So what to do when empowerment leads to another kind of enslavement? Imprisoned in power, on the hand, and now, on the other, deathly afraid of any crack in that power. If you let your power guard down the cycle of violence and atrocity, which you suffered and now continue, might roll over you in the wrong direction. Let others suffering. We’ve had enough.

Orthodoxy of every sort is closets full mode. I’m referring primarily to the sexual stuff, though hiding sexual orientation is only a drop in the sex bucket. Closets full has a much more extensive geography than the sexual geography of any institution or culture. Hiding corruption and disguising it as faith is an art form. There isn’t much light between the ideological fudging that has been so richly documented and religion that is so easily seen as hypocrisy.

Some years ago, after making our way through the terminals that regulated entry into Ramallah, my son Aaron and I stood at Apartheid Wall. With my arm around his shoulder, I said to him – “This is the end of Jewish history.” His reply – “It’s unjust, Dad, wrong. We have to bring the Wall down.” Generational difference. I carry so much Holocaust/Israel baggage. Baggage surrounded by mourning. Aaron doesn’t have any time for that. Let’s get on with the task at hand.

All religious systems seek to stabilize the inherently unstable religion they profess. Harken back to the Presbyterian’s multi-billion dollar portfolio. In and of itself a scandalous stability in relation to the scriptures Christians embrace and then – hands off! – the Presbyterians themselves can’t touch 99% of it. They are not even allowed to decide to make unstable the stability they have accumulated! What if striving for Jewish stability is inherently unstable or instability is the Jewish form of stability?

Exile and the Prophetic: Prophet Gray.