10 May EMOR- WHY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST HANDICAPPED KOHANIM? WHY ARE WOMEN BARRED FROM MANY JEWISH RITUALS? WHY ARE CRIPPLED PRIESTS DEPRIVED FROM SERVING IN THE TEMPLE
A DISTURBING MITZVAH
Some of the commandments in the Torah dance off the pages in theirsheer moral beauty. Some of them ma kes us uneasy. Our parsha, Emor, includes one of the latter type: Priests with physical disability were barred from performing the service in the Holy Temple.
Vayikra 21: 17—22: Speak to Aaron, saying: Any man among your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect, shall not come near to offer up his G-d’s food.
For any man who has a defect should not approach: A blind man or a lame one, or one with a sunken nose or with mismatching limbs; or a man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; or one with long eyebrows, or a cataract, or a commingling in his eye; dry lesions or weeping sores, or one with crushed testicles.
Any man among Aaron the kohen’s offspring who has a defect shall not draw near to offer up the Lord’s fire offerings. There is a defect inhim; he shall not draw near to offer up hi s G-d’s food.
His God’s food from the most holy and from the holy ones, he may eat.
DO WE NOT FIND THIS
DISTURBING?
The first document in history to protest discrimination against the disabled, the crippled, the sick and the infirm, was the Hebrew Bible. The Torah was the first to enshrine in its code the unwavering dignity of every human person. When Genesis declared that the human being was carved in the image of the Divine it made it clear that this includes each person, no matter of his or her physical state, prowess, color, race, or strength. In Jewish law, there is absolutely no distinction between murdering a perfectly healthy, strong human and a bed-ridden cripple. The dignity of life is non-negotiable, unwavering and beyond utilitarian purpose.
At the time, this notion was unheard of, even in progressive societies. Hellenist culture embraced infanticide, pedophilia, pederasty, the Spartan lifestyle, and the glorification of torture. None other than Aristotle himself argued in his Politics (VII.16) thatkilling crippled children was essen tial to the functioning of society.He wrote: “There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed [i.e. thrown on the trash heap or left out in the woods to die]. For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state.”
It took until 1990 for the US to legislate the Americans withDisabilities Act (ADA). Today it is federally illegal to discriminate against a person because of disabilities. No public building can be built without comfortable access for the disabled. One may not put up a building with only stairs.
How then does the Torah – the first champion of the notion that physical prowess, handsome looks, and perfect shape, albeit wonderful blessings and gifts, are not barometers for dignity—legislate such a law? How can the Torah blatantly contradict itself, claiming that the most blemished of bodies and the most perfect of bodies are equal in the eyes of G-d, yet the crippled Kohen may not work in the Holy Temple? It seems like a smack in the face of everything Judaism teaches about compassion! It smacks more of Nietzsche and Darwin than Moses and Abraham. Judaism suddenly becomes about Survival of the Fittest?!
What’s more, even this law itself is riddled with contradiction. When it comes to partaking in the sacred food of the Sanctuary, something reserved only for the Priests due to their elevated state of holiness, all are included, even the disabled and crippled. “His G-d’s food from the most holy and from the holy ones, he may eat.”[1] If they are holy enough to eat, a privilege excluding the holiest and most righteousJew if he is not a kohen—why are th ey not holy enough to serve?
Let me offer an insight by one of the great Halachik authorities and spiritual masters of his day, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, known as the Tzemach Tzedek (1789-1866), the third Lubavitcher Rebbe. Yet his insight requires a general introduction.
THE STORY OF STEVE JOBS
The key to understanding this enigma is this: The crippled Kohen was not excluded from serving in the Holy Temple. Rather, he was summoned and chosen to serve elsewhere.
Steve Jobs, founder and chairman of Apple, who revolutionized thecomputer and phone industry, never kne w his parents. His father left his mother after she became pregnant before they ever got married. In early 1955, Steve’s biological mother, Joanne, traveled to San Francisco, where she was taken into the care of a kindly doctor who sheltered unwed mothers, delivered their babies, and quietly arranged
closed adoptions. Steve was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.
One day, as a seven year old, he was sitting on the lawn of his home, chatting about his adoption with a girl who lived across the street. “So does that mean your real parents didn’t want you?” the girl asked.
“Lightning bolts went off in my head,” related Jobs. “I remember running into the house, crying.” Jobs wanted to know if it was true that his biological parents cast him away.
Jobs related: “And my parents said, ‘No, you have to understand.’ They were very serious and looked me straight in the eye. They said, ‘We specifically picked you out.’ Both of my parents said that and repeated it slowly for me. And they put an emphasis on every word in that sentence.” Their response changed his life. He came to see himself not as an outcast by his biological parents, but as chosen bythe parents who adopted him.
He could have viewed his life in two ways—as the child abandoned by his parents, or as the child chosen by another mom and dad. The way he would see his life would have determined the caliber of his life. Thank goodness, his parents said the right thing—and Steve Jobs changed the world (despite some serious shortcomings.)
The same holds true in our case as well.
WHAT’S PERFECTION IN
JUDAISM?
Here is where we must understand an important principle in Judaism. Perfection in Judaism is never attributed to a particular place, person or thing. There is no “perfect model” in Judaism. Perfection is doing what G-d wants you to do; being the way G-d wants you to be; living the life G-d wants you to live. Perfection means being in the place where G-d wants you to be.
Worshiping, or paying special tribute, to a “perfect model” is a subtle form of idol worship. That’s why Moses smashed the Tablets. He understood that the Jewish people missed the point with Monotheism. They were accustomed to idolatry and hence attributed holiness to objects, to holy things, places and peoples. Moses smashed the holiest item in the world—the Tablets—to teach his people that there is only one barometer for perfection: what G-d wants and where He wants you to be. Nothing else.
Someone asked me, why are women treated in your synagogue as second class citizens and not given an Aliya to the Torah? Why don’t theywrap Tefilin or a Tallis (phylacteries or prayer shawl)? Why no Kippa? My answer to them: Since when do we worship an Aliya, or a Kippa, or Tefilin? Since when have these become important and desirable items? We worship G-d. A Talis or an Aliya as independent rituals mean absolutely nothing to us. It is about what G-d wants. What G-d wants me to do is holy. What G-d does not want me to do is unholy. Eatingmatzah on Pesach is a mitzvah; it is a n act of holiness. Eating matzah a day after Passover is not holy in anyway. Blowing the rams horn on Rosh Hashanah—is the Divine will. Through it, you connect to G-d. Blowing the same shofar on Chanukah is meaningless. The shofar means nothing. It is what G-d wants from me at this time, at this place, in this situation—that is what counts in Judaism.
We do not attach Divine significance to ANYTHING, only to G-d Himself. If G-d wants it, awesome. If not—goodbye Charlie. We do not sanctify anything in-and-of-itself.
Eating pork for a Jew is grotesque. But if I need to feed my fellow Jew pork to save his life, then eating pork becomes a mitzvah! For right now, this is what G-d wants from me and him.
Going to synagogue on a regular Shabbat is a great mitzvah; but the same act during a pandemic can make me culpable in bloodshed. It becomes a repulsive act. We don’t worship rituals, habits, acts; we worship an imageless G-d.
Serving as a priest to do the work in the Holy Temple sounds awesome. But it is not. Its sole value is because G-d wants me to do it. The Holy Temple has no intrinsic holiness as a physical temple—it is G-d’s will in it that makes it sacred. We don’t attribute any special value to any Temple, no matter its beauty. The service in the Holy Temple is sacred only because G-d wants this service. The moment G-d tells me, this is not for you, then for me to do this is unholy, ineffective, and meaningless. Religion is not here to fit into pre-existing models of what we define as perfect and beautiful. That is idolatry. Judaism is about serving G-d, not my own sense of what looks good. If G-d wants me to have an Aliya that is wonderful; if not—the Aliya is worthless.
NO DISCRIMINATION
So to ask the question, why are we discriminating against the crippled Kohen by telling him not to do the service in the Holy Temple is like asking why did you marry your wife and in the process discriminate against all other women? Or why did you marry your husband and discriminate against all other men? That is an insane accusation. Sorry, I am not discriminating against other women. They are not meant to be with me; I am not meant to be with them. My wife is not discriminating against other men; they are not meant to be with her. They have their own angels. Marriage is holy when it is with the right person. Serving in the Temple is holy when it is fulfilled by the right person.
Who decided that serving in the Temple is good, moral, holy, wonderful? Maybe it is meaningless and valueless? Maybe it is a waste of time and energy? The answer is because G-d wants it and attributes to it profound spiritual significance. Its entire significance is due to it being G-d’s will. And if G-d tells me this is not for me, then for me to do it would be utter nonsense.
There are kohanim who G-d wants to serve in the Holy Temple; there areothers He wants not to serve in the Te mple. Not because they are excluded, abandoned, and rejected, but because they are CHOSEN for another mission, for another journey, for another destiny, one that is chosen for their soul. We are glad Steve Jobs did not become a painter, Albert Einstein did not become a basketball player, and Mozart did not go into real estate. Not because painting, basketball or real estate are not great vocations, but because they were chosen for something else. You need to know who you are and who you are not, or more accurately—who G-d wants you to be and who He does not want you to be.