Cantor Confidential

Randi Buckley

Shabbat HaGadol Saturday, March 24, 2018 1. At heart is the question: what place should guns have in our culture? In our self-conception? This is not a new question. The Mishnah raises this question in the context of figuring out the religio-legal boundaries of the Shabbat. May one carry weapons on Shabbat from private to public domain? The Rabbis differ. One Rabbi, Eliezer, says that weapons are a man’s adornments. (“Man’s adornment” is intentional, the rabbis see weapons as gendered male.   This too is reflected in current discourse. Men are overwhelmingly the shooters.  Women, in domestic disputes, are overwhelmingly the victims of intimate gun violence.) “Sages,” the collective voice of the rest of the rabbis push back, saying that “they are nothing but shame,” and then, as a proof text, quoting this famous verse from Isaiah 2: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: a nation shall not lift up sword against

My refrigerator needs a solid Pesach cleaning. So does my stove and my pantries. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.  Bring on the excuses: it's too much, I'm tired, I want to sit and watch more repeats of Law and Order: SVU.  But I know that I'll feel virtuous and delighted with myself with every completed task.  Fine. Deep breath. Change into comfy clothes and head to the refrigerator.