One of the great tensions of Judaism is between the conservation of past conventions and embracing innovative progress. This week, we find astounding evidence of this tension. Deuteronomy 23:4 clearly states that no Ammonite or Moabite “shall be admitted in the community of Israel; not their descendants—even in the tenth generation, shall ever be admitted into the community of God.”
This is a pretty intense comment! The disdain for Amon and Moab is longstanding, beginning at the end of Genesis 19. And yet, even within the TaNaKh, we see a vastly progressive view of Moabites in the Book of Ruth. Ruth, as we know, is a Moabite woman who many see as the paradigm of conversion to Judaism. She takes on the ways and traditions of her mother-in-law, only to become the great-grandmother of King David (not nearly ten generations).
Judaism is both rigid and flexible. We build fences to protect important and central ideas, but those fences should have gates to provide access. Those gates should have locks to ensure the integrity of those ideas, and those locks need keys, too. You who engage with these traditions, by navigating these sacred tensions, hold the key to these gates and to these ideas. Like Rabbi Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility.”