Can we do תפילות prayers for:
AZAMRA?
So that through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?Shalom dear friend
For the coming weeks until Shabbat 19 May a different Torah portion will be read in the Diaspora from the portion read in Israel. On Shabbat 5 May, those in the Diaspora will read the double Parshah of ACHAREY MOT and KEDOSHIM, while in Israel we will read EMOR. Readers in Israel, please scroll down this email for the commentary on EMOR.
With love from Jerusalem!
Avraham
UNIVERSAL TORAH: ACHAREI MOS
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: Parshas ACHAREI MOS, Leviticus 16:1-18:30
AFTER THE DEATH OF AARON'S TWO SONS
Our parshah, ACHAREI MOS, introduces the account of the awesome service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, by noting that this parshah was given to Moses AFTER -- in the light of -- the death of Aaron's two sons when they offered "strange fire" inside the Sanctuary.
Nadav and Avihu wanted to redeem the entire world and bring it to G-d in an instant -- but they themselves were consumed by G-d's jealous fire. Their endeavor was in the realm of excess. There is an evil in the world that cannot be redeemed: it's only redemption lies in being smashed and destroyed forever (just as TUM'AH, ritual impurity, leaves a clay vessel only when it is broken).
At the center of the High Priest's service on Yom Kippur lies the profound mystery of the GORAL. This was the "lottery" by which one of a pair of identical goats was chosen to be the holy sacrificial offering whose blood would atone for Israel in the Holy of Holies. The other was taken to a remote mountain-crag and cast down to AZAZEL, the Devil, being quickly broken to pieces on the mountainside. This mitzvah is numbered by the Rabbis together with the purification from defilement from the dead through the ashes of the Red Heifer as among those incomprehensible CHUKIM, "statutes" at which the nations and the evil inclination scoff.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov once put the question in a graphic form: "In the Purim play, why should one person be chosen to play Mordechai the Jew and live, while another plays Haman and gets hung?"
There is no satisfactory answer to the deepest questions of destiny in this world: it is simply not given to the eyes of flesh and blood to understand why this one is given one role in life and that one another. There is a heavenly MAZAL at work that brings about the GORAL, "fate". What our parshah tells us is that we are free to choose our path in the world, and that following G-d's commandments guarantees us life.
"And you shall guard my statutes and my laws which, when a man -- HA-ADAM -- does them, he shall LIVE through them, I AM HASHEM" (Leviticus 18:5).
The SIFRA DEVEY RAV, the oldest rabbinic midrashic commentary on Leviticus, goes to some lengths in commenting on this verse to emphasize that this applies to all mankind. "It does not say 'which, when a Cohen or Levi or Israelite does them' but 'when a MAN -- HaAdam -- does them', including a GOY". Incidentally, this is the exact Hebrew word there. While many gentiles find the word Goy offensive, it should not cause offence. It is simply the standard rabbinic term for one who was not born an Israelite -- "gentile" is the Latin equivalent. In the comment quoted here, the Rabbis were EMPHASIZING that the Torah path is the universal path, open to Goy, Israelite, Levite and Cohen, as long as they are willing to follow it in truth.
Only one person can play the role of the High Priest. Thus when studying the portions dealing with the High Priest's Yom Kippur service, we are onlookers at the ritual. Yet there is also a deep personal message for us. We study this parshah at this time of the year, as we proceed on the fifty-day SEFIRAS HA-OMER count towards our annual peak, the Giving of the Torah on the forthcoming festival of SHAVUOS. The season of Counting the Omer is a time for reflection on who we are and what we are trying to achieve. The High Priest's entry into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur is a lesson to us to appoint special times for seclusion in order to enter into the personal sanctuary that we must reserve within the depths of our own hearts for true encounter with self and with G-d. One of the best facilitators of this encounter with self and with G-d is the Sweet Singer of Israel, King David. It is customary to give particular emphasis to recital of the Psalms during the Sefirah period, for the psalms are conducive to healing, repentance, atonement and LIFE.
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The account of the High Priest's Yom Kippur service is followed by a number of commandments establishing the centrality of the Sanctuary in the G-dly service of the community. The prohibition of animal sacrifices outside the Sanctuary, and later, outside the Temple in Jerusalem, forbids each person building his own personal Temple and Altar, whether literally or in the form of pride and self-worship. There is only one place for a literal animal offering. That is Mount Moriah, where Abraham bound Isaac and where Jacob saw the SULAM, the ladder of ascent, that is SINAI (SULAM and SINAI have the same gematria.) After the wandering in the Wilderness, the final resting place of the Shechinah for all time is in Yerushalayim, Ir HaKodesh, in the Temple on Mount Moriah.
Among the commandments relating to the slaughter of animals is the severe prohibition against eating blood, which is one of the fundamentals of our daily dietary code. The Shechitah method of slaughter ensures that the vital blood of the animal, strictly forbidden for consumption, is shed at the time of slaughter. The removal of the veins of the animal by the butcher and subsequent salting of the meat according to ritual law ensure the removal of the blood from the meat. This is necessary because an animal spirit resides in the blood. If this blood is consumed by man, he falls from his level and is overcome by an animal spirit. The laws of Kashrus are the very foundation of a diet that ensures that we have a human spirit, and that we think and behave like Bney Adam.
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THE LAWS OF FAMILY PURITY
The third and concluding section of the parshah, which contains the above-quoted verse, "he shall LIVE through them", lays out the basic family law of the Torah, including the fundamental laws of incest and the various forbidden relationships, including mother and son, father and daughter, brother and sister, adultery, forbidden intercourse during monthly period, prohibition of homosexuality, bestiality, etc.
In more innocent times, some people were taught that certain forms of behavior are fundamentally WRONG. The various incest laws of the Torah, which are the Holy root of this code, can be seen in clear letters in our Parshah. But anyone who ventures outside the holy camp of the Torah to observe the "wider" world (such as dating services, Internet chat-rooms, etc.) can rapidly discover that those interested in any or all of the above prohibitions and perversions can quickly get fully involved in a whole world where they are all freely available. What Internet has begun to reveal appears to be only the tip of the iceberg of the actual behavior of a very large part of the human population. Even in Israel vociferous secularists are openly identified with the reformist line that the fundamental statutes governing human relationships may be freely broken. This is precisely what leads to the breakdown of basic human norms that we witness all around the world today in the name of "freedom" and "liberation".
This is no liberation. The only freedom and life are those promised by the Torah: "And you shall guard My statutes and My laws which when a man will do them, he will live through them, I am HaShem."
The law of Shabbos and the fundamental laws of the code laid down in our parshah are the foundation of the family life which is the basis for the rearing of a new generation -- our children and our children's children. We are all bound to know the basic laws, and if our paths in life bring us to places where these laws are infringed, we must be properly forewarned. It is most important to teach children with sensitivity how they must take care of themselves against strangers and even with friends and close relatives.
The best ways for Jews and Bney Yisrael, Bney Bris, members of the Covenant of G-d, to maintain health and life is through strengthening ourselves with our families and good friends. This is accomplished when we bond together, as we did on Pesach. Now, after Pesach, we carry through the holiness attained during the festival into the days of the year as we Count the Omer -- count the days and learn to value each day, day after day. During the long summer days, we must make time to study G-d's laws, the laws that bring LIFE, celebrating the Shabbas, the Day of Life. Fathers and sons should take time to study G-d's Torah together regularly, and so mothers and daughters.
If all Israel would keep two consecutive Shabboses, they would be redeemed.
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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UNIVERSAL TORAH: KEDOSHIM
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: Parshas KEDOSHIM, Leviticus 19:1-20:27
BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY
This week's parshah, KEDOSHIM TIHYU, "Be holy.", was specifically addressed by G-d through His prophet Moses "to all of the assembly of the Children of Israel" (Leviticus 19:2). In the words of the Midrash: "This parshah was addressed to all of the assembly because most of the main bodies of Torah law depend upon it. 'Be holy' -- be pure (PERUSHIM), separate from the world's vanities. 'For Holy am I, HaShem your G-d': This teaches that if you sanctify yourselves, I consider it as if you had sanctified Me. And if you do not sanctify yourselves, I consider it as if you have not sanctified Me. Could it mean that if you sanctify Me then I am sanctified but if not, then I am not sanctified? No - because it says, '.for I am Holy' -- I am in My holiness whether they sanctify me or not." (Sifra, Kedoshim 1:1).
The code of conduct whose foundations are laid forth in the present parshah gives practical expression to the challenge addressed to the Children of Israel when they assembled at Sinai to receive the Torah. "If you will surely listen to My voice and guard My covenant, you shall be a precious treasure out of all the nations, for the whole earth is Mine. And you shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a HOLY NATION: these are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:5-6).
Following the account of the Giving of the Torah in YITRO, parshas MISHPATIM laid down many of the basic laws governing man's behavior with his fellows including the prohibitions of murder, robbery and theft, the laws of restitution for damages, etc. Many of the laws in MISHPATIM are somewhat specialist in the sense that they apply particularly to Dayanim, Torah judges.
However the code laid forth in the present parshah, KEDOSHIM applies to everyone, as it is the basic Torah code for everyday life, starting with the respect due to parents and the observance of the holy Shabbos -- which overrides even the former, should any conflict arise.
The next Mitzvah in the parshah -- to eat sacrificial portions within their appointed time -- cannot unfortunately be observed today in the absence of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. However, it is worth noting that correct timing is an important part of G-d's code. Things should be done at their appointed time and not dragged on until all the taste goes out of them. The entire Oral Torah begins with an extensive discussion about the exact time for reciting the evening Shema (Berachos, Chapter 1). It is unfortunate that at times SJT ("Standard Jewish Time") strays somewhat widely from precision timing. Every moment in life should be treasured, and people's time should not be wasted for no reason.
The Mitzvos that follow in our parshah are those of giving gifts of produce to the poor, and of basic integrity: "Do not steal, do not deceive and do not lie to one another. Don't impound your friend's money, don't delay payment for services rendered. Don't unjustly favor either the poor or the rich. don't hate your brother in your heart, give due reproof, do not take vengeance or nurse a grievance against the children of your people, and love your friend as yourself, for I am HaShem".
The code of Holiness contained in our parshah is not one that requires its followers to separate from the material world and live apart in ascetic communities such as in monasteries and the like. On the contrary, true KEDUSHAH comes to a person precisely through living his or her life with family, friends and associates, within the wider community and in the workaday world. Making a living within the boundaries of the halachah, taking into account the needs of the needy, dealing correctly in business, abstaining from all theft and corruption, from hatred, vengeance, etc. etc. It is precisely through keeping these commandments in our everyday material lives, while actually dealing with all that we have to deal with each day, that we become purer.
This "purity" is the KEDUSHAH, the "holiness" which is the defining attribute of the path of life set forth in our parshah. In mystical writings, KEDUSHAH is particularly associated with the mental and spiritual faculties of CHOCHMAH, BINAH and DA'AS, while the very foundation for their healthy functioning is the purity of YESOD, moral purity.
In giving us a code of "holiness" that governs the way we do business with one another, how we talk to and about one another, as well as so many other details in our lives in the world, the Torah is teaching us to constantly activate our CHOCHMAH, BINAH and DA'AS powers in everyday life. In the words of the Baal Shem Tov, "An everyday barter exchange also involves the Talmudic law of 'exchanging an ox for a donkey'." In other words, everything we do, including in our business lives, is a G-d-given opportunity for discovering buried "sparks" of holiness within the very situations that confront us. We need to activate our minds to recognize the holy potential contained within everyday affairs. Nothing is more evanescent than today: the day is quickly gone. But if we are alert to the mitzvahs we can perform every day, particularly in the realm of "love your friend as yourself" -- which includes all forms of kindness -- we gather great treasures day by day, all of them stored in G-d's memory, where nothing is forgotten.
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THE FOUNDATION
As mentioned above, the spiritual traits of CHOCHMAH, BINAH and DA'AT -- the ability to perceive G-dliness and to grasp the divine wisdom -- are bound up with YESOD, the "Foundation" -- sexual purity. This is the subject of the latter part of this week's parshah. Thus the Torah Code of Holiness in daily life -- KEDOSHIM -- comes "sandwiched" between the concluding part of the previous parshah, giving the fundamental incest prohibitions, and the concluding part of this week's parshah, setting forth the penalties for their infringement. This underlines the fact that the true KEDUSHAH depends upon observance of the Torah moral code.
A fundamental principle of Torah law is that wherever a punishment is laid down, the prohibition is also explicitly stated in the Torah. This explains why the incest prohibitions in KEDOSHIM appear to duplicate those at the end of ACHAREY MOS. In fact, there is no duplication: the laws of ACHAREY MOS state the prohibitions, while the laws of KEDOSHIM state the penalties for their infringement.
At the head of the list of forbidden practices is the giving of seed to Molech (Lev. 20:3). This is explained as a form of idolatry assumed by many to be defunct today in which a father would give over some of his children to be walked by priests through fire as a form of initiation and consecration.
Actual Molech-worship within the technical parameters of the term may or may not be defunct, yet there are indications that various kinds of rituals involving children including pedophilia and actual Satan-worship are practiced in this day and age in many different places in the world. For example, in Australia, a woman who won a national award for championing victims of childhood sexual abuse is now reporting a major cover-up of pedophiliac-Satanic activities in the country involving leading politicians, media and business interests, the police and the underworld.
What innocent parents may not realize when they submit their children to television, video, magazines and the other communications media of contemporary society is that they may also be exposing those children to a kind of Molech-worship. Thus most secular TV and other media show images of the uncovered human form, many unashamedly erotic, without the slightest compunction. Today images of the uncovered form are so universal that few people can remember the world of a mere fifty years ago, when indecency was still considered shocking.
With all this suggestion and blatant eroticism around them, it is hardly surprising that many teenagers growing up in a secular environment are deeply obsessed with their bodies and their sexuality. The place of the body, sexuality and romance in the mind of many teenage girls, for example, can be seen from a quick survey of the literature they read. What the popular literature does not spell out is the personal pain and agony of so many helpless victims of this culture and their problems of depression, anorexia, substance abuse, thoughts of suicide, etc.
For parents who seek to bring up children who will become and remain true Israelites all their lives, there is no option today but to actively seek out ways of separating them culturally from the secular mainstream. Ideally, the purest environment for young Jewish souls to grow up in is one that is Television-Free from the youngest age. It is of great importance to protect children for as long as possible from the assault on their consciousness by the unhealthy images and sounds of the contemporary secular media. Only with the power of deep inner conviction together with imaginative educational methods is it possible to fire young people with the zeal for the Torah that alone can immunize them from the evil influences of the prevalent culture which sooner or later they will have to face for themselves.
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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UNIVERSAL TORAH: EMOR
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: Parshas EMOR, Leviticus 21:1-24:23
SAY TO THE PRIESTS
As discussed in Universal Torah #20 TETZAVEH, the Torah conception of the priests and their relationship with the people is radically different from the conception of the priesthood in other traditions. The Cohen of the Torah does not absolve the Israelite of his obligation to forge his own personal relationship with G-d. The Cohen is not an intermediary who performs mysterious rituals that magically guarantee that all will be well for the ignorant worshipper who stands by watching.
In many religions, the priests held or hold a monopoly on religious knowledge, often actually discouraging the pursuit of such knowledge by the masses, whose very ignorance is necessary in order for the priest to maintain his position.
By contrast, the Holy Torah was given as a fountain of truth and wisdom to Israel and to all others who want to drink its waters. The entire people of Israel is intended to be a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation: the goal is for each Israelite to develop, build and cultivate his or her own bond with G-d in every detail of life. How can we do this? We need to learn how to do it. For this reason, pride of place in the Torah tradition goes to the sage and teacher, because he is the one who can tell us how to do this. Even a MAMZER TALMID CHACHAM (an outstanding sage who is of illegitimate birth) takes precedence over the High Priest!
In our present parshah of EMOR, which is largely taken up with laws specifically relating to the priests, we see that Moses was commanded to instruct not only the priests themselves in these laws but also the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel are not to be excluded from all knowledge and understanding of the priesthood. On the contrary, they too are to study the laws relating to the priests. This is because the Israelites, as a kingdom of priests, have to have a model to learn from. The Cohanim are a kingdom within a kingdom. The Cohanim are to be to the Israelite what the Israelites are to be to the world.
The Temple is G-d's palace on earth: a center-point for all the world to see, in order to contemplate the profundity of the message it contains and thereby to draw closer to the King. Everything about the Temple is about coming closer to G-d, particularly the KORBAN ("sacrifice", from the Hebrew world KAROV, "close"). The entire Temple services center upon the sacrificial rites: the daily animal, grain, wine and incense offerings, the lighting of the Candelabrum, and so on. Like life in a royal court, life in the Temple was a spectacle. This was particularly so for the Israelite who brought a personal KORBAN, be it a SHLAMIM ("Peace") offering, or an OLAH and particularly a CHATAS - sin-offering.
The animal is substituted for the person to undergo the slaughter, flaying, cutting and burning the sinner really deserves. (Those who worry about the alleged cruelty to the animal should first go and complain about the millions of animals daily slaughtered all over the world, often with great cruelty, as "sacrifices" for the gratification of men's selfish lusts. To understand the meaning of the KORBONOS, we must be willing to think of the Temple as it actually was and will be, not try to adapt it to man-made moral "standards".)
The SEFER HACHINUCH (explaining the meaning of the 613 commandments) discusses the sacrificial rituals at length in Mitzvah #95: Building the Temple. The ceremony consisted of various stages: SEMICHAH (the penitent's laying on of hands on the animal's head), SHECHITAH, the slaughter of the animal, KABALAH, collecting of its blood and sprinkling it on the altar, the flaying and cutting of the carcass, salting of the meat, the burning of the altar portions and eating by the priests of their share. The SEFER HACHINUCH explains in detail how the different stages of this unsettling and even shocking ceremony all communicated an unforgettable lesson to the penitent about how man must bring his animal side under control. We are to learn how to "slaughter" and elevate our animality by devoting our energies to G-d's service and thereby burning our fat on His altar. (See also Nachmanides' commentary on Leviticus 1:8).
The priests in the Temple, who conducted these ceremonies, were actors in a drama that was calculated to awaken people and induce them think and repent rather than to hypnotize them with hocus-pocus. The role of the priest was as a facilitator, enabling people to understand the lesson for themselves.
Carrying the obligation to serve as ministers in the House and Court of G-d, the priests are a nation set apart, and are subject to an even more stringent code than the Israelites, as laid out in our parshah of EMOR. They are not allowed to defile themselves for the dead except in the case of their closest relatives. They are strictly forbidden to blemish their own bodies. They are not allowed to marry a divorcee or a woman who has been involved in a relationship tainted by immorality, etc. The Cohanim are to be a completely pure breed, fit to serve as G-d's ministers on earth. The true Cohen is to be an exemplar in his very life of the elevated purity to which every Israelite should aspire, each according to his or her level.
The ultimate exemplar is to be the COHEN GADOL ("high priest"). Although the COHEN GADOL appears in costumes that are most gorgeous by the standares of this world, he must remain completely separated from this world. This is because his task is to keep our eyes focussed upon G-d's world. Thus the COHEN GADOL is not allowed to defile himself with the dead even in the case of his closest relatives. For in G-d's world, there is no death but only life.
Everything about the Temple is designed to lift us up above the often tawdry world around us and to teach us how to draw closer to the underlying reality of G-d. For this reason, the Temple must be a place of the imposing splendor and beauty. Everything must be in the best repair. Not a flagstone must be loose nor an altar stone chipped. The vessels must be the finest gold and silver. And so too, the ministers themselves must be people of pleasing looks. Our parshah details the physical blemishes that disqualify a priest from participating in the Temple service itself (though not from eating sacrificial portions). The parshah also details the blemishes that disqualify an animal from being offered as a KORBAN. Everything offered to G-d has to be the very finest and most beautiful. So too, we must seek to beautify our offerings of prayers, our mitzvot and acts of kindness, and take care that they should not be blemished.
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THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR
The calling of the COHANIM was very exalted. The separation and purity demanded of them is not required of the Israelites, who on the contrary are required to be involved in the world -- farming, manufacturing, selling and buying, raising families, etc. As discussed in the commentary on the previous parshah, KEDOSHIM, it is precisely through bringing every area of our actual lives under the wing of the Torah that we attain holiness.
Only the Cohen Gadol is to remain within the Temple precincts or in his nearby home in Jerusalem all the time. The people are to be throughout the country, going about their lives. For the Israelite, the relationship of G-d is one of "running and returning": "running" in the sense of regularly rising above the mundane to make a deeper connection with the underlying reality of G-d, but then "returning", in the sense of going back to grappling with everyday reality.
The Torah appointed a rhythm of weekly, monthly and seasonal MO'ADIM, "appointed times", whereby the Israelites rise above the mundane and restore and strengthen their connection with the divine. Our parshah is one of several in the Torah (Ex. ch. 23; Numbers ch. 23; Deut. ch. 16) that set forth the cycle of festivals and their associated practices, each with its own particular focuses.
In our parshah (Leviticus ch. 23) one of the main themes that runs through the account of the various festivals and their associated Temple practices is that of drawing ecological balance and agricultural blessing into the world. During the ALIYAH LE-REGEL -- the foot-pilgrimage to the Temple on Pesach, Shavuos and Succos -- the Israelites would leave the work of making a living and tilling the ground in order to participate in ceremonies whose purpose was to bless that work with G-dliness. Pesach, and Shavuos are particularly bound up with grain, which is man's staple food. The Matzahs eaten on Pesach may be made from one of the five kinds of grain. On the second day of Pesach, at the beginning of the grain harvesting season, an Omer measure is to be brought from the newly-ripened barley crop. During the coming weeks, while the wheat-harvesting is going on, the Sefirah count directs our minds forward to Shavuos, when a "new grain offering", the first wheat offering from the new crop -- two loaves of leavened bread -- was brought.
The observances of Succos are particularly bound up with the water-cycle. The four species of Esrog (citron), Lulav (palm branch), Hadass (myrtle) and Arovos (willow branches) all require ample water. Succos comes after the hot, dry summer of Eretz Israel, prior to what should be the rainy season. We take these four species in our hands and pour out our hearts like water in thanks and praise, hinting to our heavenly Father how totally depend we are on His blessings and mercy.
The chapter in our present parshah of EMOR relating to the festival cycle leads us in the direction of next week's parshah, BEHAR, which sets forth the commandments relating to the cycles of Sabbatical and Jubilee years, which are also bound up with agriculture, ecological balance and reverence for the earth.
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HIDDEN CYCLES
Besides the cycles of festivals and Sabbaticals that give time its rhythm, the world is also governed by cycles that are often not apparent, because one generation does not know what happened in previous generations and therefore cannot understand how what happens today is cyclically rooted in what happened earlier.
To understand the incident of the MEGADEF ("blasphemer") in the closing section of our parshah (Leviticus 24:10ff), it is necessary to understand that "the son of the Israelite woman who was the son of an Egyptian man" was in fact the issue of an illicit relationship. Our rabbis teach that Shulamis Bas Divri was the wife of the Israelite whom Moses saw being beaten by an Egyptian the first time he went out to visit his brothers. The Egyptian would daily drive the Israelite out of his home and send him to his labors, thereafter going in to his wife. (See Rashi on Lev. 24:10 and on Exodus 2:11).
There is a deep counterpoint in the positioning of this episode in parshas EMOR, which centers on the special purity demanded of the priests. Shulamis Bas Divri is the exemplar of the opposite: immorality. While the holiness of the priesthood requires separation and the making of distinctions between pure and impure, fine and blemished, she sought to erase distinctions, greeting everyone with a naive "Peace be upon you, peace be upon you". As if friendly chatter is enough to turn evil into good. It was Shulamis Bas Divri's endeavor to erase distinctions that laid her open to the immoral relationship which led to the birth of the blasphemer. The latter, however, discovered that, whether you like it or not, this IS a world of distinctions. While the blasphemer was an Israelite through his mother, he had no tribal affiliation, since this comes only through the father. Accordingly the blasphemer had no place in the Israelite camp.
Contemporary political correctness will cry out in the voice of Shulamis Bas Divri that he should have been given a place -- isn't it unfair that he should be excluded because of a quirk of birth? Endless similar questions can be asked about other commandments in our parshah. Why should a blemished priest not be allowed to serve in the Temple? Why should a divorcee not be allowed to marry a priest? etc. etc.
Rashi brings a midrash that the blasphemer "went out" (Lev. 24:10) in the sense that he departed from the Torah: he mocked the idea that the Sanctuary Show-Bread (subject of the preceding section), which was eaten by the priests when it was nine days old, was a fitting institution in the Sanctuary of the King (Rashi ad loc.). The blasphemer could not accept G-d's Torah the way it is. He wanted to adapt the Torah fit his own personal views.
There was a way that even the blasphemer could have found his place. As quoted at the outset, even a MAMZER TALMID CHOCHOM has precedence over the High Priest. If the blasphemer had been willing to submit himself to G-d and accept the position G-d put him in, he could have been saved. But he was not willing to submit and instead he opened his mouth and poured out a torrent of abuse.
Over sixty years previous to this, when Moses saw this man's father striking Shulamis Bas Divri's husband, Moses knew that there was no potential. "And he looked here and there and he saw that there was no man [that no man would come forth from him to convert, Rashi] and he struck the Egyptian" (Ex. 2:12). The rabbis taught that Moses "struck" him by invoking the Name of HaShem. It was precisely this name that the son of the Egyptian's illicit relationship blasphemed. Prior to the Giving of the Torah, Moses inflicted instant justice on the father. However, after the Giving of the Torah, Moses was subject to the Torah like everyone else and he had to wait to hear from G-d how to deal with the blaspheming son.
The account of the punishment of the blasphemer includes related laws of punishments for killing and the damages that must be paid for inflicting injury to humans and animals. The cycles of crime and its penalties and payments revolve from generation to generation, but this is not apparent to the onlooker who sees only the here and now and does not understand what was before and what will come afterwards.
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Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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