Rabbi Philip Weintraub
Congregation Agudas Israel
Parshat Emor
April 27, 2013
This week’s parsha, Emor, includes many commands from Gd to Moses to the people Israel. While they are on diverse topics, life and death unite them. Death opens and closes our parsha, yet festivals and celebrations are in between..
Our parsha opens:
1 The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin, 2 except for the relatives that are closest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; 3 also for a virgin sister, close to him because she has not married, for her he may defile himself. 4 But he shall not defile himself as a kinsman by marriage, and so profane himself.
5 They shall not shave smooth any part of their heads, or cut the side-growth of their beards, or make gashes in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the Lord's offerings by fire, the food of their God, and so must be holy.
It closes:
17 If anyone kills any human being, he shall be put to death. 18 One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it: life for life. 19 If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him. 21 One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the Lord am your God.
23 Moses spoke thus to the Israelites. And they took the blasphemer outside the camp and pelted him with stones. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
In between we have the festive calendar, the command to be joyous and celebrate the festivals. We are commanded not to work on the festivals, not to afflict ourselves, but so that we may have time to enjoy, to celebrate. If we are always connected to work, whether physically or mentally, we cannot truly celebrate. If we are always waiting for one more call at a birthday party or one more email at a romantic dinner, we are not truly experiencing the moment. To me, that is perhaps the greatest reason for the command not to work on the Sabbath and Festivals. The command is not to keep one from enjoying a freshly prepared, hot meal, but to keep anyone from being a slave in the kitchen or anywhere else.
Speaking of commands, I want to return to the commands around death. The opening of our parsha teaches us the laws of mourning, of the people who are so important to us, that we must stop everything we do, and focus on their loss. While the loss of any individual is difficult, the loss of a parent, a sibling, a child or a spouse is even more so. (Although not mentioned in this text explicitly, spouses are included in this category)
When we lose anyone in these categories, which unfortunately, is inevitable, we are commanded to stop our normal routines. We literally put our lives on pause. Ideally, the community rallies around us. They help us with our basic needs, so that we do not have to worry about them. Our homes are prepared, a special meal is prepared for after the funeral (as well as meals for the duration of shiva). Rather than leaving our homes and going to shul for minyan, the minyan comes to us. Together, in community, with at least nine others, we say our daily prayers and praise Gd. Even in the midst of tragedy, we remember that we were created for a reason, and even with the loss of the ones we love, our own purpose remains.
In recent months, we have seen the loss of too many old friends. When my grandmother passed away, I was overwhelmed with the support from this community. Every single night in Atlanta, food arrived from different places and different members of the shul. It was so appreciated, so appreciated. I pray that we can one day do that for ALL members. So thank you, but I challenge us to be even more proactive for those in need. Now a small tochecha, a small criticism, to those in mourning. Shiva is important. I know for some it is difficult to sit a full week, to have guests every night or every day, but we lose something when we sit only one or two days of shiva. Yes, it is overwhelming. Yes, for some, it can be irritating to have so many people over when they just want some time alone. If you need alone time, it’s perfectly acceptable to kick people out, but first you must allow them in. In Victorian England, mourning clothing had strict customs for extended periods of time. I’m not suggesting that we need to wear black for three years, but our holy customs can bring us some solace!
In this parsha, we do discover that the Cohen Gadol, the high priest’s duties were solely to Gd and the community. That individual was exempted from normal mourning, his duties were so important to the very survival of the community. Very few of us have jobs like that. Even if we are surgeons or accountants before tax time, we need at least a little time to process the loss of those dear to us.
Our parsha ends with the law that is sometimes called lex talionis, an eye for an eye. The sad thing in the modern world is that many who see the Bible as archaic or the “Old Testament” as brutal or harsh focus on these laws. By reading too literally, they miss the point of the laws entirely. What these laws are teaching is that we are all equal in the eyes of Gd. Rich or poor, prominent or not, we all have value. As such, even if the least of us are harmed by the greatest of us, they deserve fair and just treatment and compensation. In the rabbinic tradition, in the Jewish tradition, these laws were rarely, if ever, seen to be literal. Rather, our tradition teaches us that financial compensation was the norm, not physical compensation. Judaism teaches that vengeance and justice do not go together, but that true justice comes about through due process and the legal system.
How many of you watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart? I recently started watching again and was deeply moved by three segments that they showed recently. Two were discussing gun control and using the example of Australia. In previous years, Australia had numerous episodes of gun violence like we saw in Sandy Hook not long ago. To be precise, 13 gun massacres from 1978-1996. Since passing comprehensive gun reform in 1996, there have been exactly ZERO gun massacres in Australia. “Studies found a marked drop in gun-related homicides, down 59 percent, and a dramatic 65 percent drop in the rate of gun-related suicides, in the 10 years after the weapons crackdown.”
Speaking with former Australian Prime Minister Howard, as well as several conservative law makers who lost their seats, but were happy to make the political sacrifice for the greater good. This was shown in a major difference in perspective to American legislators who see success as re-election, rather than serving their citizens!
The third segment was about due process and our Constitution. Quoting FoxNews Anchors, they showed clips suggesting the removal/restriction/or ignoring aspects of the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Amendments. Regarding not just terrorists but also the rest of us citizens, Fox anchors had no problem establishing or limiting religion, allowing unreasonable searches and seizures, allowing double jeopardy, taking away due process, the right to counsel, and trial by jury, allowing cruel and unusual punishment and taking away rights that are not specificall enumerated in the Constitution. I would love to say they were consistent in supporting states rights (the 10th Amendment) but in disregarding the ninth, the tenth goes along with it. Guess which amendment they did support though? The Second Amendment! They said “it’s black and white, how can you limit it”--after systematically eradicating the rest of the Bill of Rights! Jon Stewart closed the segment with "Yes, it turns out there’s only one amendment in our Constitution’s pantheon that is exempt from statistical analysis or emotional freak-out-itude, and it is the Second. God help us if the muslims ever decide to form a well-regulated militia.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/jon-stewart-fox-news-shre_n_3153921.html
Concluding from our parsha, whatever your take on gun control, even for terrorists, due process and constitutional protections apply to all--even if we don’t like them!
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