Yoni Bock and Ron Kaplan, two Orthodox Jewish men, recently married each other in a ceremony officiated by Stephen Greenberg, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi: it’s an historic first! And God did not strike them down. Instead, two men’s loving union was blessed both by the District of Columbia and by a God they and their courageous rabbi choose to believe smiles upon loving couples.
Sniff! Congratulations, Yoni and Ron, from Truth Wins Out. To those members of the Orthodox community who have given over their consciences entirely to one particular exclusivist interpretation of the Torah (their comments are in painful evidence at The Jewish Week’s mention of the wedding), and who state that Rabbi Greenberg is not an Orthodox rabbi despite having been ordained as one, some words from Martin Luther King, Jr., that seem apropos even though no one is calling for Greenberg’s imprisonment.
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
