Emor: Why Judaism Punishes Converts
The ending of this parashah has bothered me for years. Thanks to Sforno, Shadal, and Assyriology, I think I finally have an answer - one which sheds light on the Torah's radical stance towards gerim.
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Emor: Why Judaism Punishes Converts
Parashas Emor concludes with the incident of the blasphemer: “The son of an Israelite woman – and he was the son of an Egyptian man – went out among the Children of Israel; they fought in the camp, the son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man. The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the Name and blasphemed” (Vayikra 24:10-11). Rashi (ad loc.) informs us that this “son of an Egyptian man” was a ger (convert). The ger is detained until Moshe Rabbeinu can inquire about his punishment. Hashem instructs Moshe to tell Bnei Yisrael the following:
Any man who will blaspheme his God shall bear his sin; and one who pronounces blasphemously the Name of Hashem shall be put to death: the entire assembly shall surely stone him; ger and ezrach (native) alike, when he blasphemes the Name, he shall be put to death. If a man strikes mortally any human life, he shall be put to death. A man who strikes mortally an animal life shall make restitution, a life for a life. If a man inflicts a wound in his fellow, as he did, so shall be done to him: a break for a break, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; just as he will have inflicted a wound on a person, so shall be inflicted upon him. One who strikes an animal shall make restitution, but one who strikes a person shall be put to death. There shall be one law for you, it shall be for the ger and ezrach alike, for I, Hashem, am your God.
Why are these tort laws repeated here? Not only are they out of place in this context, but they’re out of place in Vayikra as a whole! Wasn’t it enough to state them the first time in Parashas Mishpatim, where they belong?
Sforno (Vayikra 24:10-24) addresses this narrative discontinuity. He notes that Hashem says: “ger and ezrach alike” to emphasize that “the punishment of this blasphemer now (i.e. in this particular incident) is not because he is a ger, for this law also applies equally to the ezrach.” Apparently, Bnei Yisrael would have assumed that this ger deserved death because he is a ger, whereas an ezrach would receive a lighter punishment. Sforno goes on to explain that the purpose of this tort recap is to teach Bnei Yisrael that “if the same evil action is done to different objects, the penalty will differ based on the difference between the objects.” The act of killing warrants a death penalty when done to a man but only incurs monetary recompense when done to an animal. The act of wounding deserves reciprocal bodily punishment (which we translate into five categories of monetary payment, due to our inability to apply lex talionis with precision) but wounding an animal only necessitates a minimal payment. The same is true here: one who curses a fellow Jew with a divine Name is only liable for lashes, but is liable for death when his curse is directed at Hashem – not because such a curse affects Hashem, Who is above all influence, and certainly not because the perpetrator is a ger, but because the act of blasphemy, itself, is an evil action.
Shadal (ad loc.) takes a similar approach, but with an emphasis on the ger as a victim rather than as a criminal:
After prescribing the death penalty for the blasphemer, who was the son of an Egyptian, the Torah makes it known that one who strikes any human being, even a ger, should be put to death, for the ger is not to be thought of as if he were a beast. Rather, “One who strikes an animal shall make restitution, but one who strikes a person shall be put to death.” So too, “If a man inflicts a wound etc.” And the section closes with, “for the ger and ezrach alike.”
Why is this discourse on the administration of justice to gerim necessary? Because the Torah was radical in its insistence upon equality under the law, as Assyriologist Dr. Ilan Peled writes:
Ancient Near Eastern law … takes into account social differences: if the victim is of inferior social class, the sanction was usually lessened … Torah law and ancient Near Eastern law exhibit different attitudes to morality and social issues: the Torah’s laws, as here, often break from ancient Near Eastern legal tradition by treating all people equally, regardless of social status. (The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel: Leviticus, p.182)
Judaism’s advocacy of tzedakah (righteousness) and chesed (kindness) for the ger rests upon the foundation of its revolutionary insistence on mishpat (justice) for and against the ger, without which, true equality is impossible.
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