simchas / t orah -...

Karli Burgard,daughter of Alysaand Randy Burgard,became a bat mitz-vah on Saturday,April 26 at RodefShalom Congrega-tion. Grandparentsare Renee Levin andFrances and RichardBurgard.

Elizabeth Katchen,daughter of LoriGoldstein and JeffKatchen, sister of Ja-cob and Hannah,will be called to theTorah as a bat mitz-vah on Saturday,May 3 at TempleSinai. Grandparentsare Elenor and MarcGoldstein of Squirrel

Hill and Alice and David Katchen ofPhiladelphia.

Dina Leyzarovich, daughter of Juliaand Gene Leyzarovich, will become abat mitzvah on Saturday, May 3 at Tem-ple Emanuel. Grandparents are Olgaand Zinovy Rogalsky, YakovLeyzarovich and Irina Blaushild. Great-grandmother is Shulamit Gershman.

Andrew Justin“A.J.” Rosenberg,son of Kim andHoward Rosenberg,will become a barmitzvah on Saturday,May 3 at AdatShalom. Grandpar-ents are Rochelle andHy Chestepal andBarbara and JerryRosenberg.

18 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE MAY 1, 2014

SIMCHAS / TORAH

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For Spencer, every element of the barmitzvah will render personal signifi-cance. Upon distributing each goat, heplans on telling the recipient the goat’sname, its meaning and who purchasedthe animal. In preparing the Shabbatmeal, he will help slaughter a goat andmake stew for the community, and atthe Saturday night celebration, Shelby,who receives college credit through herwork with the Bodiography Center forMovement, will dance with the mem-bers of the Hope Troupe.“We wanted this to be an interesting

cultural bar mitzvah,” said Shelby. Given the locale, the Lattermans’

preparation has been diverse, requiringresearch, immunizations and partneringwith local nonprofits. Spencer and Shel-by studied Ugandan Jewish history, in-cluding the imprisonment of Sizomu’sfather under the regime of Idi Amin forbuilding a sukkah.They also researched the 1976 events

surrounding the hijacking of an Air

France flight and the rescue of its pas-sengers by commandos of the Israel De-fense Forces, who staged an assault atthe Entebbe Airport.“I vividly remember when that hap-

pened,” said Steve Latterman. Upon arriving at Entebbe, the Latter-

mans will unload cargo dispatched byother Jewish communities around theworld, including 70 Haggadot from arabbi in Washington, siddurim, tooth-brushes and solar lights. Villagers havemade a special request for the Latter-mans to bring in kosher wine, but cus-toms restrictions may prove too difficultto overcome.With all of the planning, study, prepa-

ration and travel, the Lattermans hopethat their children gain a lot from thebar mitzvah. “Even though Spencer is just one per-

son, one person can make a difference,”said Leslie Latterman. “That’s what Iwant my kids to learn.”“I can’t help everyone in Uganda,”

said Spencer. “I just want to help asmany people as I can.”

(Adam Reinherz can be reached atadamr@thejewishchronicle.net.)

Do you know the story, referred to as“The Case of the Blasphemer”? Candid-ly, I’d be surprised if you did. “The Caseof the Blasphemer” isn’t often includedin collections of Bible stories. That’s ashame. It should be. Found in this week’s Torah portion of

Emor, this otherwise simple story is cen-tral to understanding how Jews do anddon’t speak about God. On the face ofit, the story is about a man accused ofmisusing/profaning God’s name who, asa result, is stoned to death for his crime.Clearly, the blasphemer’s crime was seri-ous. As Jews, we know this all but in-stinctively. God’s name can’t be spoken.Don’t take God’s name in vain!The Talmud states that blasphemy is

one of the seven crimes prohibited byNoahide or natural law; thus, there wasa time when blasphemers were killed fortheir words. In time, some Jews wouldrend their clothes even upon hearingblasphemy. Though after the Temple fellin 70 C.E., according to Rav Hiyya,“One who hears blasphemy is no longerobliged to rend his garments, becauseotherwise all our garments would benothing but tatters” (Sanhedrin 56a). In time, however, such a lenient ap-

proach meant the fear of death nolonger deterred blasphemers. By theninth century, Rab Amram, gaon andeditor of the first Jewish prayer book,had had enough and declared, “Onewho hears another blaspheme must ex-communicate him. It makes no differ-ence if one uses the Ineffable Name orspeaks only of God’s attributes. A blas-phemer must be excommunicated.”As sources explain, the blasphemer’s

excommunication was a substitute forthe death penalty — not per se to pre-serve a life but to spare a witness havingto repeat the offensive remarks. Weought to note that, even so, Abba Saulwas of the opinion that, in addition toany punishment inflicted by humanpower, one who blasphemes will also be

excluded from life in the world to come. Given its role in catalyzing jurispru-

dence, why isn’t this story betterknown? Though simple, the story ischallenging. As we can see, even fromthis brief history, over time communitymores vis-à-vis blasphemy varied, as dida proper response. This is not surprisingin a rapidly changing world, where onecan just as easily contemplate, decon-struct or disregard God. But let us reimagine the crime of blas-

phemy. What if, rather than our sayingthat cursing God or discussing God oreven disrespecting God is blasphemy, wewere to agree the crime of blasphemycannot be what one could say of God inhuman terms. Consider: For a crime’s commission to

be worthy of being excluded from a lifewith people, and perhaps even from alife in the world to come, surely it can-not concern what we say about a God

who is beyond our reach but must haveeverything to do with how we treat oneanother here on earth. If so, blasphemycan be redefined to reflect those timeswhen we humans take to speaking ofourselves in Godly terms.If we believe any of us are inherently

better than others, treat people in thisway or tolerate others doing so, thenthat is blasphemy, pure and simple. Allthe more so, if we maintain we behavethis way for our alone being in posses-sion of God’s truth or because we areperfect and without flaw. Blasphemy!Blasphemy! Blasphemy!“The Case of the Blasphemer” can be

found in Leviticus 24:10-23. I urge youto read it. Rabbi Aaron Bisno is senior rabbi of

Rodef Shalom Congregation.

BY RABBI

AARON BISNO

Parshat EmorLeviticus 21:1-24:23

‘The Case of the Blasphemer’

Continued from page 3

Uganda:

B’nai Mitzvah

If we believe any of us are inherently better

than others, treat peoplein this way or tolerateothers doing so, then

that is blasphemy, pureand simple.

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