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
