Vayikra 21:1 – 24:24
Our parsha this week is Emor, another parsha with much to wrestle. The first two chapters are directed to the priesthood. It has rules regarding defilement regarding proximity to the dead. He cannot be near the dead, even in his clan, save the loss of a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or virgin sister. As public figures, they must be role models of dealing with grief and loss, balancing personal sorrow with their commitment to serve the people and the obligation to accept death as part of Hashem’s plan. Other rules apply over shaving practices, who they can or cannot marry, and punishment for a daughter who engages in harlotry. They must not bare their heads (an early grief expression) or rend their vestments. They must not go out of the sanctuary, even for the funerals of close relatives. No member of kohanim who has a defect can offer food to Hashem, including one who is blind, lame, a limb too short or too long, with broken arm or leg, a hunchback or dwarf, growth in the eye, a boil scar or scurvy, or crushed testes. A defective priest cannot officiate, but he is not denied his benefits by virtue of their priestly class. Finally, it defines who can eat of sacred donations, plus more on purity, accepting sacrifices and the associated criteria.
Chapter 23 then is the calendar of sacred festivals in Biblical times. It begins with Shabbat, then Passover, offering of first harvest, counting 49 days, then the fiftieth day beginning Shavuot. In the seventh month, what later became Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and then Sukkot. Rosh Hashanah is first mentioned by name in Ezekiel 40:1. Chapter 24 speaks of oil for the menorah, the bread of presentation for Shabbat. Midrash Leviticus Rabba pictures Hashem saying “As you shine your light on Me (teaching the world about Me), I will shine my light on you (making you special among nations.)” Finally, we finish regarding punishment for blasphemy and the proverbial eye for eye passage. Within the camp, one punishment for citizen and stranger alike.
Like Jews since the very beginning, I must wrestle with passages in Torah. Here there are two, one of which I will speak today. First, I find the eye for eye to be problematic, though it finds its expression over the centuries. But the one I want to talk about today is the concept of someone with a defect, i.e., disabled prohibited from being a temple functionary. As someone who wrestles life being in a wheelchair, these passages are disturbing to my sensibilities.
Oh I get it. Just as animals with defects or blemishes are disallowed for sacrifice, so those who present food to Hashem are directed to be the same. It’s folded into a pattern of what ritual purity is supposed to be. However, I find myself in disagreement with Hashem on this. The Rabbis of medieval times are of no help here, rather defining in rather bizarre ways how each disabling feature was to be explained. It all mirrors an attitude towards disability that both demeans and diminishes those who do not fit their image of what a full human can be.
But is there another way of looking at this? Robert Unger in a dvar came across something that offered another perspective. According to William Herlands for the Bronfman Fellowship, he suggests that in ancient Israel, people rarely entered within the Temple confines. The High Priests worked behind a veil of holiness, invisible to all but Hashem, interacting with pilgrims only on holidays when sacrifices were brought. Some Kohanim interacted with lay people in towns where they received regular tithes of fruit and bread, taught lessons, and educated children. By restricting the activities of the Kohanim B’aal mum, that is a priest with a disability, there was an expectation they would dwell in the heart of the community. In this way he suggests that meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities is intrinsic to communal life.
That being said, I do believe that this was included in Torah because of the beliefs of people at that time. Those who were blind or deaf or disabled often did not receive the education other Hebrew children did. Accessibility was just not a thing, and the written words bely that reality. Those with disabilities did have a function and that is a good thing. But the underlying theme of humans seeking perfection even though we are all imperfect is still very much a reality.
After the destruction of the second temple, sacrifices came to an end. In the Talmud Rabbi Eleazar asserts that “prayer is more efficacious than sacrifice…for from the day on which the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer have been closed, but though the gates of prayer are closed, the gates of weeping are not closed.” More succinctly, prayer has replaced sacrifices, and prayer is a vehicle available to us all, of all abilities.
Our Torah is filled with problematic practices. We can identify them, not ignore rather look for the lesson we derive from them. Indeed, in Torah we find instances that contra-indicate a previous passage. We were given hearts to feel and brains to act upon that which is not just. If we continue to move towards greater acceptance of all of us, with our imperfections, understanding that together in community we are so much stronger. I’m blessed to be part of a synagogue (Shir Tikvah) that embraces my disability and indeed our beloved community embraces a most beautiful diversity in every sense of the word. Every one of us carries within us a spark of the divine. We are called to heal the world. Including the ever-present need for full accessibility for us all. May we all grow towards that better world. Baruch Hashem!
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