Emor: The Elite

The parsha begins with instructions to the Cohanim, the (at this point, newly founded) Priestly Dynasty).  These special people have special rules. They are restricted in whom they can marry, whom they can mourn.  They are different, better, than an ordinary Israelite. 

The parsha ends with the transgression of the half-breed blasphemer. The lowest born of the community.  When Gd gives instructions about his fate, it is in the context of equality under the law: the sojourner is treated like the native born, an eye for an eye, distinguish between capital and commercial offenses. In this context, all are equal, regardless of ancestry(.com)

The mid-portion of the parsha, the holidays, is  the celebration of all Israelites for the good fortune of their membership. They have a day of rest, days of re- commitment, a day of atonement and days of joy. These are privileges of belonging. 

The presence of an elite is important for the plebeians.  It reinforces the hierarchical structure of the world that is the basis of organized religious observance.  The ordinary person is given limits on her aspirations.  Even among the elite, the flawed are excluded from  the performance.  The service is a ballet, a car commercial.  No defect can be tolerated. 

But everyone, no matter how low born, no matter how flawed, has a life.  The successes and failures in that life are on a different trajectory, a path that is more meaningful than the sacred performance.  The (official) American egalitarian ethos, with its recognition of the rights and potential of people with disabilities, is a great ethical achievement.  It does not contradict the idea of the flawless  male descendant of Aaron as the only one qualified to perform the Service. Somebody has to do it.  It preferable to know your relationship to that service from birth. 

Did the lack of opportunity motivate the blasphemer?  He was excluded from the elite, he excluded himself from the ordinary.  What beliefs had he grown up with? Was he re-enacting the rebellion against Egyptian authority, embodied in his Egyptian father?  Was he demonstrating the ambivalence of association he saw in his mother, who had married an Egyptian? He needed to sort things out better.  He could have been one of the best guys.