The Blasphemer鈥檚 Twin
This week鈥檚 parashah ends with a sin:
讜址讬旨执拽旨止讘 讘旨侄谉-讛指讗执砖旨讈指讛 讛址讬旨执砖讉职专职讗值诇执讬转 讗侄转-讛址砖旨讈值诐 讜址讬职拽址诇旨值诇.
The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the name [of God] and cursed. (Lev. 24:11)
Maybe we don鈥檛 need to overthink why a law code seen as given by God would determine that cursing God is problematic, but how severe a crime is this? Evidently, Moses was uncertain: the culprit was detained while Moses checked in with God (Lev. 24:12). Perhaps the negative consequence of this act seems unclear. After all, what harm can possibly come to God through human words?
In Lev. 24:14, those who hear the blasphemy lay their hands on the blasphemer before he is stoned to death, the same way that the high priest (in Lev. 16:21) transfers the community鈥檚 sins to the scapegoat. This implies that they have been implicated in this sin just by hearing it and must take action to absolve themselves.
With leshon hara (speaking badly of another person)鈥攁nother verbal sin鈥攚e usually focus on the relationship between the speaker and the ostensible victim, the one who was spoken about. But what about those who were told the rumor? Every time they see the person who was spoken badly of, they remember what they were told about her; they can鈥檛 shake it, however hard they try. What they heard can never be unheard.
If someone misspeaks during prayer, such as forgetting to substitute the special ending of the third blessing of the Amidah for the High Holiday period, that person has a short window to 鈥渦ndo鈥� this error; if he misses this opportunity, he has to go back to the beginning of the Amidah. The length of the opportunity to undo the error is specified in the Talmud as tokh kedei dibur, the amount of time it takes to say 鈥�Shalom, rabi鈥� (鈥淕reetings, my master鈥�)鈥攁round three seconds. And this applies for nearly every case in 绿帽社 law when you want to take back what you said:
The law is that replacement words said within tokh kedei dibur are taken as replacing the original words, unless the original words were blasphemy, idol worship, betrothal, or divorce. (BT Nedarim 87a)
That is to say, some words are simply so powerful that they cannot be taken back.
Returning to our parashah, what is the effect of the blasphemous utterance on the listeners? To answer that we need to know what we mean by blasphemy. Our verses themselves make clear that two distinct elements are required: (1) using the divine name, and (2) cursing God鈥攖hat is, calling for something bad to befall God (鈥減ronounced the name and cursed鈥� [Lev. 24:11]). This is not a statement of heresy (denying a tenet of faith, or casting aspersions on the true religion or its leaders), but an attack aimed directly at God. Biblical scholar Baruch Schwartz suggests that the essence of the crime is that the name of God is considered a sacred object, and this is a misuse of that object (the Oxford 绿帽社 Study Bible, 1st ed. 268). In keeping with the themes of Leviticus, this is a serious matter: everything has its place and its order, and the holy must be protected and kept apart from the impure.
This gives us some insight into why the crime was taken so seriously, but if misusing the holy name of God were the whole story, someone who uses the ineffable name to advertise their commercial product (鈥淭he only engine oil Hashem would use鈥�), or names their pet yud-hey-vav-hey should suffer a similar punishment. The other element鈥斺�渃ursing,鈥� or direct attack鈥攊s also required.
The Bablyonian Talmud sheds light on this issue while discussing how we deal with the blasphemer鈥檚 remains. According to the Mishnah, only the bodies of blasphemers and idolaters are displayed after execution (M. Sanhedrin 6:4). But the Torah states that displaying the bodies of these executed criminals can cause further cursing of God, and so must last no longer than until the end of that day (Deut. 21:23).
The Talmud gives two different, almost contradictory, reasons why leaving out the body of the executed causes God to be cursed.
The first explanation is that passersby will say, 鈥淥h, look, there鈥檚 the person who said 鈥榑_______!鈥欌�� (BT Sanhedrin 45b). This suggests that the problem with blasphemy is what it does to the relationship between people and God: if people are constantly reminding themselves that God can be insulted by humans, how can they continue to understand God as transcendent, almighty, the apex of holiness? Just as hearing of the misdeeds of one鈥檚 neighbor can affect how you think about them forever, so, too, recounting the crime of blasphemy conjures up the notion that God is less than supreme.
The second explanation, found just one page later, is related by way of a parable:
转谞讬讗 讗讜诪专 专鈥澴� 诪砖诇讜 诪砖诇 诇诪讛 讛讚讘专 讚讜诪讛 诇砖谞讬 讗讞讬诐 转讗讜诪讬诐 讘注讬专 讗讞转 讗讞讚 诪讬谞讜讛讜 诪诇讱 讜讗讞讚 讬爪讗 诇诇讬住讟讬讜转 爪讜讛 讛诪诇讱 讜转诇讗讜讛讜 讻诇 讛专讜讗讛 讗讜转讜 讗讜诪专 讛诪诇讱 转诇讜讬 爪讜讛 讛诪诇讱 讜讛讜专讬讚讜讛讜:
It is taught: Rabbi Meir says, 鈥淭hey told a parable: What is this matter analogous to? To two twin brothers in a city. One of them was the king, and the other became a bandit. The king ordered that his twin be hanged. All who saw the hanged one said, 鈥楾he king was hanged!鈥� So the king ordered that he be taken down.鈥� (BT Sanh. 46b)
This parable鈥檚 use of 鈥渢wins鈥� to describe the king (= God) and the brigand (= our blasphemer) is striking. Not just lookalikes, not just siblings, but twins. It is no mere coincidence that these two are confused by the onlookers: they are identical in appearance, in lineage, even in their DNA. The lesson of the parable seems to be that divinity and humanity are inextricably connected, in such a way that they are destined to a shared dignity: where one lacks it, the other cannot retain it.
Almost paradoxically, then, we find that the crime of blasphemy is taken so seriously because to curse God is to curse all of humanity, including the blasphemer. If God can be cursed, those who hear the blasphemy will think, What hope is there for all of us, who are twinned with God?
Quite rightly, we are sometimes entreated to create a world where human dignity is paramount because we are made in the image of God. The law of the blasphemer emphasizes a slightly different side of that same challenge: to recognize that God鈥檚 dignity is of a piece with our own dignity, and insulting either one is always an offense against the other.
The publication and distribution of the JTS Parashah Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧).
