D'var

Parashat Emor
Vayikra (Leviticus) 21:1-24:23
SecondTriennial Torah Reading: Vayikra 22:17-23:22

Thoughts on Parashat Emor: “Teach Your Children Well”

Summary

Parashat Emor specifies holiness as it pertains to the Cohanim (Priests).  Here, the Torah discusses behavioral and physical disabilities that disqualify the Cohanim from sacred service -- specifically from approaching the altar or making sacrificial offerings.  Distinctions are made, with the intention of upholding priestly status, defining what animals are unfit and protecting against the desecration of God’s name.  Apart from Shabbat, God’s appointed Festivals are then named -- Pesach, the seven-week period for counting the Omer, the 50th day after the Omer (Shavuot), Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.  Next the Torah reviews objects that go inside the Tent of Meeting -- the Menorah, on which lamps burn continually, from evening until morning and too, the Table and the twelve Loaves of Bread with incense.  The portion ends with law, common for everyone -- not to desecrate God’s name and at the same time, to administer nefesh tachat nefesh -- a life for a life, an eye for an eye, in making restitution for damages.
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In Leviticus 23, our attention turns to the calendar of Jewish festivals. Most relevant to the time of year in which we find ourselves (especially as we celebrate Lag Ba’omer [the 33rd day of the Omer] this week), is the description of Shavu’ot. We are commanded to count off seven weeks and then “you will bring a new offering of grain to the Lord. You will bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering . . . ” (Lev. 23:16–17). How may we understand this offering of new grain and the two loaves that are presented to God on the festival of Shavu’ot?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch comments, The omer was brought from barley flour. But barley does not really represent human food but animal feed. The omer of barley merely represents physical existence which is granted by possession of the land. It is only on the fiftieth day, after the seven week counting of the days and weeks of the God acknowledging struggle toward purity . . . that the Jewish nation approaches the altar of its God with the real human food, bread made from wheat. And this bread is hametz. It bears the stamp of social political freedom and independence, possessions which the Jewish People never originally had . . . It is the two loaves which represent Jewish national existence and independence; they also ensure the existence of the individual. (Hirsch, Commentary on Leviticus, 664)

Hirsch’s explanation is insightful. Although the omer is centered on the ripening of barley, the process is incomplete. Barley represents the physical without the soulful side. Thus, according to Samson Raphael Hirsch, Torah ordains the presentation of two loaves of bread at the end of the 49 days. The loaves are made from wheat. The entire process of making hametz becomes symbolic of freedom, independence, and rootedness in one’s own land. When the Israelites left Egypt, they could not tarry, and so matzot (unleavened bread) became their sustenance. Now that they have been gifted with the Land of Israel, they demonstrate wholeness and freedom through the baking of leavened bread. Time is now on their side; and more importantly, the baking of bread is one of the ultimate symbols of human-divine partnership.

A Commentary by Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, Director of Israel Programs, JTS