{"id":52,"date":"2009-05-09T20:22:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-09T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/homeshuling\/2009\/05\/dvar-torah-parshat-emor.html"},"modified":"2009-05-09T20:22:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-09T20:22:00","slug":"dvar-torah-parshat-emor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/homeshuling\/2009\/05\/dvar-torah-parshat-emor.html","title":{"rendered":"Dvar Torah – Parshat Emor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, it’s last week’s parhsa. So stone me. I delivered the dvar torah in shul this morning, while our Rabbi is on sabbatical.
\nThis week\u2019s Torah portion consists of a long a list of important laws about the Priesthood, the tabernacle, and sacred festivals. Tucked into the last aliyah,\u00a0 is a short story about a man who blasphemes God. Unsure how to deal with the blasphemer, or the \u201cm\u2019kallel<\/em>\u201d, the Israelites put him into custody and wait for God to announce out an appropriate punishment. God decrees that the mkallel<\/em> should be taken out of the camp and stoned by the entire community.
\nThis story bears remarkable similarity to a passage that appears later in the Torah, in the book of Numbers, when a man is found gathering sticks on Shabbat. In that story, the offender is also held in custody while the community awaits God\u2019s decree. The same punishment is meted out \u2013\u00a0 he is to be taken out of the camp and stoned.
\nThere\u2019s a striking difference between the two stories, other than the crime itself. In the latter story, the stick collector is identified only as \u201ca man.\u201d\u00a0 In our parsha, the Torah includes two several very specific details about the identity of the offender. I\u2019d like to look at these details and consider what the Torah might be teaching us by their inclusion.
\nLet\u2019s read the introduction:
\nNow the son of an Israelite woman went out \u2013 he was also the son of an Egyptian man \u2013 amid the Children of Israel; and they scuffled in the camp, the son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man. Now the son of the Israelite woman reviled HASHEM the Name and insulted it, so they brought him to Moshe \u2013 now the name of his mother was Shlomit daughter of Divri (to speak), of the tribe of Dan.
\nWhat two distinguishing facts do we know about the blasphemer? We know that he has mixed ancestry, and we know the name of his mother, Shlomit bat Divri. Since the Torah is generally so sparse with details, the Rabbis understand that each of these pieces of information must be central to the story.
\nAccording to several different midrashim, the fact that he was the son of the Egyptian was integral to his crime. Let\u2019s look at an excerpt from Rashi to read one of these midrashim.
\nHe \u201cwent out<\/strong>\u201d of Moses\u2019 tribunal [with a] guilty [verdict. How so?] He had come to pitch his tent within the encampment of the tribe of Dan. So [this tribe] said to him, \u201cWhat right do you have to be here?\u201d Said he, \u201cI am of the descendants of Dan,\u201d (claiming lineage through his mother, who was from the tribe of Dan). They said to him, \u201c[But Scripture states (Num. 2:2): \u2018The children of Israel shall encamp] each man by his grouping according to the insignias of his father\u2019s household,\u2019\u201d [thereby refuting his maternal claim]. He entered Moses\u2019 tribunal [where his case was tried], and came out guilty. Then, he arose and blasphemed.
\nIn other words, he comes to set up his tent with his mother\u2019s tribe. They reject him, saying that Jewish law demands that he camp with his father\u2019s tribe. Of course, his father, an Egyptian has no tribe. So in essence, he is told \u2013 you don\u2019t belong here. \u00a0You aren\u2019t really one of us. He takes the case to Moses, who backs up the tribe. So what does the m\u2019kallel <\/em>do?
\n\u201cand he pronounced\u201d<\/strong> – he pronounced the ineffable Divine Name and cursed. This [Name that must not be pronounced] was the explicit [four-letter] Divine Name that this man had heard from [the revelation at Mount] Sinai.
\nWhen this Jew who participated in the Exodus and stood with his people at Sinai, is told he doesn\u2019t belong, he demonstrates his incredibly deep sense of betrayal. He takes the most profound symbol of his Jewish identity \u2013 the secret name of God that he heard at Sinai \u2013 and throws it in the garbage.
\nWe learn from this parsha that when a Jew who considers himself part of the people is turned away by his community, the results can be devastating, both for him, and for the community as a whole. We\u2019ll get back to this lesson in a little bit. But let\u2019s look at the other piece of information we know about the m\u2019kallel.
\n\u201cNow his mother\u2019s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan<\/strong>,\u201d because this son was a disgrace to his mother, to his family and to his tribe (Lev. Rabbah<\/em> 32:5).
\nImmediately after the sin, the Torah gives the name of the mother, the grandfather, and the Tribe, as if to say, all of these people are to blame. So, while the reaction of the community may have prompted his anger and his sense of betrayal, deep down, the Jewish parent, and even the Jewish grandparent and extended family, did not do enough to insure a love of God and a loyalty to Jewish law. Perhaps the Torah is telling us that the family of a child of mixed ancestry has a unique and even greater responsibility than a parent who is partnered with another Jew. Perhaps this child needs an even stronger foothold in Jewish tradition, because of the challenges that s\/he may face later in life.
\nThere are many midrashim explaining the origin of the union of the m\u2019kallel<\/em>\u2019s parents. Commentators agree that it was not an intermarriage, but that Shlomit Bat Divri was married to Jewish man and had relations with an Egyptian taskmaster, either willingly, through trickery, or through force, depending on the midrash. Nevertheless, I think this parsha offers an important lesson about intermarriage – that children of mixed ancestry are in a uniquely precarious position vis a vis their connection to Judaism.
\nIndeed, if we look at the source of the prohibition on intermarriage in the Torah, we see that the primary reason is the risk that these children will not carry on Jewish tradition.\u00a0Knowing this, we might wish to consider the question – \u201cWhat can we do to prevent intermarriage?\u201d After all, isn\u2019t that the best way to ensure Jewish continuity? As someone who was raised in a committed Jewish home, attended day school and Jewish camps, lived in Israel, and studied in yeshiva as a young adult, but found my basherte in a French Canadian who was raised Roman Catholic, I recognize that there is probably very little we can do to prevent intermarriage.\u00a0I think a more productive question is – in light of the prevalence of intermarriage, how can we make sure that children of mixed marriages do not have the experience of the m\u2019kallel<\/em>\u2013 and instead \u2013 how can we actually welcome and draw these children in to the community?
\n\u00a0The Torah names Shlomit Bat Divri \u2013 the only woman mentioned by name in the entire book of Leviticus, to remind us that the primary responsibility lies with the Jewish parent. In our family, we\u2019ve approached this challenge by raising our daughters exclusively within the Jewish religion. I provide my daughters with a trove of Jewish experiences in the home and community, and I\u2019ve sought out the very best Jewish education available to them.
\nYet, what we see clearly from the parsha is \u2013 even the most powerful Jewish experiences and education are not enough. How the community does, or does not welcome these children, is equally fundamental. To what degree do we make these offspring feel welcome and embraced, rather than telling them to pitch their tent elsewhere?
\nYou might be thinking \u2013 who would ever turn away a child, especially the chid of a Jewish mother, who is halachically Jewish? I want to suggest that we have to go deeper. We need to consider how do we treat the non-Jewish parent and partner – even before the birth of children. Because what I\u2019ve learned from my\u00a0 own experience is that how the non-Jewish spouse is treated deeply impacts that Jewish child and the Jewish path the family takes.
\nI\u2019m happy to say that our experiences in both Ashland Oregon, where we set up our first home, and in Northampton have been overwhelmingly positive. My husband Keith is made to feel welcome in ways that are both big\u2013 that he could participate on the bimah in our daughters\u2019 baby namings\u00a0 – and small \u2013 that no one ever asks his last name and says \u201cLEPINE? What an \u2018interesting\u2019 name.\u201d In retrospect, I\u2019m now also struck by the incredible grace of the families I taught at Solomon Schechter 7 years ago, who allowed their children to attend and sing at my wedding. These gestures have been so potent for me and for Keith\u2013 your welcoming of him has made it so much easier for me to make the Jewish community an integral part of our family\u2019s, and most importantly, our children\u2019s lives.
\nIntermarriage is a force to be reckoned with in contemporary American Jewish life. It touches every one of us in this room, whether we ourselves are intermarried, our children, our family members, or our fellow congregants. While we may disagree on many aspects of the issue, I think we can all agree that we do not want to produce a generation of \u201cm\u2019kallel\u201ds. We are at a critical time in American Jewish history \u2013 we have an opportunity to be strengthened our shattered \u2013 and each of us can make a difference in the outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, it’s last week’s parhsa. So stone me. I delivered the dvar torah in shul this morning, while our Rabbi is on sabbatical. This week\u2019s Torah portion consists of a long a list of important laws about the Priesthood, the tabernacle, and sacred festivals. Tucked into the last aliyah,\u00a0 is a short story about a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nDvar Torah - Parshat Emor - Homeshuling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/homeshuling\/2009\/05\/dvar-torah-parshat-emor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dvar Torah - Parshat Emor - Homeshuling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, it’s last week’s parhsa. So stone me. 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