Give the Girl a Break!

A professor at Yeshiva University left two years ago as a man - and returned last week as a woman (see story here). As described on Wikipedia, the school is a private Jewish university in New York City...(whose) programs operate according to the Modern Orthodox Judaism philosophy of Torah Umadda — meaning "Torah combined with secular studies").

That alone does not warrant the story making this blog. What struck me was this quote from the article:

"He's not a woman. He's a male with enlarged breasts," said Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a senior dean at Yeshiva's rabbinical school and a professor of biology and medical ethics. "He's a person who represents a kind of amorality which runs counter to everything Yeshiva University stands for. There is just no leeway in Jewish law for a transsexual.

"There is no niche where he can hide out as a female without being in massive violation of Torah law, Torah ethics and Torah morality."

As usual, a religious fundamentalist is using religion to justify bigotry and prejudice, which in turn can foment hatred, even if that is not the intention. And it is not a misinterpretation of biblical texts that allows these closed-minded lunkheads to squeeze this insight out of religious teachings. In believing that these antiquated texts are the word of God, they are applying Iron Age values to 21st Century society. And yet, many of their more moderate co-religionists believe them to be wise and learned.

They are neither!

I have a lot more respect for reform and secularized religious leaders who reinterpret age-old scriptures and traditions in a modern and enlightened context. I may disagree with many of their supernatural claims and beliefs, but I share their values, which is what ultimately drives behavior. But it is the responsibility of moderate religious leaders to publicly denounce ignorant comments by insane fundamentalists. While the road from bigoted religious leader to the murderous psychopath he inspires is clearly visible in the Muslim Middle East, it is by no means restricted to Islam. Remember, Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel, was murdered by an orthodox Jewish Israeli, Yigal Amir, in 1995.

I should add, however, that I would not object on legal grounds if Yeshiva University were to succeed in firing this professor. From a libertarian standpoint, a private business should be able to hire and fire its employees on any basis it chooses, and I completely agree with this viewpoint. I also believe that the free market should decide if this behavior by a business - in this case a University - is acceptable. If its customers - the students - don't support its policies, the school will lose revenue in the form of tuition dollars.

A restaurant that refused to serve blacks would go out of business in a hearbeat, if this policy were legal. In the case of Yeshiva University, however, the majority of students might agree that this professor doesn't belong on the teaching staff. In that case, the professor needs to teach where his/her lifestyle is welcomed. (I must point out that from a libertarian standpoint, the free market should only have this role in the private sector. The government - and all public institutions - should not and cannot discriminate on any basis in a free society.)