Emor (Speak)
Leviticus 21:1–24:23
· Special laws dealing with the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) and others who serve the Temple: he may not be in contact with a dead body; may not marry a divorcee or a woman with a promiscuous past, and he can only marry a virgin. A priest with a physical deformity cannot serve in the Holy Temple.
· Regarding animal sacrifice, a calf, lamb or kid must be left with its mother 7 days before being eligible to be an offering; one may not slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day.
· Emor contains the Callings of Holiness – outlines of how we are to bring the Passover offering; bring the Omer offering between Passover and Shavu’ot; celebrate Shavu’ot; blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana; fast on Yom Kippur and dwell in a hut for Sukkot.
One of the more famous, if not misinterpreted statements from Parasha Emor is: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…” (Lev. 21:8), which deals with compensation for physical harm inflicted by one person or upon another. It has often been misunderstood to mean that the Bible was in favor of crude vengeance. In fact, the rabbis of the Talmud (Baba Kamma 84a), reinterpreted this law to refer only to monetary compensation for the loss.
Emor includes the commandment to count each of the 49 days from the second night of Passover to the holiday of Shavuot. Fascinating in itself is the idea of each day counting as we moved from the Exodus to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. For example, we say that today is three plus thirty days, 4 weeks and five days of the Omer. Tradition has it that #33, Lag B'Omer, is an auspicious day for coming up with a personal plan of action. This is the day in history when life-sustaining manna started falling in the wilderness, when the first century CE revolt against Roman oppression began, and when the plague suffered by Rabbi Akiva's followers ended. It's also associated with the anniversary of the death of the reputed author of the Zohar Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Rabbi Robbi