רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat Emor
Leviticus 21:1-24:23
By Adam Ruditsky
Nothing will Come of it!
Once there was a servant who owed money to
his powerful and wealthy master, a man who owned all of the property in the town. After some time passed the landowner called for
the servant regarding the loan he so generously gave. As the servant walked down what seemed like a
long hallway, he finally reached his masters chambers in fear of what may
happen. Once in the room, there was no
formal greeting of any type, and the landowner authoritatively told his servant
to sit down. Although a matter of
moments, it seemed like several minutes until the landowner said, “When I gave
you a loan I expected as part of our agreement that you would pay me back. The
time to do so has passed and now you need to be held accountable for your
transgression.” Before another word could
come out of the landowners mouth his servant dropped to the floor and said, “My
lord, thank you for your loan that has put food on my families table, but
please, I have been unable to make enough money to pay you back and take care
of my home, give me more time and I will repay you everything that I owe.” The landowner heard the plea of his servant
and in compassion forgave him of all his debt before sending him away. The servant however the next day approached a fellow servant and said, “pay me all the money that you owe me by the end of
the day or you will pay for your transgression.” The servant who owned the money pleaded with his fellow, “thank you for your loan that has put food on my families table, but
please, I have been unable to make enough money to pay you back and take care
of my home, give me more time and I will repay you everything that I owe.” The servant who lent the money said, “your
financial problems are not mine,” and had his fellow servant thrown in jail.
It would seem that this servant misunderstood the words of Leviticus 24:20 that says a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he that maimed a man, so shall it be rendered to him.” Bachya Bar Yosef in Duties of the Heart teaches that anavah, humility, is an internal middah (soul-trait) that comes out externally in a variety of ways, one of the ways shows restraint in exacting revenge on another when you have the power (and even the right) to do so. In Kedoshim we were instructed to embrace the process of becoming and doing holiness, which manifests in how we treat others, whereas in Emor we respond by a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth …” How do we balance this tension? The Sfrono teaches that while a like punishment might seem fitting, given the inability to measure precisely what that looks like, it is substituted with a monetary punishment, or as Ibn Ezra put it “if someone removed one-third, say, of another person’s eyelid, how could one possibly give the guilty party precisely that wound?” This comes right out of the Talmud (Bava Kamma 84a) where the Rabbis taught that the punishment for this type of accountability should cover damages, suffering, medical costs, forced unemployment and shame. Richard Elliott Friedman in his Torah commentary calls this one of the “most perplexing ethical laws” in the Torah and teaches that this is not to be seen as “God’s law” but is a law that “applies solely to human justice.” That being so, Friedman would say that a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is an idiomatic statement that deals in equivalencies for justice and should not be taken as literal. Whatever the case, it’s a law of consequences, just like use a gun go to jail.
Perhaps this may seem obvious, but who is going to literally take an eye as a form of payment for a mistake? In our parlance we call it “getting our pound of flesh.” Still, accountability to make that so has to be done correctly or it has the potential to perpetuate misunderstanding. This is what Rose McGowen, a prominent voice of the #MeToo movement said during an interview. Here, McGowen wanted to make the important point that #MeToo being called a “movement” makes it seem like there are “thousands of women in the streets with pitchforks running after men — and that’s really not the case.” The need to make such a statement is unfortunate but it is to clarify the role of accountability as opposed to revenge since sadly there is always going to be people who hear things the wrong way and react accordingly. So when Tarana Burke founded #MeToo in 2006 she did so as a support for survivors of sexual violence to help provide pathways for recovery that included justice. In all things accountability of the perpetrator is a part of the healing and recovery process, and a law such as “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is about the human right for justice.
Yet caution also needs to be taken or it can potentially become a never-ending circle of like actions that has the power to cripple that very same justice. Nobody benefits in the end. You did this to me so I can do this to you. You wrote something untrue about me on social media so I can do the same to you. I heard that such and such did so and so to this person so it should be done back to them. But here is the truth; justice is often an endurance of suffering because there is no immediate gratification, and in some cases it never comes, which can also be is a sign of our failed system; albeit at home, work, the halls of justice and yes, even with religion. There must be an ethic of accountability, but that can never be revenge. When we are wronged we want justice, and sometimes wanting justice means there is an opportunity to do injustice by taking matters into our own hands, itself a big topic. Before it said “You will not take revenge, or bear any grudge against your people, but you will love your neighbor as thyself “ (cf. Lev. 19:18). That is to be balanced with a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” because there is never a time when accountability should not be the standard of justice, even when it is not administered properly or does not come quickly enough. For Judaism, the answer of correction is never found in revenge, cause in the end nothing will come of it. Sometimes the best justice is mercy for self, and even for others, but mercy does not mean that accountability disappears.
It would seem that this servant misunderstood the words of Leviticus 24:20 that says a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he that maimed a man, so shall it be rendered to him.” Bachya Bar Yosef in Duties of the Heart teaches that anavah, humility, is an internal middah (soul-trait) that comes out externally in a variety of ways, one of the ways shows restraint in exacting revenge on another when you have the power (and even the right) to do so. In Kedoshim we were instructed to embrace the process of becoming and doing holiness, which manifests in how we treat others, whereas in Emor we respond by a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth …” How do we balance this tension? The Sfrono teaches that while a like punishment might seem fitting, given the inability to measure precisely what that looks like, it is substituted with a monetary punishment, or as Ibn Ezra put it “if someone removed one-third, say, of another person’s eyelid, how could one possibly give the guilty party precisely that wound?” This comes right out of the Talmud (Bava Kamma 84a) where the Rabbis taught that the punishment for this type of accountability should cover damages, suffering, medical costs, forced unemployment and shame. Richard Elliott Friedman in his Torah commentary calls this one of the “most perplexing ethical laws” in the Torah and teaches that this is not to be seen as “God’s law” but is a law that “applies solely to human justice.” That being so, Friedman would say that a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is an idiomatic statement that deals in equivalencies for justice and should not be taken as literal. Whatever the case, it’s a law of consequences, just like use a gun go to jail.
Perhaps this may seem obvious, but who is going to literally take an eye as a form of payment for a mistake? In our parlance we call it “getting our pound of flesh.” Still, accountability to make that so has to be done correctly or it has the potential to perpetuate misunderstanding. This is what Rose McGowen, a prominent voice of the #MeToo movement said during an interview. Here, McGowen wanted to make the important point that #MeToo being called a “movement” makes it seem like there are “thousands of women in the streets with pitchforks running after men — and that’s really not the case.” The need to make such a statement is unfortunate but it is to clarify the role of accountability as opposed to revenge since sadly there is always going to be people who hear things the wrong way and react accordingly. So when Tarana Burke founded #MeToo in 2006 she did so as a support for survivors of sexual violence to help provide pathways for recovery that included justice. In all things accountability of the perpetrator is a part of the healing and recovery process, and a law such as “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is about the human right for justice.
Yet caution also needs to be taken or it can potentially become a never-ending circle of like actions that has the power to cripple that very same justice. Nobody benefits in the end. You did this to me so I can do this to you. You wrote something untrue about me on social media so I can do the same to you. I heard that such and such did so and so to this person so it should be done back to them. But here is the truth; justice is often an endurance of suffering because there is no immediate gratification, and in some cases it never comes, which can also be is a sign of our failed system; albeit at home, work, the halls of justice and yes, even with religion. There must be an ethic of accountability, but that can never be revenge. When we are wronged we want justice, and sometimes wanting justice means there is an opportunity to do injustice by taking matters into our own hands, itself a big topic. Before it said “You will not take revenge, or bear any grudge against your people, but you will love your neighbor as thyself “ (cf. Lev. 19:18). That is to be balanced with a “breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” because there is never a time when accountability should not be the standard of justice, even when it is not administered properly or does not come quickly enough. For Judaism, the answer of correction is never found in revenge, cause in the end nothing will come of it. Sometimes the best justice is mercy for self, and even for others, but mercy does not mean that accountability disappears.
Shabbat Shalom!
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