Holy Scrollers Preview - Parashat Emor 4/30/11

Holy Scrollers Preview
Parashat Emor: Leviticus Chapters 21-24
4/30/11
Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg

This Parasha basically brings to a close the priestly handbook theme of Leviticus, as the last two Parashot of the book will focus more on laws such as the sabbatical and the jubilee years – law related to land.

Leviticus Chapters 21-22 – Laws concerning the priests, specifically boundaries around contact with the dead, and who they may marry, and laws preventing priests with defects to offer sacrifices. Also includes laws regarding who may eat the sacrificial meat, and an injunction against offering animals with defects.

Chapter 23 – Here we have the calendar and rituals of major holidays, including Shabbat, the 3 Pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot,) and Shabbat.

Chapter 24 – Here we have some miscellaneous laws about lighting the menorah and the bread of display. And then we have the only narrative in this Parasha, the case of a fight between half-Israelite and an Israelite. The half-Israelite blasphemes God’s name, and Moses goes to God to find out what the punishment should be. It is the death penalty. All who heard the blasphemy are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole community stones him.

This Parasha gives us a picture of how a religious or a holy community functions. It sets standards and expectations for the religious leadership, as well as standards of scrupulousness on the part of Israelites participating in the sacrificial ritual. It sets the holiday calendar for the year, and it deals with how to handle blasphemy – someone who crosses the perhaps most important religious boundary – that of pronouncing the ineffable name of God.

One theme here is that of preserving a sense of wholeness or even perfection– neither the priest nor the animal he is sacrificing may have any physical defects. After all, the sacrifices are, in the word of this Parasha, God’s “lechem” or “bread,” and the priests are the ones who are bringing that food to God. We’ll explore what this standard of perfection means to us and why public religious leaders are held to this standard.

This Parasha offers what I would call “the way” to participate in the holy community of Israel. This “way” includes offerings to God and observing sacred times of year. This “way” is guarded and facilitated by priests who have to meet certain standards. Are these the ingredients we see as part of “the way” of holiness in our own lives? Do these standards of wholeness and perfection have any meaning for us today?