Parshat Emor- Sensitivity a Part of Justice
by Rabbi Lobel

(Leviticus; Chapter 24, Verses 11 – 12) “The son of an Israelite woman pronounced the name of G-d and blasphemed, so they brought him to Moses... They placed him under guard to clarify for them (the proper punishment) through the word of G-d.”

An individual, who was the son of an Israelite women from the tribe of Dan (24:10), desecrated G-d's name for not being allowed, by the order of Moses, to pitch his tent in the tribe of Dan's territory; his father was Egyptian and each man camped based on his paternal heritage (Rashi on the Verse).

Moses was not sure the punishment for blasphemy and needed to ask G-d; they placed him in jail, and waited for Moses to return with the verdict.

Rashi (Verse 12) comments that another individual was waiting for death for desecrating the Sabbath. The Children of Israel knew that violating the Sabbath was a capital crime, however, they were not sure in which manner. By blasphemy, the Bnei Yisroel were not sure which punishment was in order. Therefore, these two violators were imprisoned separately.

The Sifsei Chachomim, commenting on Rashi, explains that if the court would have placed the blasphemer together with the one who desecrated the Sabbath then the blasphemer would assume he deserves death too. The blasphemer risked being saddened by misinformation before the verdict was reached. This would have been an injustice.

The conclusion was that the blasphemer did deserve death through stoning – however, the Jewish court would not risk emotionally hurting a prisoner.