Parshat Emor  15 Iyar5762, April 27 2002

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - A number of months ago, mortar shells were ejected at 11:30 P.M. onto the “caravan campus” (trailer or pre-fab mobile structures) of Yeshivat Siah, the Yeshivat hesder (Torah study plus army service) of Ohr Torah Stone on the northern end of Efrat bordering on Bethelem and El Khader. The Yeshiva community (some forty singles and fifteen young families) was used to gun-shots and even fire-bombs; the mortar shells signaled a serious escalation. I immediately dispatched a bullet-proof van to evacuate the area and transport everyone to our Retreat Center in a much safer place in the center of Efrat. When I checked thirty minutes later, only the woman and children had arrived. “We took a vote,” explained the head-counselor, “and unanimously decided that only the women and children would leave our hill. We dare not even appear to grant only a temporary victory to the enemy.”

From whence is the source of this very special courage, an inner strength which has surfaced again and again in Efrat and throughout Israel? After all, despite daily drive-by shootings and terrorist suicide attacks which have caused just about everyone to attend an inordinate number of funerals and to be stricken with the anguished suffering of widows, orphans, and bereaved parents, our citizens continue to face their daily lives of professional commitments and family celebrations with resolute resilience and firm faith!

I believe that an important part of the answer is to be found in a crucial commandment in this week’s Torah portion: “You shall not profane thy holy Name: I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (Leviticus 22:32). The sages of the Talmud explain “profaning the Divine Name” as when a rabbinic sage takes meat from a butcher without making immediate payment, or when a learned Jew is lax in his business ethics or does not speak kindly to the people at large (B.T. Yoma 66a).” “And similarly, if a sage is careful about his actions, always speaking kindly to every human being accepting everyone cheerfully and taking precise care concerning his business ethics to the point that everyone praises him and strives to emulate his comportment, then that individual is sanctifying G-d’s Name, and about him it is said, ‘And He says to me, you are my servant Israel, through whom I am glorified’ “(Maimonides, Laws of the Foundations of Torah, 5, 11).

This interpretation, which sees the application of the command to sanctify the Almighty as performing commandments, especially in the realm of human inter-personal relationships, in a manner which will inspire others to wish to emulate one’s deeds, is very much in line with the Biblical context of the verse: “An ox or a lamb, you shall not slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day. (An obvious command expressing sensitivity even to brute beasts)”... And you shall observe My commandments and do them, I am the Lord. You shall not profane My holy Name; I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctified you. ( I am) He who took you out of the land of Egypt to be for you or a Lord; (The exodus clearly teaches human sensitivity, that no individual dare enslave or manipulate another). I am G-d (Leviticus 22:28-33).

However, Rashi has another interpretation, in truth the primary interpretation according to our Sages. “... What is the meaning of the verse ‘I shall be sanctified’? Commit your lives and sanctify My Name ... And when an individual commits him/her self, he/she must become committed even to the point of death” (Rashi, Leviticus 22:32). Maimonides likewise similarly interprets the commandment: “And the matter of this commandment to sanctify G-d’s Name is to publicize this true faith in the world, and that we not be afraid of any harm or damage... When Nebuchadnezzar the Wicked commanded obeisance to an idol, and the multitudes of Israel bowed down to it - there was no one to sanctify G-d’s Name because they were afraid - this was a shame and an embarrassment to all of Israel that this command should be lost to them...” (Book of Commandments, Positive Commandment 9). In effect, Maimonides is saying that the First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar because all of Israel was afraid to perform the commandment of martyrdom, to sacrifice their lives for their faith by refusing to worship idols!

A deeper insight into these words of Rashi and Maimonides becomes evident when we ponder another Biblical anomaly: in last Sabbath’s Torah reading, we were taught the command, “You shall observe my statutes and my commandments which a human being shall perform; and you shall live by them” (Leviticus 18:5). Our Sages deduce from these words: “ ‘You shall live by them’ - and not die by them.” In general, a human life takes precedence over the commands of the Torah (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Foundations of Torah, 5,1). After all, the bottom line of the akedah story is that the Almighty desires Isaac to live, and - with the exception of the three most stringent transgressions of murder, sexual immorality and idolatry - if a Jew is forced by a Gentile either to transgress a commandment (like the Sabbath) or die, he must choose to transgress the commandment! But then is it not strange that “You shall live by them” comes as an introduction to the laws of sexual immorality, for which you must die rather than transgress them!

The answer is deeply significant. For Judaism, it is not only an unreflected life which is of little value; a life lived for no higher value other than to keep on living is also of little value. After all, no one lives forever; hence, the individual whose highest purpose in life to go on living is someday doomed to failure! Therefore, the Torah is teaching us that we must live our lives in the backdrop of values which are more significant then any single individual life. Paradoxically, only a person who has values for which he would sacrifice his future will merit a future; such an individual my lose his life, but he gains eternity.

Israel is now embarked on a continuation of her War of Independence, in a life and death struggle against a Palestinian Authority who is hell-bent on obliterating the State of Israel from the map of the Middle East. When Arafat refused Barak’s all too generous offer of the overwhelming majority (94-96%) of the West Bank, including most of East Jerusalem, be explained his avowed goal of pushing us back not to the ‘67 boundary lines but rather to the ‘47 boundary lines, in effect, the end of the Jewish State. We in Israel, especially in the wake of the return of European anti-Semitism, understand the crucial importance of the State of Israel for the Jewish future. For us, it is a great privilege to stand in the front lines of battle in such a fateful hour!

Shabbat Shalom.

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