This week’s Torah portion, Emor
(Lev. 21:1-24:23) sets out with a series of laws governing the priests,
continues with a calendar of the festivals and concludes with a brief
compendium of laws and with the recounting of one odd incident.
The book of Leviticus does not
contain a lot of narrative, but in chapter 24:10-16, we are told of a man whose
mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian. This man got into a fight with an Israelite
in the camp and the son of the Israelite woman and Egyptian man blasphemed by
pronouncing God’s unspeakable Name. The
blasphemer’s name is not given but his mother was Shlomit the daughter of Dibri
of the tribe of Dan. He is taken into custody and Moses inquires of God what to
do with him. God tells Moses that the
punishment for pronouncing the Holy Name is death by stoning, and ends with
these words: “You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike; for I
the Lord am your God.” (Lev. 24:22) Moses relays God’s decree to the people of Israel
and they take the blasphemer out of the camp and stone him to death.
What is the point of this story? If it is simply that a blasphemer is to be
punished by death, why accentuate this offender’s mixed heritage? If it is that the same law applies to the
citizen and sojourner, why mention the fight between the blasphemer and the
other Israelite? Is this man considered an
Israelite, or a foreigner? And isn’t it
interesting that he utters the Holy Name, but his own name is not given, only
his mother’s and grandfather’s?
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