Letter versus spirit of language can lead to confusion, hurt

It's only 9:45 p.m., but this new grandmother of twins is so tired. So, in a minute I will head to bed, until one of the babies wakes. But I must spend a minute on this ...

An interesting issue arose while I was looking at Facebook today. Most of my friends know that I am a convert to Judaism, and that I have never claimed (nor aspire to be) a scholar.

So, when I ran across an article which talks about how offensive it is to Jews to refer to someone, insultingly, as a "Pharisee," that surprised me.

Obviously, I grew up knowing the Christian interpretation of that word, which is to say someone who had forgotten or did not care about the true meaning of their religion. Rules rather than spirit. Hypocrites.

I've been a Jew for 38 years, and I did not know until today that the term "Pharisee" includes the ancient rabbis who wrote the Talmud, and who developed rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Temple.

So, I can see that some Jews might take the use of that word as an offense, or even as anti-Semitic.

It reminds me, though, of when I used the word "articulate" last year to refer to a black woman whom I admired.

After the meeting in which I used that word, a kind black woman told me that she knew my heart was in the right place, but that using the word "articulate" to refer to a black person is offensive. I was amazed, and after I returned home, privately messaged a woman who is a very old friend, and who is black. She agreed. Offensive.

Now that I know that, I will not use that word again, of course.

But I have to say that when I think of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg using the word "Pharisee" to refer to Mike Pence, I am in total agreement with him. He means someone who uses the "letter" of his own religious interpretation to be uncaring, harmful, restrictive to others, instead of remembering that compassion and kindness are the great symbols of true religion.

When someone decides that their interpretation, or their religion's interpretation of scripture should apply to others who do not share that religion, or that interpretation, that is harmful. That is hypocritical if the highest value is compassion. And though I am a Jew and not a Christian, I am pretty sure that compassion was the message that Jesus was trying to get across.

And we who live in Indiana know exactly how compassionate the narrow religion of Mike Pence is. Not only did he proudly sign a bill which would have enabled people to legally discriminate against the LGBTQ population and thus hurt many people, but in doing so he lost business and conventions that Indiana would have had. The result was millions of dollars in lost revenue to our state, let alone the humiliation of having to apologize for the backwardness of Indiana to anyone outside the state. And the worst — the fear and emotional harm to so many LGBTQ people.

Although I hope that Buttigieg does not use the word "Pharisee" to make his point in the future — because I would not want one vote to be lost for a man who seems to be a symbol of intelligence and hope — I think we should take the approach that my black friend did when I unknowingly said something that offended her, and that is to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think his heart's in the right place.

https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Pete-Buttigieg-keeps-calling-Mike-Pence-a-Pharisee-586874?fbclid=IwAR3OaRI8vDkub2qocmTPdC7m_lTHZeCtF5HdseQREy2Qyc-zQMI2XEL4R8c