A new face at the Knesset and why it does matter
On December 27, a new MP has sworn in at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. He is a member of the Likud party. This means that a large number of Israeli voters (and Likud members) had voted for Amir Ohana, they wanted him to enter the Parliament as their MP.
Not a minor matter, because Amir Ohana is gay. He is indeed the first openly gay MP in Israel, quite a remarkable fact in itself.
Throughout the Middle East, members of the LGBT community are persecuted and tortured: which means stoning in Saudi Arabia, lashing in Iran, death penalty in Qatar and so on. That is the situation, with the partial exception of Jordan. And certainly in the territories administrated by the Palestinian National Authority. For a gay person, being born on one side or another of the Israeli border can make the difference between life and death. Literally.
Given that this is the situation, one may wonder why making such a big fuss about an Israeli MP which happens to be, also, a gay MP. It should be just obvious. But I think is remarkable because -and this is reason number two- Amir Ohana belongs to the Likud.
Now, for those who are not familiar with Israeli politics, I need to remind that the Likud party performs extremely well among the Mizrahim, Jews of Middle Eastern heritage. Ever since the 70s, such an Ashkenazi leadership has been able to attract voters immigrated from Morocco, Algeria, and Irak. Elections after elections, ballot after ballot, the Mizrahi voters re-affirm their loyalty to the Likud. If you wander in the stronghold of Mizrahi culture, which is the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem (for my wife is also the best market in the world, and who am I to argue) you’ll see the portrait of Menachem Begin or some other Likud leaders, next to that of some Rabbi from Yemen or Morocco.
Amir Ohana himself, the first openly gay Israeli MP, comes from that background, as he said emotionally in the opening of his maiden speech “I am here as the son of Meir and Esther Ohana, who immigrated from Morocco to build a country”
Now think to this for a moment. The culture of North African Jews is definitively not gay friendly. On the contrary, in that kind of a world you are expected to marry quite early.
But something must have happened, over the last decades. Many Mizrahi Jews trust, and have voted for an MP who is openly gay and lives with his partner. A few years ago, it would have been unimaginable; now it’s just part of political life.
The superstitious, backwards, tribal, chauvinistic, patriarchal, someone even says “Fascists”, voters of Likud are now proud to count a gay MP in their midst. Some monumental change has happened in that Middle Eastern culture, something that clearly did not happen in the Muslim Middle Eastern culture, or in the Arab world if you wish.
I cannot define what has happened. I am not a sociologist; although I suspect many sociologists and academics prefer not to take note of a positive change happening in Israel or in the Jewish world. They pay attention to this part of the world only when there is bad news, or when they find a way to portray Judaism in a negative light.
As I said, I am not an academic, I am just a Rabbi. But I suspect that the increased acceptance of the LGBT community in the Mizrahi society has something to do with Judaism. In other words, these Middle Eastern Jews have managed to become welcoming, and homophobia is less a problem for them. While still, it is for Middle Eastern Muslims and Christian. And that is because the Middle Eastern Jews are, what a surprise, traditional Jews.
Because Judaism is a religion, or if you prefer culture, able to adapt and evolve, to keep its boundaries and not to change its identity and its core values. To provide its members, that is all of us, with a wonderful and rewarding sense of collective belonging and in the same time to include literally all the members of the tribe regardless personal details such as the colour of the skin and the sexual inclination.
That is the wonderful strength of being Jewish.
2 February 2016