How To Be God’s Children |
The opening verses of Deuteronomy 14 develop the idea that the children of Israel are God’s children. As such, God commands that His people, like the kohanim (priests), must not deface themselves in mourning for the dead:
You are children of the Lord your God. You shall not gash yourselves (lo titgodedu) or shave the front of your heads because of the dead. For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you from among all the peoples on the earth to be His treasured people. (Deuteronomy 14:1–2)
The word titgodedu refers to the practice of deliberately gashing one’s flesh until it bled, a customary expression of mourning throughout the ancient Near East and one that was not unknown among the ancient Israelites. (See J. Tigay, Deuteronomy 1–16, Mikra L’Yisrael, pp. 395–396.)
The verb lehitgoded (to gash oneself), however, intrigued the rabbis and inspired an interpretation that moved well beyond the verse’s peshat, or plain meaning. We encounter this creative play on language already in a midrash from the Mishnaic period:
“Do not cut........