Racism Here and There

Parashat Emor 5775/9 May 2015

At the conclusion of the recapitulation of the laws of the festivals contained in Parshat Emor that you spoke about this morning Leo, there follows a section of Torah which the Etz Hayim Commentary calls: “A Collection of Laws” for lack of an obvious alternative way of describing them. With all due respect, that is a lazy way out. In fact, the entire edifice of Jewish literature requires us to assume that there is a connection between and among the most disparate of texts and for good reason. Whether we believe the author of the Torah to be Divine or human, someone put the texts together and it is certainly reasonable to assume that there was a reason.

In that spirit, then, I turn our attention to chapter 24 of Leviticus, a difficult and potentially disturbing series of laws.

It starts out innocently enough. The first four verses contain the commandment to make sure that the fuel for the lights to be lit outside of the tabernacle be derived from only the purest olive oil available. The next four verses continue unremarkably to further command that the bread to be placed opposite the alter be of the finest flour and the incense composed of the finest ingredients.

Then the plot thickens. Suddenly there is a dissension – a fight breaks out between a pure Israelite and a mixed parentage Israelite. As a result of this fight – whatever it was about – the Israelite of mixed parentage blasphemes. He presumably uses the name of God in vain.

There follows a process of determining what the punishment for such an offense should be and we learn that God requires that he be stoned to death.
However, before the sentence is carried out, Moses adds first, that this law is the same for Israelites and non-Israelites as is the law for anyone who kills a human being and one who kills an animal – whatever the penalty is it should be applied equally to Israelite and non-Israelite in keeping with the fairness doctrine implied in the familiar adage “an eye for an eye,” etc. And then the sentence is carried out.

What is the meaning of this sequence of laws, especially following the detailed description of the festival cycle.

The key, it seems to me, is the Israelite of mixed parentage. He is a foil, if you will, to make a much more important point. Not, as it is often suggested, to indicate that such a person is either more prone to fighting or more prone to blaspheming. On the contrary, after a detailed presentation of the ways the festivals must be observed, after stressing how much trouble we should go to make sure the olive oil and the flour should be pure, we need to be taught in no uncertain terms that the same concern does not apply to the justice required in the case of human beings. No person is more “pure” than another.

That not because of his parentage but in spite of it, this person must suffer the same death penalty as any other Israelite. The laws of purity in the ritual sphere should not carry over to the realm of human relations where every citizen must be treated fairly, and the same. We might quibble over what constitutes blasphemy and whether it should carry the penalty of death. But without a doubt, whatever the penalty the Israelite, the Israelite of mixed parentage, and the non-Israelite are subject to the same justice.

Does this seem obvious? I spoke last week about the fact that it isn’t obvious to African-Americans in our country (and those remarks are available on our website) and we learned this week that it isn’t obvious to Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

I’ll apply some of the same questions I raised last week. Can Israel afford to marginalize a potentially contributing segment of its Jewish population? Can it afford to marginalize a potentially contributing segment of its Arab population and remain a democracy? Can Jews from the Soviet Union forget what it was like to be persecuted so quickly? Or Hasidim and Hareidim whose parents and grandparents escaped from Europe? And can American Jews with their own complicity with the structural racism here, influence the structure of Israeli society. Just as I suggested that we can make a difference here through the electoral process, I believe we still have some leverage in Israel by making sure the institutions we support there are actively committed to being part of the changes necessary to insure the equality before the law that Parshat Emor teaches.

Tags: Emor, Justice