America’s first out orthodox rabbi hit the nail on the holy head this weekend in Ohio. Speaking at Ohio State University’s St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church yesterday, Rabbi Steven Greenberg told the congregation that they should not take the Bible as “God’s word”. Rather, it’s up to everyone to interpret the good book for themselves:

[Greenberg] wasn’t saying that the Bible is not the revealed word of God. But according to Jewish tradition, he said, God gave that word to man and entrusted him to decipher it.

“No one can say, ‘It says in the Scripture,’ to ground any policy,” Greenberg said. “All we can say is, ‘My community says this.’ ”

After his sermon, he said it’s important for people who use the Bible to support their agendas to claim personal responsibility for their interpretation.

“God has not hidden a single divine intent in any verse that my rabbi or your pastor understands,” he said. “Instead, there are many meanings, and it is our job to figure out what they mean to our community.”

Damn right!