ויקרא פרק כב
לא וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, מִצְותַי, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אֹתָם: אֲנִי, ה. ' לב וְלֹא תְחַלְּלוּ, אֶת-שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי, וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי, בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: אֲנִי ה', מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם. לג הַמּוֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, לִהְיוֹת לָכֶם לֵאלֹקְים: אֲנִי, ה'
31 And ye shall keep My commandments, and do them: I am the LORD. 32 And ye shall not profane My holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD who hallow you, 33 that brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.
Parashath Emor includes many mitzvoth ranging from the festivals, laws that pertain to the Kehuna as well as laws that pertain to the blasphemer. At the center of this sidra three psukim appear that seem to be somewhat random. These are the three verse cited above which commands every Jew to sanctify God’s name as well as not to desecrate his name. While traditionally (as well as halachically) we rule that a Chilul Ha’shem (desecration of God’s name) is when one violates one of the three cardinal sins (adultery, murder and idolatry), the desecration of God’s name is applicable to our mundane, day to day activities. When discussing the ability to receive forgiveness for different sins, the Talmud in tractate Yoma (86a) relates: “But if he has been guilty of the profanation of the Name, then penitence has no power to suspend punishment, nor the Day of Atonement to procure atonement, nor suffering to finish it, but all of them together suspend the punishment and only death finishes it , as it is said : And the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears; surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you until you die.”[1] The Gemara goes on to describe numerous ways by which people could succumb to transgressing this prohibition and further describing how certain Amoraim would try to avoid “desecrating the name of God” in their interaction with different people. The Gemara then goes to compare two types of people. Both of these people learn Torah and reside among Talmidei Chachamim. The difference between them is that one is honest in business and the other is not. On the latter type of person, the Gemara relates, people will say “Woe unto him who studied the Torah, woe unto his father who taught him Torah; woe unto his teacher who taught him Torah!’ This man studied the Torah: Look, how corrupt are his deeds, how ugly his ways.” The connection between the study of Torah and ethical conduct is presented in unison. One cannot exist without the other. And while the obvious connection between the two aspects of a religious life is apparent to us (especially with our modern intuition), we should ask ourselves what do these three psukim appear in the middle of all of these commandments?
After relating to the Israel that they should not desecrate the name of Hashem, the Torah gives a reason for this severe transgression stating: “I am the LORD who hallow you,: that brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.” The Torah makes two assertions: a) God dwells in every Jew and b) the same God who took Israel out of Egypt. What is the connection between the two? On this verse Rabbi Baruch Epstein, author of the Torah Temima, commented that God took Israel out of Egypt “on the condition that you will sacrifice themselves for his name”. Additionally on the verse “and you shall keep my commandments and do them”, Rashi comments that “keeping” (sha’martem) relates to the Torah and “do them” (asi’tem) relates to the actual action. Our existence in the world is based on our philosophy and values which are taught to us by God and his Torah, through the medium of our teachers. However, unlike other worldviews, in Judaism intention is never enough, our actions define us and reflect on our upbringing. The inter relationship between morality and law defines the Jews since he is a representation of God. Perhaps one could even suggest that the reason why these psukim are smack in the middle of all of these random mitzvoth, is just another reminder for us that our study as well as Mitzvoth are not for our own religious and spiritual growth but also are the manifestation of God in this world and we are the shomrim (guardians) of his name.
Note: special thanks to AJ Berkovitz for his assistance.
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