Rabbi's Drash

Emor

( Speak ) rma

5769

Vayikra (Leviticus) 21:1-24:23
 

Parashat Emor follows with a code of laws for those already sanctified, the Priests. The parashah proceeds with regulations pertaining to the sanctuary service which we can call the "sanctified or appointed times-ha Moedim"; beginning with the Shabbat followed by the other 6 festivals Pesach, Rishonim Bikkurim, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth. These times are designated as holy gatherings "moedei Adonai mikraei kodesh" sdq yarkm yy ydewm (Lev. 23:4). Next we read the instructions concerning service, associated with two of the furnishings of the Tabernacle, kindling of the menorah, and the procedures for preparing the bread. After that we come to the narrative of the blasphemer; from which excerpt I will make my drash for this parashah. Let us look at the question - "who is a Jew?" from the perspective of rabbinical Judaism as opposed to Biblical Judaism. It is of interest to note that in the Tanach it is very clear that Jewishness comes from the father. We have multiple examples of that; from the beginning G-d's revelation teaches us about the G-d of our fathers, Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Interestingly we never saw the phrase, the G-d of our mothers, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. This last phrase is of course a rabbinical addition to justify the position that Jewishness comes through the mother and not the father. As a matter of observation, when the Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel there was a halachic concern by the rabbis about their Jewishness because it was understood that the Ethiopian Jews did not follow this ordinance from the Talmud. The same situation arose in respect to the Karaite sect who does not accept the "Sheveh al Peh" or Oral Torah as a source of doctrine. This has created an abundance of writings and explanations by the rabbis about whom of our people are really Jews. For example, to begin with, our forefathers did not have what we call Jewish mothers. They became Jewish simply through marriage with those "chosen" as Jews, in this case, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Also we have the same problem with Judah's descendant born though Tamar…the twins through whom the seed of King David would come. Tamar was considered a Canaanite even though our sages try hard to disprove this fact. Another is the case of Joseph who married Osnat the daughter of Potiphera the Egyptian Priest who of course was not Jewish, even though our sages go to great lengths to try to prove that she was the daughter of Dina, Jacob's daughter. If we continue on this line we will see that many of our great Jewish heroes have what I call a "dubious Jewish Maternal inheritance". The case most often spoken of is King David, his great grandmother being Ruth the Moabitess. Everyone knows that she was not a Jew. According to the Scriptures the Moabites were not well looked upon by Israel. Again however our sages try to stretch the Scriptures to prove their point of view -that Jewishness comes through the mother. Here we see Rabbinic Judaism also trying to equate the converted mother to the natural born Jewish mother. Even today in the case of the Cohen, if a child is born where the father is a Cohen and the mother is not, we say that the child is a Cohen. On the other hand, if the mother is a Cohen and the father is not, the child is not considered a Cohen. With this, I rest my case. What I am trying to show here is that for centuries, we have changed the Word of G-d replacing it with the traditions of man. In so doing, we have not only debilitated what a Jew is according to the Scriptures, but even worse, we have eliminated true Jews from being Jews, while accepting non-Jews as true Jews. This is the case we have at hand in this week's readings Leviticus 24:10, 11 which say "there came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian." A fight broke out in the camp between the son of an Israelite woman (half Israelite) and a certain Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman pronounced ha Shem (the Name) and blasphemed…" The Torah is not clear in all the details of this incident. We do not know when this event took place or why the son of the Israelite woman came out of his tent. We do not know why they were quarrelling. The Torah takes the trouble to specify that the blasphemer was the son of an Egyptian man. It looks as if this is a statement of marginal importance. The question is why mention the pedigree of the blasphemer when it is very obvious that this is not the main point of the act itself. What is interesting to note is that the Torah goes through the trouble of mentioning the name of the mother…"now his mother's name is Shulamit, daughter of Dibri of the tribe Dan."(Lev 24:12) Our teachers try to play and sometimes use derogatory terms against this Israelite woman. The point I am trying to make at this time is that it is obviously clear to see that at the time of the Torah Jewishness was from the father, not from the mother. This is only one of the many teachings in the Torah which show us one way while the rabbinic teachings try to change the course of events. I can add how the Tanach clearly teaches that Israel has been chosen to be a "priestly and holy nation" who was called to be a light to all the nations. In the Torah it is written over and over that when the ger, the foreigners becomes one of us, he needs to follow the same rules and regulations as the Jew. G-d did not give us the authority or the power to change His Word and to arbitrarily dispense certain absolutions for the keeping of his Word by certain groups of people. For example it is taught today by most Jews that Shabbat is only for Jewish people and that it is right for the goyim, even if they are Goyim Tsaddikim to desecrate the Shabbat because Shabbat is supposedly not part of the seven Noahic laws. It is interesting to know that they were deducted from the covenant that G-d made with Noah. When Yeshua was among us, he had a similar confrontation with the Perushim, the Pharisees. We specifically read in Matthew 15:1-9 about the Perushim applying their own traditions (halachah) to serve their own purposes and that Yeshua quoted Yesha'yahu 29:13 saying "these people honor me with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. Their reverence of me is worthless. The lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments." We are presently in a battle of religions whereby the doctrines or teachings of the religious leaders have invalidated the Word of G-d changing the meaning that G-d intended. This has created our manmade religions. Today the Messianic Movement is in search of its own identity and validity and sometimes in that desire they fall into the trap of allowing the teachings of man to guide instead the wisdom and revelation of G-d. Let us be careful that we do not follow man but that we follow G-d. Let us be like our Berean brethren (Acts 17) who rejoiced in searching the Scriptures through which they were able to see how great a G-d we serve and how He keeps His promises alive.    May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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