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Torah Portion -
Emor
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Written by d fine
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There is an interesting and important machlokes between Rashi and the Chizkuni in our sedra regarding when the festival that we call ‘Pesach’ starts. The strict reading of 23:5-6 would have us believe that ‘Pesach’ is actually a one-day festival on the 14th Nissan, and the next seven days welcome a festival called ‘Chag Hamatzos.’ These are the psukim: ‘on the first month on the 14th day of the month in the afternoon is Pesach for HaShem (5). ‘And on the 15th day of this month is Chag Hamatzos for HaShem; for seven days you shall eat matzos’ (6). The Chizkuni indeed understands the psukim this way; according to him, there is a festival in the afternoon of the 14th Nissan called Pesach. Indeed, the Gra is of the same opinion - thus, when the 14th Nissan falls on a Friday, the Gra writes that we do not say viyhi no’am on the preceding motzai Shabbos (an omission reserved for when a festival falls during the following week). However, Rashi 23:5 is of the opinion that the Torah does not mean to institute a festival on the 14th called Pesach. Rather, ‘Pesach for HaShem’ in the pasuk simply means that we are to offer the korban pesach on the 14th. [The Gra asks on Rashi that the psukim here are dealing with the Mo’adim, and not korbanos]. That’s a decent machlokes for you to impress your friends with then!
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Torah Portion -
Emor
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Written by d fine
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The introduction to the perek-long listing of the various festivals tells us that ‘these are the Mo’adim of HaShem which you shall call ‘holy callings…’’ (23:2). What does it mean to ‘call’ a festival? The Rashbam explains that this ‘calling’ means that we must fix the times of the Mo’ed. As the gemarra highlights, the beis din are supposed to fix the day of Yom Tov by declaring and fixing the month. Indeed, this naming/declaring of the date fixes the kedusha of the day in that it allows the kedusha to ‘come down’ on the appointed day - which is why we say mekadesh Yisrael ve’hazmanim in our Yom Tov davening. Shabbos, in contrast, is fixed by HaShem - so we say mekadesh haShabbos in our davening; there’s no reference to Yisrael there, for the day of Shabbos is automatically holy, without it being fixed by us. The Sforno gives us another explanation of the ‘calling’ here. He explains that it refers to the gathering of the people together for holy matters. This is similar to the explanation of the Ramban here, that ‘calling’ means that the people are called to gather in the Mikdash on the festival (aliyah le’regel). So amongst the commentators we have seen a good mixture of bein adam le’makom and bein adam le’chaveiro explanations of the word ‘calling.’
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Torah Portion -
Emor
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Written by D Fine
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The Netziv (32:43) quite correctly asks why, when our sedra speaks about the festival of Sukkos, does it put the mitzvah of the 4 minim ('species') before the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah? Given that the festival is named after the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah (and a name is the essence of a thing), surely that mitzvah should be put first? Not only that, but chronologically, the mitzvah of sukkah comes first - it's from the first night of sukkos - whilst the mitzvah of the 4 minim does not begin until the following morning. So why IS the mitzvah of the 4 minim put first?
Perhaps one can draw upon the Midrash to reveal an answer here. The Midrash remarks that the 4 minim represent weapons of a battle - signifying our victory in the judgment of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. When we hold our lulav
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Torah Portion -
Emor
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Emor – Sanctification or Desecration... You Choose
This week's Parasha is Emor in which we continue our 'holy' theme from the latter of our double parasha last week which was of course Kedoshim. Whereas Kedoshim dealt mainly with the commandments that the entire nation should strive to become holy and brought down the broad range of activities that brings one to this, the Torah now turns to the Kohanim, who according to the Ibn Ezra, have a particular responsibility to maintain higher standards of holy behaviour and purity due to the divine service which they are privileged to perform.
So the first restriction specified by the Torah so that the Kohanim should remain holy is the law that they “shall not contaminate themselves to a dead person among their people” [21:1]. Dead bodies have an impurity called טמא/tum'a
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Torah Portion -
Emor
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Written by Rafi Jager
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Included in its discussion of the Yomtovim throughout the year, this week's parsha lists the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer, to count the days and weeks from the second day of Passover until Shavuot. Let us raise a question on the nature of this mitzvah in which we are presently involved. We were just redeemed from Egypt on Pesach, as Hashem brought us from slavery to freedom. At first glance, we would assume that this remarkable redemption was the ultimate goal, as Hashem saved us from our enemies while at the same time making His existence known to the world. Why, all of a sudden, after this great milestone has been reached, do we begin counting towards another event?
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