Thoughts on parashat Emor.
Another year goes by and we have parashat Emor again. At the end of this Torah portion we find the following story:
There came out among the Israelites a man whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the Name in blasphemy, and he was brought to Moses — now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan — and he was placed in custody, until the decision of יהוה should be made clear to them. And יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Take the blasphemer outside the camp; and let all who were within hearing lay their hands upon his head, and let the community leadership stone him. And to the Israelite people speak thus: Anyone who blasphemes God shall bear the guilt; and one who also pronounces the name יהוה shall be put to death. The community leadership shall stone that person; stranger or citizen — having thus pronounced the Name — shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:10-16)
This story, contained in just 6 verses, has at least a few themes that the rabbis have pondered over the centuries, such as the significance of the fact that this man was the son of an Egyptian. Had his father been an Israelite, would he have acted differently? And so on.
I study a dedicated Torah portion every week and I usually start right after Shabbat. Studying it I use various sources, including the ones online. Last Sunday I found in The Jerusalem Post a fresh d’var Torah by the known Rabbi David Wolpe from Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. I came across it probably because at this time of this year in Israel we read each successive Torah portion a week earlier than in the Diaspora, and it will be so until the end of the Book of Numbers. Let me quote some excerpts from it, for they will be the basis of our today’s reflections, not to mention that Rabbi Wolpe’s reflections are valuable in themselves:
In the Talmud, the rabbis posit that one who hears blasphemy should tear his garment. Then Rabbi Hiyya explains the true state of things: “One who hears a mention of God’s name in a blasphemous context nowadays is not obligated to make a tear, as if you do not say so, the entire garment will be full of tears (Sanhedrin 60a). In other words, blasphemy had become so common that marking it was impossible. Far from a rare breach that would incur death, it was rampant. […]
All of this reminds us that listening to objectionable speech and learning how to deal with it is part of the natural linguistic immune system. In the same way that letting kids play in dirty fields builds up their resistance, allowing words to range freely gives us a way to cope with words whose import we object to or even despise.
Thus, blasphemy could not (and cannot) be avoided, and presumably for this reason alle these drastic punishments were abolished. These are all very interesting observations and relevant today at the same time. As for the conclusions cited above, I agree with Rabbi Wolpe in 100%. However, his d’var Torah contains another interesting passage:
Abraham already questions God’s justice when told Sodom is to be destroyed: “Shall the judge of all the earth not do justice?” (Genesis 18:25). Blasphemy may have been interdicted, but the impulse to hurl indictments toward heaven found ways of expressing itself.
“To hurl indictments toward heaven” – I believe that Rabbi Wolpe caught here the psychological essence of blasphemy. Let us set aside God and theology for a moment and analyze it from a philosophical-existential point of view: we are talking about making some kind of accusations and throwing them towards objective reality. It is still understandable if behind our objective reality is an intelligent Creator who is able to hear such accusations or curses. However, things are even worse if there is no such Creator behind reality. Then throwing this kind of accusation will be a symptom of madness, mental illness, and certainly a poor spiritual and psychological condition of the man who throws such curses. It is at least a mental imbalance. This very often goes hand in hand with resentment, deep hatred towards the world and hatred towards others. As I mentioned in my reflection on parashat Emor and this topic a year ago: in the theological context of Judaism, blasphemy towards God is the same as blasphemy towards his image, man.
The question is then purely practical: what are we to do with people who throw such accusations? Can we, for example, allow people with such a psychological and spiritual condition to have power over us? What if they already have it?
Let me leave these questions unanswered. All we have to do is put them down, because, as I think, it adds to our understanding why the Torah, our ancient legal code, penalizes blasphemy so severely.
Shabbat shalom!
Menachem Mirski
link to Rabbi Wolpe’s sermon:
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/torah-portion/article-705945
This d’var Torah was commissioned by Beit Polska
– Union of Progressive Jewish Communities in Poland.
