by Jill Maidhof
Ecclesiastes has it right—there really is nothing new under the sun. Last week my group was discussing the 6th diber (“statement,” commonly translated as “commandment”) described in the Aseret: The Big Ten curriculum, Do Not Murder. We were all clear about the sin of putting a gun to someone’s head, but what about suicide? Euthanasia? Abortion? Stand Your Ground? The texts inspired a lively exploration drawing on ancient Jewish wisdom, rabbinic statements made in our own lifetimes, newspaper headlines from the day before and thoughts that popped into our heads.
The only answer we came up with was “It depends,” as we learned that even within the same generation, even within the same branch of Judaism, there was no consensus about the correct course of action. Just as in the Talmud, the opinions of disparate voices were respected.
It occurs to me that other groups reading this diber may not have talked about these subjects at all, instead exploring what’s meant by nurturing life, or focusing on lashon hara, “evil tongue” as a way to “kill” a person. That’s the beauty of a curriculum that not only allows but invites groups to follow their own interests, and a small group setting where people feel safe to steer the conversation in a direction that the facilitator may not have anticipated.
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