Weekly Reading Insights

5762

Overview of the Weekly Reading: Emor
To be read on the Shabbat of 15 Iyar, 5762 (April 27)

[For details about the Lag b'Omer festival, go to holidays and kabbala.]

Torah: Lev.21:-24:23
Haftorah: Ezekiel 44:15-31(Kohanim in Temple)
Pirkei Avot: Chapter Four

Stats: Emor contains 24 positive mitzvot and 39 prohibitive mitzvot. Among the Weekly Readings,
Emor
ranks 15 out of 54 in number of verses, 22 in number of words, and 23 in number of letters

Parshat Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23) opens with a discussion of the laws concerning priests (Kohenim), including the high priest (Kohen Gadol). It details which blemishes and states of impurity disqualify them from serving, whom they may marry, for which deceased persons they may become impure, and more. The next topic discussed concerns the types of animals eligible for sacrifices. This is followed by a section speaking about Shabbat, and the dates and laws of some holidays. After detailing instructions regarding the menora's 'eternal lamp' and the showbread in the Tabernacle, the parsha concludes with a narrative, describing how a Jew blasphemed and the punishment he incurred.

FROM THE CHASSIDIC REBBES Emor)

"You shall not profane...."(22:32)

The Hebrew word for "profane"--"t'chal'lu"--is related to the word meaning "empty" or "void." "Do not cause a void or emptiness to come between us," G-d cautions, referring to transgressions which place a barrier between a Jew and G-d. "Furthermore, make sure that no place is void of Me." Haughtiness pushes away the Divine Presence, which is incompatible with pride and lack of humility.

(Likutei Torah)

"You shall sanctify him, for the bread of your G-d he offers." (21:8)

Do not look down upon the high priest and hold him in contempt because he is sustained by the gifts accrued from his position. He serves a special, higher purpose, one ordained by G-d.
Nowadays, the tzadik (righteous person) occupies a similar position in Jewish life. When a tzadik eats, it is considered as if he offers the sacrifices of old.Just like the High Priest during the times of the Temple, the tzadik draws holiness into the world through his Torah and his service of G-d.

(Ktav Sofer)

"Out of the sanctuary he shall not go." (21:12)

A Jew's thoughts must always be of holy matters, connected to G-dliness and sanctity, even when engaged in seemingly mundane affairs. At such times (such as when conducting necessary business), the Jew should consider himself as having left his "home" temporarily, with the intention to later return. The warm influence of the home will carry over also when he is in the street.

(Baal Shem Tov)


FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALAH Emor)

Selected with permission from the five-volume English edition of Ohr HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, as translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco, on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker, hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only to his Torah commentary.

"And if a priest's daughter will become widowed or divorced, she may return to her father's house as when she was a girl, and she may eat her father's food.
Any non-priest must not eat sacred things."
[22:13]

In this verse the Torah speaks of the person who had achieved the most spiritually advanced level of neshama leneshama. We have explained that as a result of such an ascent this kind of person is separated from sin almost absolutely, his whole lifestyle being one of avoiding even the proximity of sin. The Torah hints at this by describing such a bat cohen as "married," i.e. closely attached to her holy roots. This is the kind of soul of which Solomon had spoken in Proverbs 12:21 when he described it as not becoming the victim of any mishap, i.e. sin.
When such an elevated soul somehow commits a sin, the result is that it will lose its status of being "married" to her holy roots and will become "widowed or divorced," as the case may be, in either case forfeiting the source of its sustenance, the most holy domain, the olam ha'atsilut.
The example gerusha (divorced) refers to the nature of its misdemeanor having been more serious than the one in which it is described as almanah, widowed. When the Torah adds vezera ein la, that she (the soul of souls) did not have any seed, this is a simile for such a soul (person) not having performed the kind of good deeds in this world that are known as perot "fruit." Nonetheless, the punishment is "only" that "she will return to her father's house," to eat of the food dished out at the table of her father such as she did before her soul had begun to ascend to spiritual heights.
The fact that she has to eat once more the kind of food she used to eat when she had been only on the level of nefesh or ruach, is a very painful experience for such a soul. It is equivalent to a person who had sinned and who had never ascended beyond the nefesh level of existence, having to die as a punishment for his sin. If the person who had attained the spiritual level of being a neshama le neshama had also performed the kind of good deeds on earth known as perot, its punishment for having committed a trespass would be "only" that she is considered as eating at her own table.
"Any stranger [non-priest] must not eat sacred things" - Here the Torah provides a rationale why G-d does not display His mercy to such a soul, permitting her to eat sacred things if not as a matter of right then at least as a matter of G-d's grace.
When a soul which had once ascended to lofty spiritual heights had allowed herself to backslide and make common cause with spiritually negative forces known as zar (strange, alien), she can no longer qualify for partaking from kodesh, "G-d's table," as it were.

 


An essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter

Emor )

In the first verse of this week's reading, the Torah repeats itself, saying, "Say (emor) to the Kohanim, the sons of Aaron and say to them". Rashi explains this repetition with what is now a famous expression, "to warn the older [kohanim, concerning their teaching responsibility] for the younger [kohanim]."

This is not the only scriptural basis for the obligation of adults to educate children. The Talmud (Yevamot 114a), points out three different commands where the same double use of the word "say" (emor) is employed: the prohibition to eat insects, the prohibition to consume blood, and the prohibition for priests to defile themselves. Why are these three miztvot used, as examples, to demonstrate the importance of education? And how, indeed, can we best educate our children?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe identifies what these three mitzvot have in common, and explains that it is their very distinctiveness which makes these mitzvot difficult to teach to a child. Eating insects is something we find naturally disgusting. On the other hand, the consumption of blood, though equally repulsive, was nonetheless, a common and widespread practice. Finally, the laws governing the defilement of priests possess no apparent rational basis.

A teacher today, confronting such bizarre behaviors, would feel frustrated, incapable of effectively communicating these concepts. For this reason, the Torah underscores the urgency to educate our children specifically about these three mitzvot, in order to confer upon us the extra strength required for this challenging task.

From this, we learn three educational principles. Firstly, if a teacher has a student who behaves despicably, the situation is not hopeless. Secondly, it is commonly believed that although it is normally possible to teach anyone who is receptive to new ideas, if a person is habituated to some horribly inappropriate behavior, then the situation is hopeless. The Torah categorically disagrees. Even a person who is totally fixated in a bad pattern of behavior, such as eating blood, must to be taught. And he must be taught, because even he can change for the better.

Lastly, conventional wisdom maintains that you can only teach things that can be explained logically. Especially, if students should adopt a position that they do not believe something, then there is not much room to change their minds. Accordingly, the Torah emphasizes education in the context of the defilement of the Kohanim, something totally supra-rational, informing us that education can, in fact, alter a person's perception dramatically. For implanted in the inner recesses of every Jew is an eternal faith that a proper education can uncover and nourish.

When the Torah gives us a directive, it is also actually imbuing us with the strength to fulfill it. The Torah never demands more than we are capable of; therefore, we should never feel that any of its directives is beyond us. Fortified with this insight, we can fulfill G-d's mitzvot with confidence and with joy, knowing that we are doing our part in hastening of the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem!

Shabbat Shalom!



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