Friday, February 23, 2024

Tolerance of Real Differences in Approach and the Cohens Contentious Belt


No! It is not true that diversity is always delightful. Some diversity of belief and approach is highly concerning, sometimes dangerous and infuriating. There are instances where differences in approaches and beliefs are highly concerning, infuriating, and sometimes even dangerous. Australians don’t kill each other over religious differences these days, but there are other matters about which Australians are prepared to inflict harm, not with physical violence, but in other harsh ways. This post is a religious argument for tolerance – at least of people- in situations involving real differences. To fight fairly about things worth fighting for – playing the ball not the man - while also acknowledging common ground with one’s opponent.

I am reminded of a passionate woman I will call Esther, standing at a polling booth handing out ‘how to vote cards’ for a progressive candidate on election day. Standing a few meters away were some women handing out ‘how to vote’ cards for (Australian Politician) Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party. Esther was curious about her opponents and engaged them in an honest, curious conversation. She learned that they were motivated not by raging hatred, but by love and concern for their families and their own understanding of what was right. Neither she nor they changed their positions, and Esther continued to advocate for what she thought was right, while also acknowledging that there was common ground.

I was inspired to write this by some teachings about the Torah reading this week. The priest or Cohen was required to wear garments with very specific requirements (i) These included a belt that was made of wool and linen (ii) This mixture is normally strictly forbidden for Jews (iii) . When I buy a new wool suit, I need to send the jacket to a Shatnez inspector in Melbourne to tear open the collar to see if there is any linen in it that would make the suit forbidden to me.    

This will all sound ridiculously technical to people unfamiliar with these matters. Trust me, I am not interested in technicalities. This is going somewhere interesting.

One explanation for the prohibition of mixing wool linen is that doing so messes with God’s vast eternal plan (iv). Every object on earth is linked to heavenly energies. Every blade of grass has a dedicated angel (v). Wool is linked to kindness and linen is linked to severity or judgement (vi) and these two should not be mixed (vii). One prominent occasion of mixing these was when Abel brought an offering of wool and Cain brought linen and a short time later it ended in murder (viii). A literal version of what figuratively happens every day on social media between the “woke” and their “enemies”.

Yet, difference does not need to end in fratricide. Those of us inclined towards softer and kinder approaches don’t need to regard those with harsher approaches as our enemies. This is the message of the priest’s mixed belt. That the same elements that can tear us apart, that are like fire and water, can coexist in humble recognition of that which is greater than all of us (ix). In the case of the priest in the presence of God in the holiest place on earth, the submission to God enabled fire and water to co-exist. In our families and societies, let us advocate for all that we perceive to be good, and against all that we perceive to be evil, but let us be humble enough to recognise that there is usually common ground between us. As religious people, it could be that we are subjects of God, and otherwise, simply that we are all people.

Image: Jesslee Cuizon from Fujisawa, Japan, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons


[i] Exodus 28

[ii] Talmud, Yoma 69a, Maimonides, book of service, laws of the vessels of the sanctuary, 8:11,  

[iii] Leviticus 19:19

[iv] Fiddler on the roof reference

[v] Zohar Vol 3, chapter 18

[vi] Benayahu Ben Yehoyada, Shabbat 11a

[vii] Rabbenu Bchaya on Leviticus 19:19

[viii] Genesis 4:4-4:8 as interpreted by the Zohar and Bchaya.

[ix] The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Likutei Sichos Vol 36, pages 153-160