Equality And Diversity

This Devar Torah for the week of Parashat Chukat was delivered at City Shul during Pride Week in Toronto, June 2015. This week­-long celebration of LGBTQ pride, that evolved from a moment of crisis for gays and lesbians after the "bathhouse raids" of Toronto, 1981, has become one of the largest celebrations of pride in the world. In the piece, I examine more closely that momentous instant, (the one I call “the Spartacus moment”), that leads long­ oppressed communities to regain their pride about who they are.

My Bat Mitzvah girl, Emily Wolfson, being wrongfully detained for wearing a tallit at the Kotel

Just as the new Chief Rabbi was announced in the UK, and just as he gave positive sounding comments about repairing the often damaging stand-off between the Orthodox movement he represents and the modern egalitarian Reform and Liberal traditions, many were shocked and disgusted to hear that two eighteen year old girls from the UK were arrested at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem for the supposed "crime" of wearing a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl). The reality is that no such crime exists either in Israeli law or in Jewish religious law - the law concerning a tallit is that men are obligated to wear one, but for women, it is an optional commandment; they may choose to wear or not wear one as they personally feel is appropriate for them.

Following the reports of the shocking treatment of Anat Hoffman in October 2012, I wrote the letter below to Ambassador Taub on 18 October to express my deep concern and to seek a meeting with him and members of the community who wished to discuss the situation with him.

Sadly, to date, Ambassador Taub has failed to respond to me - a very disappointing situation which seems to mirror the attitude towards Anat Hoffman.

Below, is the letter as delivered to Ambassador Taub on 18 October 2012 :

Dear Ambassador Taub,