The sixth chapter of our massekhet dealt with blemishes that disqualify the bekhor, firstlings of sheep, goats, and cattle. Every unblemished firstling was offered up as a sacrifice on the altar and the kohenim received their usual gifts. If the bekhor was blemished, the entire animal was given to the kohen. Whether blemished or unblemished, one is not allowed to shear or work the bekhor. The experts who determine whether the defect was a real blemish are not had to know what were the blemishes that disqualified the bekhor.

The seventh chapter of our massekhet transitions to the topic of those blemishes which disqualify a kohen from performing the avodah, the sacrificial service. “There are three categories of blemishes in Kohenim: (1) Blemishes common to both Kohenim and animals [disqualifying the former from performing the avodah and the letter from being offered as sacrifices]; (2) blemishes disqualify Kohenim but not animals; (3) blemishes that are not strictly speaking blemishes, but for which the Rabbis nevertheless disqualify a Kohen from serving because of their unsightly appearance [מַרְאִית הָעַיִן]

“The significance of these classifications is that a Kohen with a blemish of the first category who performs the avodah not only violates the law but renders the offering invalid, whether his violation was intentional or not. Furthermore, if the violation was intentional, he is subject to the punishment of malkot [lashes]. A Kohen with blemishes of the second category who performs the avodah violates a prohibition but does not render the offering invalid.[Whether he is nonetheless liable to malkot is the subject of the dispute…] A Kohen processing a blemish of the third category who performs the avodah neither invalidates the offering nor is he subject to the penalty of malkot, since only a Rabbinic prohibition has been transgressed…” (Art Scroll introduction to TB Bekhorot Chapter 7)

One of my bat mitzvah candidates complained that these rules are unfair. Why should a blemish disqualify a kohen? The answer lies in the biblical understanding of holiness (קדש). The British anthropologist Mary Douglas in her book Purity and Danger explains why both kohenim and animals had to be unblemished to serve in the Temple and be offered up on the Altar.

“The precepts and ceremonies alike are focused on the idea of the holiness of God which men must create in their own lives. So this is a universe in which men prosper by conforming to holiness and perish when they deviate from it. If there were no other clues we should be able to find out the Hebrew idea of the holy by examining the precepts by which men conform to it. It is evidently not goodness in the sense of an all-embracing human kindness. Justice and moral goodness may well illustrate holiness and form part of it, but holiness embraces other ideas as well.

“Granted that its root (קדש-gg) means separateness, the next idea that emerges is the Holy as wholeness and completeness. Much of Leviticus is taken up with stating the physical perfection that is required of things presented in the temple and of persons approaching it. The animals offered in sacrifice must be without blemish, women must be purified after childbirth, lepers should be separated and richly cleansed before being allowed to approach it once they are cured. All bodily discharges are defiling an disqualifying phone approach to the temple. Priests may only come into contact with the death when their own close can die. But the high priest must never have contact with the dead

Levit, xxi

Speak to Aaron and say: No man among your offspring throughout the ages who has a defect shall be qualified to offer the food of his God. No one at all who has a defect shall be qualified: no man who is blind, or lame, or has a limb too short or too long; no man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; or who is a hunchback, or a dwarf, or who has a growth in his eye, or who has a boil-scar, or scurvy, or crushed testes. No man among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall be qualified to offer GOD’s offering by fire; having a defect, he shall not be qualified to offer the food of his God. 

“In other words, he must be perfect as a man, if he is to be a priest.” (Pages 50-51) The kohenim exemplify God’s holiness, wholeness and perfection, on earth as they approach Him in the Temple through the avodah service.

Returning to my bat mitzvah candidate, I explained to her although a blemish may disqualify a kohen from the avodah, no blemish disqualifies a person from a position of leadership. Some of the greatest biblical heroes had disabilities. Isaac became blind but still is regarded as one of the forefathers. Jacob limped the rest of his life after his wrestling match with that Angel. Moses was a stutterer and he was the greatest prophet who ever lived. Ehud son of Gera, a judge, was left handed. (Today’s daf TB Bekhorot 45b disallows a left-handed kohen from performing the avodah service) He saved the Israelites from Eglon the king of Moab who enslaved the Israelites! (Judges 3)