Chagiga 2: Who Must Attend; Who's On the Outside

Masechet Chagiga teaches us about ascending to and appearing at the Temple on the three Festivals.  We begin this exploration with a Mishna that explains three components of these tasks: who should attend, who should not attend - with specific attention paid to minors, and the cost of an appearance.  That appearance is, our notes teach, a burnt offering.

The first words of the Mishna tells us that all people are obligated in appearance (entering the Temple and sacrificing an offering) except for a long list of people.  In order: a deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor; a tumtum and a hermaphrodite - androginos, and women, and slaves who are not emancipated, and the lame, the blind, and the sick; and the old, and the one who is unable to ascent on one's own legs.

Our notes remind us that 'tumtum' refers to a person whose genitals are indistinguishable as male or female.  'Hermaphrodite' refers to a person who has both male and female genitals. It is understood that a tumtum will 'become' clearly male or female later in life, and at that point in time his/her obligations will follow those of her/his gender without prejudice.  The normalcy of these physical differences is telling; they are not connected to a discussion of sexual preference or orientation.  How progressive for a somthing that was conceived over two thousand years ago!

The Gemara jumps into a discussion of slaves and free men.  Is a person obligated to appear if he is half free and half slave?  What if a person is blind in one eye and sighted in the other?  In answering these questions, the rabbis consider whether  a half-slave/half-free man is allowed to work when he wishes or not.  And because a man who is half-slave is not allowed to marry, he must be freed by his master.  The mitzvah of procreation is more important than other mitzvot.  The rabbis consider whether the man who is blind in one eye can see; whether he can be seen in an ordinary way.  If not, then he is not obligated to appear.

The Gemara notes that the deaf-mute is linked with the imbecile and the minor.  It suggests that all three are not of "sound mind".  They look at those who can speak but not hear; hear but not speak.  They look to sources including Psalms to understand what these experiences mean.  Ultimately the conversation is limited in this particular discussion.  Sometimes I consider looking through every reference in the Talmud to deafness, for example, to more fully understand the rabbis' thinking.  I want to grasp why they found certain normal physical attributes so offensive.