parsha bit: Emor

This week's parsha repeats the laws for when one wounds another, saying "eye for eye, hand for hand, wound for wound" and so on. The talmud says not to take this literally and institutes fines instead, bringing various linguistic arguments to justify the change. Ibn Ezra, citing the Sa'adia Gaon, instead brings a practical argument: what if one man's vision is not equal to another's? Or what if someone causes another to lose partial vision -- how would you know when you had inflicted a like amount of damage? And, the Sa'adia says, this kind of judgement is even harder in the case of wounds. Clearly, he says, the Torah never meant this to describe physical punishment, as it would be impossible to administer it fairly. (Ibn Ezra on Lev 24:17-22)

wearing a kippah?

This morning after I put a tallit on, a man I don't know approached me and asked if I'm the chazanit. I said "for today". He asked why I was wearing a tallit but not a kippah (skullcap). (In case anyone's wondering: egalitarian Conservative congregation.)

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