[Avodah] Taking Responsibility

[Ilana Sober Elzufon]

RLK: I had initially wanted to write about the responsibility that the
nation had to prevent the Mekalel but looking through some sources, I ended
up with the exact opposite conclusion.....This is man who comes from a
broken family, who was pushed around by the people he considered the members
of his Tribe and was provoked further by another individual. Yet ultimately
he alone is responsible for his actions and must take full responsibility
for them.

I'm not sure the two conclusions are mutually exclusive. Yes, the mekallel
is clearly responsible for his own actions, to the point of being chayav
mitah, and cannot claim leniency because he was provoked. But that doesn't
mean that he wasn't provoked!

Rashi, following the midrash, says that he was mitgayer. Not clear what the
halachic significance of this is - possibilities among the mefarshim include
that matrilineal descent did not kick in until after Matan Torah, or that he
chose to identify with his mother's people rather than his father's. It may
also hint that he has in some ways the status of a ger. Like the ger, he has
no tribal affiliation, and when they come into Eretz K'naan, no nachalah.

Having chosen to be part of the Jewish people - he finds himself rejected.
He has, literally, nowhere to pitch his tent. And it's not that the men of
Dan are unreasonably bigoted - their position is upheld in beit din. One can
imagine the despair and disillusionment that would provoke him to blasphemy.

The Torah is not always "fair." For example, as we saw earlier in the
parsha, a kohen with a physical disability, acquired through no fault of his
own, is excluded from service in the Beit Hamikdash. And a mamzer cannot
marry almost anyone - because of a sin committed by his parents before he
was born. (The midrash states that the mekallel's mother, Shlomit, was a
married woman who was raped by an Egyptian overseer. While halachically he
is not a mamzer - because his father was not Jewish - the midrash does say
that he is similar to a mamzer. Perhaps another hint that this is a person
born a severe halachic disadvantage.)

Of course, no matter how great the difficulty, the Torah clearly limits
"free expression." As we see in the book of Job, one can cry and one can
question. As we see in the stories of Bnot Tzlofchad and Pesach Sheni - one
can even approach Moshe Rabbeinu and complain that the Torah isn't fair.
(It's interesting that both in those stories and in this one, a specific
she'elah is asked of HKBH.) But blasphemy, even when amply provoked, carries
the death penalty. As RLK points out, the mekallel is 100% responsible for
his actions.

But does that mean that we shouldn't understand the pain of those who feel
excluded - by the Torah - from the privileges of membership in the Jewish
community? The ger, and his descendents, have no nachalah in Eretz Yisrael.
Yet in many places - including the continuation of this parsha - the Torah
emphasizes that the "ger and the ezrach" are equally part of the Jewish
people. The Torah commands us - clearly, specifically, and repeatedly - not
to cause the ger pain, to include him in our celebrations, and to love him
like ourselves. It seems to me that when b'nei Dan asked the mekallel "what
are you doing here" - knowing full well he had no other place to go - they
were at least coming close to ona'at devarim?

- Ilana
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