HOLY HARVEST
Parashat Emor contains a calendar of sacred times; the Torah calls them "Mo-Ahday Adonai" (Fixed times of the Lord). First, the Israelites are told that they may work for six days, but that the seventh day must be a Sabbath of complete rest. It then provides the dates and requirements for the annual Festivals and holidays from Passover, to Shavuot, to Rosh Hashanah, to Yom Kippur, and finally to Sukkot.
The Text provides the dates and requirements for each holiday. Specifically the people are told what to sacrifice and when. At various times they are told what they can eat, or when they can eat. The types of animals and grain to be sacrificed are pronounced and the sacrifices themselves are somewhat choreographed.
However, in the middle of the instructions there is a seemingly odd insertion. Therein it says:
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
Why would this be included at this point in the Text? One answer might be that the Festivals are set up around the harvest cycle. As such, they will be times that it will be natural to be thankful and to bring offerings to God. This is good for the farmers, or the folks with the resources to purchase animals or grain to sacrifice. But what about those people who are too poor to bring an offering? Or too poor to even eat?
If the Festival times are about a successful harvest, having an abundance, and being thankful, then by legislating that pieces of the field and crop must be left for the poor and the stranger, the Torah ensures that everyone has something. It ensures that the less fortunate will have food to eat, perhaps be thankful, and maybe even have enough to bring an offering to God.
But look at the way it ensures that the less fortunate have something. By legislating that the edges of the field be left for the poor to "harvest" or that the gleanings be left behind, the Torah is allowing the poor to obtain sustenance with dignity. The indigent will not need to go to the farmer to ask for a handout. Further, by leaving folks to "harvest" their own, the Torah ensures that there is dignity in receiving the largesse of others.
A holy society not only helps those in need without fanfare and without demeaning them, but it also gives them the ability to praise God for the little they do have. In this way, everyone has the opportunity to feel connected to the Holy One. It then becomes a harvest of fruits, vegetables, grains, and souls.
My teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Diamond looked at another section of Parashat Emor (Leviticus 24:20) and had the following to say:
Therein is contained the biblical injunction that when one is maimed, the punishment must be meted out according to the injury. Thus, the Torah says "An eye for an eye". Rabbi Diamond tells us that, indeed,
the Torah seems to be prescribing
lex talionis
, imposing the same injury on the assailant as he inflicted upon his victim. However, Through midrashic interpretation, our Sages posited that what was intended was monetary compensation rather than corporal retribution. Rabbi Diamond continues and posits that the Rabbis were guided by a:
[F]undamental belief that God would not prescribe a punishment both useless and inhumane. Compassion is and must be a guiding force when pursuing justice.
The Rabbis understood well that the law is not always just. They struggled to counteract the inequities that are sometimes its result, and they were not indifferent to the claims of compassion-because they recognized that law (halakhah) is revealed to us through Torah, which we received as a consequence of God's love for us. Law itself can be an expression of love when it is meant to guide us toward the good and the holy. As we read in the blessing before the Shema in the morning liturgy: "You have shown us a great love...you taught [our ancestors] live-giving laws; so too, show us favor and teach us."
In our lives we need to be compassionate to those in need and, perhaps even more so to those who we do not think deserve our compassion. The Torah, itself, is a ripe field waiting to be harvested. We should commit to gathering her fruit, and sharing it with as many people as we can.
Shabbat Shalom - Rabbi Michael S. Jay
The Jewish Community Center of LBI 
