Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Avraham Moeinzadeh
The very last paragraph of this week’s Parasha speaks about four different types of crimes and their punishments. The violations are as follows:
1) A Blasphemer (someone who curses the name of Almighty) should be stoned.
2) A Murderer should be killed
3) Someone who wounds his friend has to compensate.
4) Someone who strikes an animal should pay for the loss.
These four subjects seem very unrelated, especially since this paragraph came to teach the laws of blasphemy. We would expect The Torah to focus on that specific matter. So why Torah goes out of its way to teach us these laws?
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein writes that the Torah is trying to teach Bnei Yisrael here a lesson about the Mitzvah of Ahavat Hashem( Loving the Almighty). Every day we recite in Shema Yisrael that one should develop within himself a sense of love of Hashem and serve him with zeal – with a full heart, life, and wealth. That definitely requires a person to react to those who humiliate the name of Hashem. But as important as this Mitzvah is, says Rav Moshe, one can not desensitize himself from the care for other people’s lives, health, or even their possessions. One cannot fulfill the mitzvah of loving Hashem when he doesn’t demonstrate love for others.
Although the blasphemer must to be stoned, the judges cannot carry out the punishment until they comprehend how dear the life of a person (no matter how guilty he is) is in the eyes of Hashem-not only his life, but even his welfare, whether physically or monetarily. Only after that can the judge carry out a punishment. And if he doesn’t have a sense of sorrow for the loss, he is not a candidate to be a judge in this case.
May we all succeed in overfilling our hearts with the love of Hashem as well as the love, care, and compassion towards his creatures.
Shabbat Shalom.