Dvar Torah Parashat Emor

Dedicated for a Refuah Shelemah for Malka bat Simcha

By Ike and Stephanie Massry

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Parashat Emor

Chinuch

In this week’s parasha, the Torah discusses the Divine service placed upon the kohanim and a particular responsibility to maintain higher standards of holy behavior and purity than the rest of the nation. In the first passuk, the Torah uses a double lashon—redundant language. “Emor el hakohanim Bnei Aharon ve’amarta — Say to the kohanim the sons of Aharon and say to them.” Education in the home plays a pivotal role in a child’s development. It leaves an indelible imprint upon his character and attitude toward life religiously, socially, and philosophically.

As parents, we must understand the concept of chinuch before we can educate our children. The Vilna Gaon said that the way to educate is to fill the middle cup and let it spill over into the other cups. In other words, we, as parents, are the middle cup. By setting a good example, we ensure that our children will learn the proper way to act. It has been taught by many gedolim that the time to begin educating our children is not when they are four or five years old, but even before they’re born. In other words, first, we must work on ourselves to become good role models.

Consider a story that happened on a bus in Israel. Many schoolchildren got on the bus and were standing at the front to get their tickets punched. As each child’s ticket was punched, he moved to the back of the bus. One child was standing there, and the bus driver said, “Move! Go to the back!” The child said, “No, I can’t.” the bus driver then said, “Why not?” The child explained, “Because you didn’t punch my ticket.” The driver said, “Yes, I did.” The boy said, “No, you did not.” The driver angrily repeated, “Move!” and he reluctantly went to the back of the bus.

A few moments later, the bus driver looked in the mirror, and he saw the young boy crying in the back of the bus. The driver stopped the bus, walked to the back and he asked the child, “What’s wrong?” The boy said, “This is forbidden. This is theft. I can’t ride the bus. It’s stealing.” And he held out his card. The bus driver punched the card again and patted the boy on the head. This little seven-year-old, unbeknownst to him, did such a beautiful act of kiddush Hashem—sanctification of G-d’s name.

We have to teach our children, for example, that when they enter a building, they should look and see if there is an adult behind them, and if there is, they should hold the door for them; that they should not call adults by their first name; that they should speak with the refined language of a ben Torah or bat Yisrael. This is the element of respect that we must ingrain in our children.

We are to understand the tremendous responsibility and the incredible potential that the Torah puts upon na’arei Bnei Yisrael. We do not simply teach children now so that they will have good manners when they grow up. The story teaches us that these children can make a kiddush Hashem right now while they are still young.

If the parent or teacher is motivated purely by the student’s benefit, they will succeed. The relationship between adult and child is a very important factor in a child accepting the lesson, both at home as well as in school. A child must feel unconditionally accepted and loved. Rabbis in yeshivot often have this type of relationship with their students, a phenomenon that is rarely found in secular schools.

Rav Simha relates the story of a history professor in a large university who had to come to the yeshivah to say Kaddish for his father. The professor confessed to Rav Simha that he’s a lonely man now that he’s in his later years. The Rabbi asked him, “How many students have you taught in your forty years of teaching?” He did a calculation and came up with about 15,000 students. The Rabbi then asked, “How many have invited you to their wedding?” The professor replied, somewhat disheartened, “Not a single one.”

Imagine a student in a yeshivah not inviting his rabbi or rosh yeshiva to his wedding! It would be unheard of, because Torah is taught with love, and this creates a bond between the rabbi and the student. A rabbi views his students as his own children, and a close relationship is a natural consequence of this attitude.

The Kohanim

Because the kohanim--priests are designated to perform the holy services in the Bet Hamikdash, they have special rules they must follow so they don’t contaminate themselves. For example, at a funeral or in a hospital, they cannot be near a dead person unless it is their immediate family. That’s why even today, kohanim are not allowed to be in the same room as a deceased, and at a funeral, they must stay outside or in a special room that is designated for the kohanim.

Rabbi Hirsch comments on the next passuk, “You shall sanctify him,” explaining that the kohen is not merely an individual who acts as a representative of the Bet Hamikdash. Rather, he is responsible for the nation, and the nation is also obligated to compel him to remain true to his calling.

A kohen could not serve in the Bet Hamikdash if he was a baal mum--disabled. Is the Torah discriminating against disabled people? Of course not! The Torah would never condone such discrimination. The rule has less to do with the kohen himself and more to do with peoples’ nature because they won’t look at the kohen properly if they are distracted by a characteristic that marks him as different. The kohen is a chashuv—important person and has to be looked at that way by the people, as an elevated servant of Hashem. The true nature of people is that they would not look at the kohen properly if he had a missing limb or some other feature that stood out.

This is similar to a judge who wears a black robe in order to instill fear and respect in the people, so they will honor him. The underlying reason for all these laws has to do with the image the kohen is meant to project because he is to be treated and looked upon as royalty just as, lehavdil, a president or prime minister of a country would dress.

What Set Off The Mekallel?

Rav Yissocher Frand talks about the mitzvah of the Lechem HaPanim—showbreads in this week’s parasha (Vayikra 24:5-9). Each Shabbat, the Kohanim placed the twelve loaves on the shulchan—table where they remained for the entire week. The following Shabbat the Kohanim removed the loaves from the Shulchan, placed new loaves on it and ate the loaves that they removed.

Even though the bread lay on the table the entire week, the Talmud says that the bread remained fresh from Shabbat to Shabbat. Not only did it not become stale, but the bread also remained warm the entire week, as if it had just been baked. The Gemara (Chaggia 26b) writes that on the holidays, the Kohanim lifted the shulchan to show the fresh loaves to the people, saying, “See how dear you are before the Almighty — miraculously, the loaves are (a week later) in the same state that they were placed upon it.”

The Mishna in Avot (5:5) enumerates ten miracles that occurred in the Bet HaMikdash on a daily basis. For some reason, of all the miracles that took place in the Bet HaMikdash, only the fact that the twelve loaves stayed fresh the whole week was singled out to highlight the endearment of the Jewish people to the Almighty. Why? What is the symbolism of this?

Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin writes in his sefer, Pri Tzaddik writes that the Kohanim, and indeed the Ribono shel Olam were trying to send a message to Klal Yisrael. The twelve loaves corresponded to each of the twelve tribes. With this miracle, Hashem wants to say, “These challahs are so dear to me — they stay warm from one Shabbat to the next — because you are dear to me.” Each loaf, representing another tribe, symbolizes the love and endearment the Almighty feels for each segment of the Jewish people.

Classic Rabbinic literature emphasizes that the 12 tribes each had individualistic ways of serving the Ribono shel Olam. Even though we all have the same Torah and the same 613 mitzvot and despite the fact that we all believe in the same Master of the Universe, every tribe approached their Divine Service with different nuances of worship. For this reason, it is brought down in halacha that a shul should have twelve windows. The Magen Avraham and other commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch note that this symbolizes the fact that every tribe has a unique path to Heaven. Through each window, so to speak, passes the unique prayers of a different tribe of Israel.

If you look around Klal Yisrael today, you see that there is tremendous diversity within our nation. There are Chassidim, Misnagdim, Sephardim, and Ashkenazim. Within the Sephardim, there are Yemenites, Moroccans, Egyptians and Syrians — and they certainly do not all pray the same way! They all have their own nuances of nussach. Among Ashkenazim, there are Litvaks, Hungarians, Germans and the whole gamut of Klal Yisrael. As long as everybody abides by the Shulchan Aruch — whether they wear a Streimel or do not wear a Streimel, whether they wear a black hat or do not wear a black hat, all these nuances that we see today, are all the same to the Almighty.

This is the message of the twelve tribes and the twelve challahs: See how beloved you are before the Almighty. The Ribono shel Olam does not have a problem with our “differences” — as long as we are all keeping the same Torah.

Rav Tzadok says that now we can understand the next topic in the Torah. “The son of an Israelite woman went out — and he was the son of an Egyptian man — among the Children of Israel; they contended in the camp, the son of the Israelite woman and the Israelite man.” (Vayikra 24:10). The mekallel—blasphemer was “ticked off” by the passage describing the Lechem HaPanim. He said, “What kind of business is this? Is it appropriate to serve one’s King with week old bread? If this is the nature of this religion, I want to have nothing to do with it!” He then cursed the Name of G-d.

This is certainly strange behavior. Out of all the things in Torah that one might chose to take issue with, this mekallel focused on the Lechem HaPanim! What is this all about?

Rav Tzadok says that the mekallel was bothered by something other than the week-old bread. Those twelve challahs represent the sanctity of every one of the twelve tribes. This individual had no tribe because he did not have a Jewish father. He was therefore lacking in complete Kedushat Yisrael [full Jewish sanctity]. This is a classic example of sour grapes. The people are told, “See how dear you are before the Almighty” and he feels left out. He has a problem with G-d’s endearment with the members of the twelve tribes, because he does not possess that same sanctity. Therefore, his reaction is to curse the whole thing. This is what set off the mekallel.

We always read Parshat Emor between Pesach and Shavuot which we mourn the disciples of Rabbi Akiva, who died during this interval. Why did the students of Rabbi Akiva die? It is because they did not show proper respect towards one another. This is a very difficult teaching of Chazal to understand. How could Rabbi Akiva, who was the author of the teaching that “‘You shall love your fellow man like yourself’ is the greatest principle in the Torah,” have had thousands of students who did not show respect to one another? A person may speculate that the above-mentioned differences that always seem to manifest themselves may have caused these students to be a little intolerant of the practices of some of their fellow students.

Reading Parshat Emor, the incident of the mekallel and the story of the Lechem HaPanim during this period of the year sends an appropriate message during the days of Sefira. Even though someone else might serve Hashem differently, nevertheless, it does not matter to the Ribono shel Olam. All 12 tribes are dear to Him, so it should not make a difference to us either.

Todah—Thank You, Hashem

“And when you slaughter a zevach todah—thanksgiving offering to Hashem… It shall be eaten on that day; do not leave it over until morning (22:29-30).” Rabbi Biderman writes in Torah Wellsprings that the Chatam Sofer explains that this passuk describes the mitzvah of thanking Hashem, through its requirement of eating it immediately. Just as we should not wait to eat the korban todah the next day, so too should we not put off thanking Hashem. Sometimes, we think bad things happen to us, and later, we look back and discover how that incident really was for our benefit. We are obligated not to wait until we can see in hindsight that the event helped us, rather, we should “eat the korban today” and thank Hashem before the puzzle pieces come together. The Chatam Sofer explained with a story from the Gemara (Nidah 31).

A merchant was rushing to catch a ship to do business overseas. As he was running to the boat, he accidentally stepped on a thorn. The pain in his foot slowed him down, and by the time he arrived at the port, the boat had already set sail. He was very upset. “If it weren't for the thorn, I would have caught the boat,” he said, disappointed. Later, he found out that the ship had sunk. Now, he praised Hashem for His kindness, for placing the thorn in his path, thereby saving his life.

Rabbi Biderman continues, “It is easy to praise Hashem in retrospect. Our job is to praise Hashem when things look bad. We must believe that, even then, everything that happens to us is by Hashem's merciful providence and for our own good.” Don’t wait until tomorrow to “eat the korban.” Thank and praise Hashem today, even for things that might seem “inconvenient” or “unfair.”

May we all recognize our kohanim as our representatives when we have the Bet Hamikdash again. May we respect the memory of all the previous generations who died to make a kiddush Hashem, and whose pious acts have given us the opportunity to continue the Jewish Nation until this very day. Let us teach our children to be kindhearted people who sanctify Hashem’s name. May we also remember to be thankful to Hashem even when things seem tough because the solution is right around the corner! May we live every day to the fullest and take advantage of our amazing opportunities to do chessed. Amen!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Amram Sananes, written by Jack Rahmey

Discussion Point:

What are some ways that we can make a kiddush Hashem? Think about this with your children this Shabbat and discuss it with them at the Shabbat table.

This book is a compilation of Divre Torah from the weekly parasha classes from Rabbi Sananes’ teachings over the last 10 years along with my own experiences in those classes which has stimulated my Torah growth. I’ve included many pertinent stories and life lessons to grow from at your Shabbat table. There’s also questions and discussion points at the end of each Parasha to stimulate a Torah conversation at your Shabbat table for the whole family to participate in. Also, included is a holidays section at the end of the book to use for all of our special holidays and Yomiim Toviim.



Now available in all Jewish bookstores and Amazon!

I and Rabbi Sananes look forward to hearing your feedback.

Sincerely, Jack E. Rahmey and Rabbi Amram Sananes jrahmey@rahmeyfinancial.com (917-226-6276) and AmramSanases@me.com

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