(RNS) — Last week, as the flames engulfed the hills and valleys of Los Angeles, I heard the awful news of the complete destruction of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center, a synagogue with a hundred years of history and a vibrant congregation of 430 families.
I have an acquaintance who is active there and wanted to reach out to him. It’s such a helpless feeling to be a continent away from this kind of disaster, and the sight of a burning synagogue triggers deep anguish in the heart of any Jew. So, I dashed off a note.
He replied within a few hours with a very Jewish response.
Thanks so much for reaching out, your kind words and support are greatly appreciated. Fortunately, no one was injured at the synagogue and all the Torah scrolls were saved. At the same time, many in the community have been displaced and more than a few have lost homes.
The two most important bits of information imparted were given in order of their significance:
- No one was injured in the building.
- The Torah scrolls were saved.
The rescue of those Torahs was a dramatic scene, described by Binyamin Cohen of the Forward.
For a Jew, even one with a very limited Jewish education, there is something visceral about the sanctity of a Torah scroll that hits us at the deepest, gut level. The Torah is treated similarly to a human being. We kiss it, hug it, dance with it, and bury it when it is no longer viable. We never burn one.
Just Google “saving Torah scrolls from fire” and you’ll see an endless parade of stories of heroism from all over the world, people risking their lives to save an inanimate object that is really much more. Sadly, Torah rescues from burning synagogues are not uncommon.
OK, that was a long windup. So, here’s my question:
Have you ever seen a single photo of the Ten Commandments being rescued from the burning flames from a synagogue — or any building? In LA? Anywhere? Ever?
Of course not.
It’s not as if the Ten Commandments are meaningless to Jews. But they are just a small part of a larger whole — the Torah — which is equal to far more than the sum of its parts.
Which brings me to what’s taking place in Louisiana.
Last week, while the flames encircled Los Angeles, an amicus brief filed in the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit by the National Council of Jewish Women and about 20 other faith-based groups, mostly Jewish, asserted that the Louisiana law mandating a poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments be permanently hung in every public school classroom violates religious freedom.
The law is in litigation and remains paused after a preliminary injunction blocked officials from enforcing it. However, Kentucky and 17 other states are backing Louisiana in its appeal of the ruling by a U.S. district judge that declared the law unconstitutional.
The amicus brief asserts that the law’s goal is to impose “majoritarian religious values.” Rarely have progressive Jews taken on Christian nationalism so directly.
Here’s an excerpt:
Contrary to the Founders’ intent, H.B. 71 would put the government in the position of favoring certain religious traditions over others. Although the Ten Commandments have historical significance, they are, at heart, a religious text with different meanings, interpretations, and significance across different faiths, including within and among faiths within the Jewish and Christian traditions.
The brief adds that H.B. 71’s legislative history makes clear that its proponents intended to use it as a vehicle to establish what its proponents viewed as a “Judeo-Christian” worldview. Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, sent a fundraising email urging supporters to help “the Judeo-Christian values that this nation was built upon.”
I have nothing against the Ten Commandments, but not a single Jew — and I would venture to guess not a single Christian — would run into a burning building to save a framed poster of a couple of mass-produced fake tablets. It’s an insult to my religion to force us to act as if anything other than our Torah is being presented as the paradigm for sanctity — all the more in the name of “Judeo-Christian values.”
The fetishization of the image of the Ten Commandments is, ironically, a form of idolatry, which is explicitly prohibited in those very commandments. It is a distortion of “Judeo” values to elevate to sanctity an object that is, at most, a nice temple decoration or the backdrop for a Charlton Heston film festival.
For Jews, the Big Ten are just the appetizers. Our tradition has many more commandments that are of equal or even greater significance than them. Would Louisiana like to display all 613 (according to Maimonides’ count) in their classrooms, including the one that allows for leniency on abortion?
I would be totally on board if they decided to use this legislation as a springboard for the promotion of religious pluralism. Why not display versions of the commandments found in different faiths?
No one ever claimed the Bible’s list is unique; there are lots of different versions.
- Did you know that for Hindus, the “tenfold law” as they call it, includes self-control, forgiveness, wisdom and abstention from anger?
- Buddhists include not merely coveting wives, killing and stealing, but also refraining from “divisive, harsh and senseless speech.” Imagine planting two tablets containing that on a courtroom lawn!
- For the Sikhs it is a sin to argue with your parent.
- An African proverb states, “If a parent takes care of you up to the time you cut your teeth, you need to take care of them when they lose theirs.”
- Islam vociferously condemns the murder of innocents.
- And Confucianism states, “No crime is greater than having too many desires.”
Contrast and compare the Bible’s Big Ten with all the others.
And then let’s post them all, side by side.
Just not in public school classrooms.
(Rabbi Joshua Hammerman is the author of “Mensch-Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi” and “Embracing Auschwitz: Forging a Vibrant, Life-Affirming Judaism That Takes the Holocaust Seriously.” See more of his writing at his Substack page, “In This Moment.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)