{"id":55627,"date":"2019-05-16T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T09:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55627"},"modified":"2022-07-12T15:47:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T12:47:31","slug":"emor-holiness-and-frustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/emor-holiness-and-frustration\/","title":{"rendered":"Emor: Holiness and Frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[394,480,712],"acf":{"old_id":"55627","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1044","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Our collective future rests on how we treat others, which may be the central message of the Holiness Code","content":"

It is terrible to feel that no matter what you do, how hard you try, all forces are massed against you.\u00a0Nothing you do is right, or even good enough when you are frustrated. That’s the emotion portrayed here in the midst of the section of Leviticus called the Holiness Code, chapter 17:1-26:46 by Bible scholars.<\/p>\n

Why would the depiction of laws about priests and their sanctity (21:1-24), sacred offerings (22:1-33) and the timing and symbolism of holidays and the Sabbath (23:1-44) suddenly be interrupted with a narrative about the shocking behavior of an anonymous man, in chapter 24:10-16?<\/p>\n

What is the background for this behavior which ends with the son of an Israelite woman and\u00a0an Egyptian man fighting with a man of full Israelite descent and pronouncing a \u201cpiercing curse\u201d on God\u2019s name in blasphemy?<\/p>\n

The midrash provides one answer, with a certain emotional weight, that the language \u201cand he went out<\/em>\u201d (24:10) which opens the verse must mean he is coming from <\/em>somewhere.\u00a0Rashi’s suggestion is that he has come from the courtroom of Moses where he has been told that the law is that land is appointed according to the flag of the father, stated in Numbers 2:2.\u00a0There is no sanctioned place for him in the land, as only fathers have land to pass down and without an Israelite father, there is no possibility for inheritance.<\/p>\n

What is the correct reaction for this man to this irrevocable decision against him?\u00a0A piercing curse of God, so strong that everyone who hears the imprecation must participate in his stoning (24:13).\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wonder, had the news been delivered in a subtler way, along with giving the defendant a chance to express his feelings to the court, whether there could be a change to the ruling, the defendant might not have reacted so strongly and in a way so threatening to the community as whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another commentator, Hizkuni, says that if all Israel would keep two Sabbaths in a row, no nation would ever be able to rule over them. All Israel apparently had kept the Sabbath appropriately, but on the second Sabbath, this one came and profaned it (quoting Sifrei Shelach<\/em>, 113).<\/p>\n

Whenever difficult decisions have to be made, we must give opportunity to all those affected to express their feelings, and respect them; listening to another may change nothing tangible, but will allow the frustrated person some comfort and dignity. I see the frustration expressed by the expression of blasphemy as a failure of the community to enable him to attain a place in its midst and ultimately true redemption. Could it have been possible, hearing the man\u2019s concern, for the court to find an alternative solution, like allowing the man not to own land but to be a tenant farmer on land in the tribe of Dan?<\/p>\n

Our collective future rests on how we treat others, which may be the central message of the Holiness Code.\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78205,"id":78205,"title":"mic3-judge","filename":"mic3-judge.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mic3-judge.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/judge-the-judges\/mic3-judge\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"mic3-judge","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78204,"date":"2020-07-28 12:12:04","modified":"2023-09-23 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