Emor: When Right Feels Wrong: A Chillul Hashem in Our Eyes, a Kiddush Hashem in God’s

One morning at my Sunday school, the teacher said to us, "I'm going to leave the room and you can write whatever you want on the blackboard. Well, not anything. When it comes to profanity I'll let you say 'sucks.'" He left the room as he said and we wrote various things. After a few minutes the teacher returned and read a few of the phrases aloud. "School sucks." "Detention sucks" "The Green Bay Packers suck." Then he turned to the class and said, "No one here wrote God sucks. Someone in Pakistan essentially wrote God sucks as graffiti and he was just sentenced to death for something called blasphemy." This was the first time I had ever heard of this concept.

Pashas Emor has a few controversial topics. Along with the execution of a blasphemer at the end of the Torah portion, it also details a list of physical blemishes that will disqualify a kohein (a class of Jew that was selected to conduct the priestly duties) from serving in the Temple. Yet despite these difficult topics the theme of the parsha seems to revolve around the mitzvah to be a Kiddush Hashem and the prohibition of making a Chillul Hashem. To be a Kiddush Hashem is to sanctify God's Name publicly. So if a Jew, wearing a kippah, pulled over to help a stranded motorist or returned someone's stolen wallet they would not only be seen in a good light, they would help restore people's faith in God's miracles. A Chillul Hashem desecrates God's Name. So if a religious Jew were to be arrested for tax evasion or a Rabbi was convicted of any crime, it not only makes the Jewish people look bad, but makes the world regard God poorly or skeptically.

Ironically, from the view point of our "enlightened" sensibilities, it could be argued that these physical standards of the kohanim (the people who are meant to represent walking kiddish Hashems) is a Chillul Hashem. The kohanim have no control over their physical attributes. They can't control whether they develop cataracts or are born with a deformed foot. Our modern society has moved away from the notion that physical perfection deserves preferential treatment. It's the effort, the skill, and the determination that should determine success, not the superficial. And if there is anything that can look into someone's heart and intention to determine true worth, it would be God. The Jewish people have always concerned themselves with education, wisdom, and devotion. Why are the holiest subset of Jews being callously measured by prejudiced visual standards? From this light, it appears to be a Chillul Hashem.

Let's look at the blasphemer. He was a man whose mother was Jewish but his father was not. As the Jews traveled through the wilderness, they camped with their tribe. As we all know, Judaism is transferred through the mother. But tribal affiliation is transferred through the father. Since his father wasn't Jewish, when he tried to camp by the tribe his mother belonged to (the tribe of Dan), the Danites objected. They got into an argument and when the court ruled in favor of the Danites, the man, in frustration, cursed the Name of God. Also, from our modern sensibilities, one could argue that this man was exercising his freedom of speech, questioning the dogma which quite literally didn't have a place for him. He was speaking out against his own injustice. Why should that be punished? Is God's ego so fragile He can't stand to be insulted? So that mentality could say the man was perfectly righteous, and that he had to be executed is a Chillul Hashem.

The reason why our modern sensibilities find these ideas so offensive is that freedom of expression and right to pursue what we want is held sacred in our culture. What we do should matter, not who we are. But our connection to Hashem is a relationship, not a democratic vote. In relationships, we have to consider what is important to the other party, even if it appears illogical to us. If our spouse demands the car gets refilled before the gas tank is half empty, or the garbage is taken out at a certain time instead of when it is full... that's what it means to be in a relationship. Setting aside what we want because it is important to our partner causes us to grow beyond ourselves.

Soon after all the blemishes are detailed for the kohanim, the blemishes that disqualify a sacrifice are listed. This is because the kohanim themselves were sacrifices, so to speak. Today the most beautiful and charismatic among us are movie stars and fashion models. There's a reason most of our society spends their leisure time watching them! That beauty was meant to inspire us as we marveled at the sanctity and service of the Temple. It was a combination of the deep and superficial. Which is exactly what this world is meant to be, an elevating of the mundane into holiness.

There was nothing wrong with the man who argued for his place to camp. Unfortunately the reality is, we can't always get what we want and many times it's for reasons that are unfair and out of our control. The true measure of our merit is what we do at that point. According to the Talmud, what constitutes blasphemy is for someone to utter the ineffable four letter name of God saying, "that Name should bless (I'm using a euphemism) that Name." In essence, they're not just insulting Hashem, they're saying in the most powerful way possible that the whole system should be burned down. To take the grievance that far means it isn't based on righting injustice, it is a profound degree of self centered anger. It's the same spirit of destruction found in the Komsa bar Komsa story we read on Tisha B'Av. If I can’t have what I want, no one should!

The highest level of a Kiddush Hashem is to give one's life as a martyr. Unlike other religions, in Judaism dying as a martyr is a matter of last resort. In fact, we are commanded to transgress almost all mitzvahs if it is a life or death situation. But for someone to die saving the lives of others, or to sacrifice their life rather than deny God and praise corruption and injustice (avodah zara,) it is the prime example of being in an unfair situation and meeting it with honor and devotion.

There's nothing wrong with wanting greatness and working to overcome the obstacles that tell you you're not good enough. But that is not the highest merit. The realm of holiness means that you are serving something greater than yourself. You may not get to serve that greatness as you envisioned, but that doesn't mean you can't do amazing and possibly more important things where God places you. As Rabbi Masya ben Charash says in Pirkei Avos 4:20, "It is better to be the tail of lions than to be the head of foxes."

The blasphemer wanted justice and belonging, but he let his rage destroy instead of elevate. The kohanim, limited by blemishes they didn’t choose, were still part of a system where even disqualification could serve something holy. In a world obsessed with fairness, Judaism makes no guarantees of fairness. Instead, it holds that being true to your values and a light of positivity in the most unfair circumstances, that’s the Kiddush Hashem. Not in being perfect, but in being a mentch when it’s the hardest.

This article is from my weekly Torah blog.

posted 6 days ago

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