Emor: Yichus

 

The parsha ends with the blasphemer, the son of an Egyptian man and an Israelite woman who is stoned to death for spindling  ( Nekev) The Name. 

The mention of his lineage is jarring. What is the relevance?  Certainly  it is  a contrast with the beginning of the parsha that talks about the Cohanim, the epitome of lineage.  The Cohayn Gadol, enunciator of The Name,  may not even attend the funeral of his parents.  I can imagine Shlomith, mother of the blasphemer,  wailing for her son.

What does it mean to have an Egyptian father? I don't think that the rules of ancestory- who is a Jew- were the same at that time. The Blasphemer's Jewishness is, at least, in question.  Would he have suffered the death penalty if he were not Jewish at all? Does the ancestory, or the belief system,  of the speaker bear upon the significance of the words?  Does the Egyptian father mean an ambivalence of belief, the option of an alternative system? Is his ancestry setting the lower limit of inclusion in Israel, that carries with it penalties for misguided speech?

The story ends with code of Hamurabi  appended to Gd' instructions.  It is a paradigm of fairness.  Fortunately, the Rabbis save us from the strict interpretation of this "fairness.".