activists have no trouble finding Biblical condemnations of homosexuality.
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them."(Leviticus. 20:13)
Yet David is one of Judaism's most revered figures. What he said when he heard about his friend Jonathan's death is widely quoted. Those wanting to preserve David's purity and the ban on homosexuality can find ambiguity in the statement. It does not describe lovers in a bathhouse. Nevertheless:
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. (II Samuel 1:26).
SHAS is a member of the governing coalition. If the issue heats up to the point of the party leaving the government, Prime Minister Olmert would lose his parliamentary majority.
It probably will no go that far. Israel has learned to live with otherworldly expressions. The spiritual leader of SHAS, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said that African Americans suffered greatly from Hurrican Katrina because they do not study Torah; and that IDF soldiers died in Lebanon because they did not pray correctly. Another SHAS rabbi explained a road accident that killed numerous school children by reference to flawed mezzuzzot in their home town. Other ultra-Orthodox rabbis have said that the Holocaust was God's punishment for the development of Reform Judaism in Germany.
Americans may actually be more affected by the consequences of religious doctrine than Israelis. The rights of homosexuals and lesbians in Israel to create families, to enjoy the economic benefits available to spouses, and to adopt children continue to expand despite apocalyptic denunciations. We suffer nothing like public schools required to teach creationism, one effort after another to limit the possibilities of abortion, or government coupling of campaigns against AIDS with the mantra of abstinence.
SHAS politicians may be more concerned about the laws of God than the laws of Israel. The attorney general has charged Benizri with accepting bribes, fraud, and breach of trust. According to the indictment, a manpower contractor paid Benizri, as minister of labor and welfare, for allowing him to import foreign workers. A former minister of interior and head of the parliamentary delegation, plus a SHAS back bencher both ended their political careers with terms in prison. Party supporters claimed that their were innocent, or involved in activities considered conventional for politicians who were not religious or Sephardi.
David remains a national hero.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Home tel: 972-2-532-2725
Cell phone: 054-683-5325
Fax: 972-2-582-9144