Leviticus Cycle 6 Emor

Emor

Human Dignity

Sometimes we read a parashah and the subjects seem so disparate that we scratch our heads in wonder. We can either think that someone made a strange mistake or that there’s a reason for this. Since God is in Torah and Torah is in God however (and do I really need a citation for this?) I personally feel compelled to inspect the over-arching theme of this parasha Emor. I honor our Talmudic rabbis who emphasize the spiritual theme of inter-connections. 

Let’s put it this way: When we listen to music (for example) do we focus more on the words or the rhythm? The logical meaning or the intuitive guttural over powering connective beat? Certainly we value both.  One is not one without the other. Therefore, in order to understand the shocking scene with the blasphemer we may be wise to also look at the thematic rhythm within the parashah itself.

First though what is the blasphemer? In short, the blasphemer is the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man. He has a fight with an Israelite man, expresses the name of God, and after much thought…in other words…after taking the situation to Moses who takes the situation to God… and after the incarceration of the blasphemer during that time frame…the blasphemer is stoned to death. Anyone in the community who heard his words is to place his or her hands on the head of the blasphemer and then the whole community stones him. 

In Sanhedrin, the rabbis discuss the blasphemer in the next breath that they discuss fatal and non fatal injuries. The situation of the blasphemer in other words is sandwiched within a discussion of some of the worst actions possible (murder for example). Clearly the old rhyme “sticks and stones will break my bones…” is not applicable here.  Taking God’s name in vein is seen on a similar vein as murder. Rabbi Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, says this about the duty to honor God (in speech as well as behavior): When the duty to honor God is conceived of in an enlightened manner it raises…the worth of all creatures. But crude conception…degrades the dignity of all beings….It is for this reason the sages declared that the dignity of persons is so important that it supersedes a negative precept of the Torah (Ber.19b). 

In other words, when we bring God down we bring ourselves down. We begin to see ourselves as objects. We become imposters to ourselves and even to God. We place ourselves in denial. Therefore if we are to choose between paying attention to a negative commandment and keeping our dignity we keep our dignity. What does this have to do with the blasphemer? The loss of dignity caused by his words slam-down the community in such a way that we have to go to great lengths…even concerning the precepts of Torah…to heal it. 

So, we think, maybe this isn’t about killing really but healing ourselves once we have been fake with ourselves, in denial, idols in our hearts. Maybe killing is really a metaphor. By killing the source of the threat to our dignity after all we re-breathe God into our lungs and exhale out idolatry.  So then, killing isn’t literal at all. It’s metaphoric, used to really emphasize a point. Is Torah saying we kill blasphemers? I think it is saying we are to stop anything that makes us impure, that causes us to objectify ourselves or each other. 

Moving on, let’s now look at other places where in this parashah, through our very self-deception and denial, we force the life and light out of our intimacy with God, where we trample on that life, where we trample on the use of time to lift that life.

Note: No wonder a whole section on our holidays is right here in Emor. This is what we want to cling to…this conception of transmission and honor, this series of exquisite and powerful offerings of our divine sparks.

We trample on life when we hide behind soul-illnesses. We don’t want to bring our pretentions to God, whether spiritual or emotional. We don’t want to bring our animals if they show any signs of our own tendency to be fake in our love for each other or for holiness. 

We don’t want to be near any pretense of life that isn’t life, any being that could look alive from a  distance but is really dead, any corpse at all, physical or spiritual, sad or hopeful, rising up or lying down… if we are to approach God.  Finally, we can’t approach God if we are nothing but soul-imposters, zombies, walking dead, if we are so attached to our political correctness that we can’t see beyond our egos.

Oh, soon it will be time to throw aside our aching interpretations of a myopic literal Torah. Maybe one day we will see that literal Torah is, even itself, a denial of the very soul that we are commanded to honor. Oh, one day may we see the love and power in our rising sparks as we yes, rise beyond all dichotomies and idolatry, rise beyond all denial and refusal, rise beyond all victimization and rejection of the very words that are so real in their sharpness. My we celebrate and love and honor each other whatever our physical challenges and inner conflicts…whatever our back stories and tragedies…whatever our personal struggles and travels…and not confuse our human story with the eternal truth of Emor.

May we guard our dignity and present ourselves in all our purest soul-forms to the Holy One.