Bulletin05.07.2011 - Emor

Emor
I
n this week’s portion of Emor, we
learn about the timely significant
mitzvah, namely the counting of
the Omer during this entire month
and for a total of 49 days between
Pesach and Shavuot.
The Torah portion however begins
with an address to Aaron and all of the
Kohanim who are considered to be
the servants of G-d, representing the
Jewish People to Almighty G-d by
bringing their offerings, and
representing G-d to the Jewish People
in accepting their offerings.
The standards set for the Kohanim are
extremely high to maintain the most
pristine level of holiness necessary to
properly serve in G-d’s sanctuary. In
this way, the Kohanim were unique
and different than the rest of the community. They were held
to higher standards, eligible to serve only when complying
with strict physical conditions. Their personal lives were
likewise limited both in whom they could marry and whose
funeral they could attend. This was mandated because the
Kohanim represented a segment of society that interacted
professionally with G-dliness on a regular basis, in a physical
manner as G-dliness manifested in the Beis HaMikdash. The
Kohanim never diminished or denied their difference and lived
according to the rules and regulations that underscored that
they were unique and different.
Though this Torah portion speaks to the genetic Kohanim, it
actually has a direct lesson to every single Jew who is also
referred to as a Kohain in the Book of Exodus stating, “and you
shall be for Me a Kingdom of Kohanim and a Holy People”. (Ch.
19 vs 6) The Talmud relates a story that indicates that the term
Kingdom of Kohanim here literally means behaving on a more
refined level as an actual King served a Kohain, referencing the
fact that they are “a nation of Kohanim”, of royalty. Every
single Jew, not only biological progeny of the tribe of Levi, is
included in that G-dly statement.
Maimonides extrapolates clearly in his laws of Shmita and
Yovel (Ch. 13 Law 13) “not only the tribe of Levi but any person
in the world whose spirit generously motivates him and he
wisely recognizes his need to set himself aside to stand before
G-d and serve Him, minister to Him and know Him, proceeding
correctly as G-d made him, removing the pressures of the
many machinations which people seek, he is sanctified as a
Holy of Holies. G-d will be his portion and heritage forever and
will provide what is sufficient for him in this world, as He
Weekly Message
Thoughts on the Parsha from Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar
provides for the Priests and the Levites.”
It is clear that every single Jew can be
categorized as a Kohain, being in a
critical sense unique and different.
Though throughout the generations
many Jews as a result of presumed and
real attitudes and actions of anti-
Semitism by their host countries,
whether overtly or covertly, felt that if
they would integrate into the
environment around them and give up
their uniqueness and Jewish identity,
they would not incur the negativity of
their neighbors. History has proven that
the unique and singular aspects of the
Jew that make him outstanding
transcends his behavior and his
assumed identity. The Holocaust
massacre underscores this as many who
were murdered because they were Jews
proclaimed and protested, claiming that
their direct ancestors were not Jewish
so they were not Jewish. A single
grandparent who was Jewish was enough to infuse them with
that Jewish uniqueness.
What makes us unique? What are the practicalities that make
us different? The pattern of our individuality and uniqueness
can be traced to our genesis when Abraham was rebelling
against his idolatrous society, and later when the Jewish
People were accused by Pharaoh to be a unique nation that
would rise up against them, as we were consistently accused
by multiple nations throughout history. This is true today, as
the standards by which the Jewish people and the Holy Land of
Israel are measured are completely beyond the pale of any
standards set by any country for similar circumstances. There’s
no Goldstone report on the criminal behavior of the American
forces in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. Nor was there one
regarding the indiscriminate slaughter of thousands in Syria,
Egypt, Libya, Yemen and other sub-Saharan countries. The
Goldstone investigation was initially sanctioned by the Jewish
people who were proud of how they conducted themselves in
times of war against avowed enemies. The entire world
expects the Jewish people to leave their homes in Judea and
Samaria and create a Judenrein country right next to the State
of Israel, 60 years after the Holocaust. No other people in the
world would be denied the opportunity to live anywhere as
free people. If any country in the world would declare their
place to be Judenrein, it would be considered illegal. And yet
the world supports that kind of a position.
Our uniqueness also manifests itself in the extraordinary
humanitarian efforts that Israel, in the midst of facing
enemies who pose an existential threat, send their finest
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