Parshat Emor 5756

This week's Torah reading, Parshat Emor, continues the instruction of the Kohanim, the priests. It also contains the passage, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: `Ele mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' -- These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals." The first of these festivals that is mentioned, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements." Next we read about the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then, in verse 15, "And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete. You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord." This verse is the origin of the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha'Omer, the seven-week counting of the sheaves from the night after the Passover to Shavu'ot.

As the line that is threaded between Pesakh and Shavu'ot, this mitzvah of the counting of the omer teaches that the primary goal of our redemption from Egyptian slavery was kabbalat HaTorah, Israel's receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Exodus from Egypt was only a prerequisite for the servitude that the Jewish people would accept at Mount Sinai. This strengthens and reinforces the concept of "Shalakh ami ve'ya'avduni -- let My people go that they may serve me" -- which is to say a concept of "freedom" which is not 'freedom from' work but 'freedom to' choose what kind of work and for whom the work should be done.

It is this concept that forms the basis for teaching that God freed the Israelites from Egypt "leshem kodsho" -- to make known His holy name, and not so that they may manifest some kind of national destiny. The whole idea behind leaving Egypt was to come to Sinai. We know that this is so because the text, after telling us of the argument that Moshe Rabbenu makes, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt,"

tells us that God promised Moshe, "I will be with you." The dialogue between God and Moshe does not end there. God informs Moshe that "this shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." In other words, the end of the mission will be proof of its worth. "Sof ma'ase bemakhshava tkhila -- the end of creation was first in mind."

It is abundantly clear from the text in the Torah that the purpose of God's freeing the Jewish nation from Egyptian slavery was not to create a political and social entity, but to establish "Mamlekhet kohanim ve'am kadosh -- a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." To be a political leader, a great reformer and liberator, there may have been many people more qualified than Moshe Rabbenu, but to be the teacher, the great interpreter of Torah for the Jewish people, Moshe was the most outstanding candidate. Only Moshe could lead the people to "serve God on this mountain." Indeed, a story is told, that Moshe was given a chance to visit a Torah school about a thousand years after he died. He went to a class of young children that were being taught by Rabbi Akiva. He sat unseen in class for a while and went back to God with tears in his eyes. "You have made an error, God!" He proclaimed. "Akiva is so profound in his understanding and teaching of Torah that I, myself, had a hard time understanding what he was saying to the little school-children... He should have been the one to give the Torah to Israel." God chided him and said, "Moshe, my servant, remember that Akiva was profound because he was teaching "Torat Moshe.""

The period of Sefirat Ha'Omer lasts seven times seven days. The seventh day is the Shabbat, God's gift for Israel which is the crowning glory of Torat Moshe. The Torah calls the counting "Sheva Shabbatot temimot -- Seven perfect Sabbaths." The time of the counting offers an opportunity to journey each day toward Mount Sinai. Each day counted brings us closer to Shavu'ot, strengthening our commitment to the Torah of Sinai. At the same time, the name of the holiday, "Shavu'ot," meaning weeks, can be pronounces "Sh'vu'ot," meaning vows, and referring to our commitment to follow Moshe's teaching. When we lose sight of the rich significance of Moshe's teachings, we become susceptible to accepting, God forbid, other, foreign and unacceptable teachings as a "new" or "reformed" Torah. There can be no such things for us. We must return to our roots, to our sources, and recommit to live in the spirit and the path of the teaching of Sinai. Anything else returns us to slavery in Egypt. Torah is the essence of our freedom, or our very being.

Amen.

Parshat Emor 5757

This week's Torah reading, Parshat Emor, Leviticus 21 to the end of 24, continues the instruction of the Kohanim, the priests. It begins with the words, "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Emor el hakohanim b'ney Aharon,' Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people." It also contains the passage, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: `Mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' – The appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons." The first of these festivals that is mentioned, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements." Immediately after that we read, again, "These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord seven days ye must eat unleavened bread." Finally, we read in verse 15, "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." This verse is the origin of the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha'Omer, the seven-week 'counting of the sheaves' from the night after the Passover to Shavu'ot.

There is a double message in the two quotes I gave you -- on the one side, the prohibition from 'defiling' ourselves with concerns for the dead -- and on the other, concerning ourselves with matters of holiness, as the celebration of the Shabbat and the Festivals and special days, such as the days of the counting of the Omer. One may look at the first quote and note that the text is specific for "hakohanim b'ney Aharon,' – the priests the sons of Aaron," but Rabbinic Judaism has long concluded that the exhortation to be a "mamlekhet kohanim ve'am kadosh – a kingdom of priests and a holy people" [Ex. 19:6] teaches us to apply most of the teachings of the rules of the kohanim to the entire people Israel.

Rabbinic Judaism also taught, in the days after the destruction of the second temple, that the primary goal of our redemption from Egyptian slavery was kabbalat HaTorah, Israel's receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Exodus from Egypt was only a prerequisite for the Jewish people to arrive at Mount Sinai, where they would accept the Torah and the servitude of God that living by the Torah entails. This strengthens and reinforces the concept of "Shalakh ami ve'ya'avduni – let My people go that they may serve me" -- which is to say a concept of "freedom" which is not 'freedom from' work but 'freedom to' choose what kind of work and for whom the work should be done.

It is this concept that forms the basis for teaching that God freed the Israelites from Egypt "leshem kodsho" – to make known His holy name, and not so that they may manifest some kind of national destiny. The whole idea behind leaving Egypt was to come to Sinai. We know that this is so because the text, after telling us of the argument that Moshe Rabbenu makes, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt,"

tells us that God promised Moshe, "I will be with you." The dialogue between God and Moshe does not end there. God informs Moshe that "this shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." In other words, the end of the mission will be proof of its worth. "Sof ma'ase bemakhshava tkhila -- the end of creation was first in mind." This same concept is perceived for celebrating the Shabbat -- God planned to have this day of rest, so He took six days to complete creation. "Sof ma'ase bemakhshava tkhila."

Note that twice in a matter of three verses we read the term 'appointed seasons' -- in the Hebrew the term is 'mo'ed.' The end of the second verse says, "ele mo'ada'y -- these are my seasons," and the beginning of the fourth verse says, "ele mo'adey Adona'y, -- these are the appointed seasons of the Lord." Being a member of the House of Israel, a Jew, means that one as a relationship with God, a relationship that goes back to creation and to the exodus from Egypt and arrival at Mount Sinai. Therefore, as a sign of our relationship with God, we must observe the seasons and the festivals that have been marked and consecrated by God. Mo'ed, it is suggested, should be read m'ed -- which means "from a witness." The honoring of the special times is a celebration from the witnesses to the great deeds of the Almighty. As we are taught, "vesamakhta b'khagekha veha'yita akh same'akh. -- And you shall be happy in your festival, and you shall be but joyous." The commentators explain, if you rejoice in the festival, you shall be happy at other times, too. May we always celebrate as we witness to His sovereignty.

Amen

Emor 5758

This week’s Torah portion is Emor, spanning chapters 21 to 24 of the book of Va’yikra, which is Leviticus. It begins with instructions for the priests, concerning their condition of purity that is necessary to serve in holiness before God in His sanctuary. The middle of the portion is the part that is read on all holidays from the second scroll of the Torah, for it lists the ‘appointed seasons’ of the Jewish calendar. Beyond their chronological significance, though, these verses hold a whole values system in their text. Listen:

"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy gatherings, these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work in it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy gatherings, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover..." [Lev. 23:1-4] You may well ask, what is so significant in this passage, which you may vaguely remember looking at during one holiday or another, and then dismissing as a mere formality of listing ‘dates to remember.’

The great sages of our people examined the Torah to find the profound in the simple. They looked not only at the text – but also at the way in which it is phrased, and the choice of words used to state what is obvious -- so as to raise it to a higher level. Thus, the sages point out that the first verse is not to be read as a proclamation but as a pledge of the relation between God and the Children of Israel. God says to Moshe: "The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy gatherings," the Israelites have free will and intelligence. They will determine when the new moon and the new month begin. They shall proclaim, ‘today is the first of the month,’ and I, the Lord, will accept their word and their celebration of all the holidays that are part of the history/life experience of the Jewish people. Therefore, "The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy gatherings, these are my feasts." You will not get interference from God, saying that Passover should begin a day sooner or a day later – whenever the Israelites will proclaim the holiday to be – that is the right day and date!

Yet the text does not stop here – it goes on to state, " Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work in it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." Coming at the end of the last verse concerning the holidays which will be proclaimed by the Israelites, one is tempted to suggest that even Shabbat will occur as Israel wishes – be it on Saturday or on Tuesday. Yet, this is just not so! We know well that God established Shabbat from the dawn of creation. We also learned our history in the story of the exodus from Egypt, and we are aware that as soon as the slaves were out of danger of Egyptian attack, and God gave them the Manna to eat, they were taught the lesson of the need to rest on Shabbat. Moshe explained to the people, " Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." [Ex. 16:25,26]

A closer examination of the two texts yields a very important and significant difference between the passage at hand and all past statements on the subject. The definitive statement was made, of course, at Sinai: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates;" [Ex. 20:8-10] What is different between this statement from Sinai and today’s text is that at Sinai we were told ‘sheshet yamim ta’avod va’asita kol melakha — Six days shall you labor, and do all your work;’ while here we are told, "Sheshet yamim te’ase melakha – Six days shall work be done." In Exodus the text speaks on the role of man in the world, "ta’avod" means ‘you shall work,’and ‘va’asita melakha’ means ‘you shall do work.’ In our present text the very nature of work is discussed ‘te’ase melakha’ means ‘shall work be done.’

Commentary suggests that ‘avoda’ is work while ‘melakha’ is holy work, work which comes from ‘mal’akh’ – angel! To celebrate the Sabbath requires preparation, both physical and spiritual. ‘sheshet yamim ta’avod va’asita kol melakha — Six days shall you labor, and do all your work;’ This is the physical preparation, the cleaning of the home, the preparing of foodstuff, the setting up of candles and wine and everything that is needed for the mitzvot of Shabbat as the sages taught, "mi shelo tarakh be’erev Shabbat to yokhal beshabbat. – He who has not labored on Sabbath eve will not eat on the Sabbath." "Sheshet yamim te’ase melakha – Six days shall work be done," Refers to spiritual preparation. A person who does not ‘reach for the angels’ all week – who does not practice mitzvot, will not find pleasure in Shabbat. Shabbat is the one, and only, day consecrated by God and made His holy day. The other holidays are days which "you shall proclaim to be holy gatherings," that is – they are consecrated of Torah and of Israel. Shabbat is above and beyond all these holidays, which may be compared to it, and measured by it. They will never achieve its sanctity – for it is divinely ordained.

May we learn to live our lives in such a way that we are privileged to draw near to God every day to know Him and be blessed with the rest of His Shabbat.

Amen

Parshat Emor 5759

This week's Torah reading, Parshat Emor, Leviticus 21 to the end of 24, continues the instruction of the Kohanim, the priests. It begins with the words, "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Emor el hakohanim b'ney Aharon,' Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people." [Lev. 21:1] It also contains the passage, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: `Mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' -- The appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons." [Lev. 23:1] The first of these festivals that is mentioned, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements." [Lev. 23:3] A little further in the portion we read, "'And if a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. 'Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death. 'There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.'" [Lev. 24:19-22]

There is no question nor controversy over the first two items I mentioned. All scholars agree that the rules of defilement of the priests is laudable. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and how our priests mourn for their dead is nobody's business but their own. Nor do we have a problem with establishing Jewish holiday practices from the Shabbat to the least of the holidays. However, when it comes to laws of just compensation for a misdeed that concerns personal injury -- well, there we have a real problem! Indeed, we have been called barbarians for verses 19 to 22 in Leviticus 24! Yet, we Jews have not accepted this judgement, nor do we read this text to mean just what others seem to see in it!

Our sages began their discussion of this passage from the end -- pointing out that one thing about this entire passage, maybe the most important, is its universality! The Jewish people, in the matter of judgement and compensation of injury, are told that "There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native." You cannot say that a Jewish victim is more in pain, more missed if he dies, than a non-Jew. For that, and for that alone, you already have to laud the passage. However, that is not the end of the matter.

Our sages point out that Jewish law is nothing if not perfectly just. On that there can be no dispute. Even the words that we find so supposedly 'primitive and barbaric' are, in the most elementary reading, are 'correct' and just. "'And if a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him'" There must never be a situation when for a small injury a big punishment shall be exacted. Therefore, "'fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.'" One reads, and must understand fracture for fracture,

and no more than that; eye for eye, and no more than that; tooth for tooth, and no more than that! So, basically, the law, as a law, is just. Now we have to look more closely at its application.

Accepting that the law is just, how does it apply to a practical situation? One would think that eye for eye means that if you cause a person to lose an eye, one of your eyes will be put out. However, the sages said, what of a person who has one eye? Would it be just to remove the only eye he has, rendering him blind, when he only caused his 'victim' to lose the sight in one eye, so that he still could see? The sages looked further into the text and said, "'Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good,'" this is what the text says, "make it good." This means payment, not an actual physical replacement. The same must then apply to the eye, the tooth or any other injury, even to death that is accidental.

That this is a correct reading of the text is manifest when we read of the establishment of "cities of refuge" where a person who killed accidently could escape to, so as to avoid those who wish to take revenge for the death of their relative. If we establish, by God's command, places where a person can escape, the text we have here, "'but the one who kills a man shall be put to death,'" means that the death penalty will be mitigated by judgement. Murder shall be punishable by death, but manslaughter will only require exile (to the city of refuge) and a payment of damages to the family of the slain.

Finally, we can put the passage in its proper perspective, and we can see just how much we owe our God. "'There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.'" Praised be He, and fortunate are His people.

Amen

Emor 5760

Emor 5762

The reading in the Torah this week is Parshat Emor, Leviticus 21 to the end of 24. The text continues the instruction of the Kohanim, the priests. It begins with, "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Emor el hakohanim b'ney Aharon,' Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people." [Lev. 21:1] It goes on to say, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: `Mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' -- The appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons." [Lev. 23:1] It is interesting to note that the first of these "festivals" that is mentioned is, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements." [Lev. 23:3]
The great teacher and commentator, Rashi, asked: "What business has Shabbat with "Mo'adey adona'y " - the Appointed Times of the Lord?" And he answered and said that it teaches us that observing the Festivals is akin to observing Shabbat - and vice versa. What is that all about? What lesson do we learn from this text to carry with us in our daily life in the year 2002?
I am firmly convinced that Judaism, as I see it in its entirety, from its beginning with Abraham through the experience of Sinai, through the generations that lived in the Promised land to the two millennia of exile, is an exercise in the art of building families and communities and closing the generation gap to ensure that an ancient faith, culture and tradition are passed on from father to son and mother to daughter with minimal disruption. In spite of much hardship and travail, no other method of living has so celebrated life amid a devotion to spiritual values. Judaism's longevity and continued success stems from a spiritually based philosophy that is concerned primarily with life in this world, rather than concern for the hereafter.
Shabbat is the cornerstone of Jewish existence. We consecrate the coming of Shabbat with the candles and the wine in the home. The words of the Kiddush say, "Praised are You Adonai Our God, who rules the universe, instilling in us the holiness of mitzvot and cherishing us by granting us His holy Shabbat lovingly, gladly, a reminder of creation. It is the first among our days of sacred assembly that recall the Exodus from Egypt." These words, from the Hebrew liturgy, teach and remind us that we are the Almighty's children, from creation, and His servants, redeemed from Egypt to do Him honor and glory.
Humanity must have values by which to live. A healthy life is one in which we balance responsibilities and benefits by setting priorities. Those things which are eternal and valuable must be placed before the ephemeral and superficial. The most valuable possession we have is life, which is extended to the second and third cycle - parents, kids - family. To be sure, life is finite for us - it has a beginning and an end. We can plan when it will begin, and we can try to extend it by proper care, nutrition and preventive and proactive medicine. The question of continued existence - like career and success, like home and community - are all secondary. Existentially, life is a constant "now." A day of rest every week, God has revealed to us, is essential in retreating from the bustle of every day life in order to reconsider priorities and rejuvenate the spirit. Judaism is solely responsible for teaching humanity that rest has a higher function than simply facilitating more work. We do not rest in order to work better or be more productive - we do it to worship and commune with our Maker. This is the idea of celebrating Shabbat as "a reminder of creation." Shabbat is an uninterrupted celebration of values: love, friendship, learning, and peace.
Shabbat is also a reminder of a basic Jewish teaching in the brotherhood of mankind and the kinship of all living things. We all emanate from a single Source - Ribon HaOlamim, Master of the Universe. At the revelation at Sinai, God spoke to Israel concerning the Shabbat, "Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy." [Ex. 20:9-11] This was not the first time Israel was instructed to celebrate Shabbat - but it was the first time the blanket was spread to cover "manservant, maidservant, cattle, and stranger." Thus it was affirmed that humanity is one family, responsible for each of its members. Because we are all children of the one God, there is hope that all humankind can live together in peace and harmony. An all-encompassing unity is at the heart of creation. It is the way God planned it - why He chose to labor for six days and hallow the seventh day as a Shabbat. There are no opposing forces at odds in the universe. There is no "kingdom of Evil" nor a fallen angel who opposes God. There is a harmony in God's plan and its execution. Only man, with free choice, can oppose his Maker. Celebrating Shabbat teaches us to live in harmony with God's plan.
The universality of God's teaching concerning the Shabbat is a most potent message of the equality and infinite value of all human beings and their dignity, which must be upheld and protected by all. We note that the text of the Kiddush says, "by granting us His holy Shabbat lovingly, gladly," and we realize that our relationship with God, which will be mirrored in our relationship with His creation, must be one of love. Each and every human is special and irreplaceable - as is every living thing that God created. Our worth is not judged by our possessions, but by our divine, immortal soul. Human life is sacred. This belief is derived from the statement in Torah that man was created in the image of God. Because we establish a relationship of love with God, we must extend it to all of His creation. We must abandon all enmity and hatred, and accept our fellow creatures in harmony and peace as part of the Master's plan for this world. The hope which nourished hundred of generations of downtrodden and persecuted Jews, that gave them the strength to struggle and continue to live, is that at the end of the road God's sovereignty will be recognized by all, and peace shall be established for all to enjoy.
On Friday evening, we sing "Ahavat Olam," which teaches us, "With constancy You have loved Your people Israel, teaching us Torah and mitzvot, statutes and laws... For they are our life and the length of our days; we will meditate on them day and night. Never take Your love from us. Praised are You Adonai, who loves the people Israel." For the privilege of being Your people, bearers of your message, this day as every day of our lives, we thank You and we praise you.
Amen

Emor 5763

This week's Torah reading, which is called Emor, begins in the 21st chapter of the book of Va'yikra, meaning "and He called," and which is also called "Torat Cohanim – the Priestly Teaching," and is called Leviticus by the rest of our countrymen, and goes on to chapter 24. The text begins with instruction for the priests – continuing the instruction of the Cohanim, the priests, which is the theme of the whole third book. The name comes from the first verse, "And the Lord said to Moses, "Emor" – Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall be none defiled for the dead among his people; But for his kin, who is near to him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, And for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, which has had no husband; for her may he be defiled." [Lev. 21:1-3] This portion teaches us the order of ‘avelut' – mourning. The direct relatives mentioned in our text, parents, siblings and children are the immediate family for whom we must ‘defile' ourselves, meaning that we stop our routines to take cognizance of death in our lives. For them alone – we must not make a fetish out of death, either to mourn too much, or to become a worshipper of the dead.
Our text also contains the passage, "Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, ‘Ele mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy gatherings, these are my feasts." [Ibid. 23:2] -- The first of these festivals that is mentioned, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work in it; it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." [Ibid. 23:3] Next we read about the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (following the Night of the Passover), and then the text continues, "15. And you shall count from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete;
16. To the next day after the seventh sabbath shall you count fifty days; " [Ibid. 23:15,16] This verse is the origin of the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha'Omer, the seven-week counting of the sheaves from the night after the Passover to Shavu'ot.
As the time that is counted from the day after the night of the Passover to the eve of the second pilgrimage holiday, Shavu'ot, this mitzvah of counting the omer should remind us that the primary goal of our redemption from Egyptian slavery was NOT to break the yoke of responsibility that is evident by work – but rather, it was kabbalat HaTorah, Israel's receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Exodus from Egypt was only a prerequisite for the servitude that the Jewish people would accept at Mount Sinai. This strengthens and reinforces the concept of "Shalakh ami ve'ya'avduni -- let My people go that they may serve me" -- which is to say a concept of "freedom" which is not 'freedom from' work but 'freedom to' – to choose what kind of work we would be involved in, and for whom the work should be done.
Notice that the first "festival of the Lord" that is mentioned is "the seventh day [that] is the sabbath of rest" – and the preparation to receive the Torah lasts for a period of "seven times seven" days, making the time of receiving the Torah a kind of Shabbat of Shabbat of God, a time of sharing His most precious creation – the Torah.
God took the Israelites out of Egypt "leshem kodsho" -- to make known His holy name, and not so that they may manifest some kind of national destiny. The whole idea behind leaving Egypt was to come to Sinai, to commit ourselves in every generation to God and his teaching. And because of that, because of the lofty ideas and ideals that are presented in the Torah to be implemented by Israel in their holy task of serving God, we are obliged to dedicate ourselves to the service of humanity and of this world which God created. That, and only that, explains why we have gone on through all the generations and remained creative, optimistic, and relatively sane. We knew, by faith, that whatever our enemies do to us, in the eyes of God we remained a unique people, a dedicated people, committed to "tikun olam" – the improvement of God's creation. Given half a chance, we acted positively, inspired others to be creative, and promoted the arrival of the age of universal law and order, cooperation and mutual respect.
The counting of the omer, in the midst of which we are at this time, reminds us that life is not a series of targets – it is a process. One day joins the one that comes after it, and we become more and more ready. The green fields of wheat and barley turn to a golden brown, the tension mounts as we look at days that are too sunny, and days that threaten rain and wind. We look for moderation in society as the farmer looks for moderation in the weather. Day after day the harvest gets closer. May God grant us exactly what is needed to arrive at a good harvest. May we, who have sown in tears aplenty – harvest in joy and celebratory singing.
Amen
Shabbat Shalom

5765

This week's Torah reading, Parshat Emor, Leviticus 21 to the end of 24, begins with the words, "And the Lord said unto Moshe, 'Emor el hakohanim b'ney Aharon,' Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people." [Lev. 21:1] Later on in the portion we come across the passage, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: `Mo'adey adona'y asher tikre'u otam' -- The appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons." [Lev. 23:1]
As you can well imagine, the issue of defiling the priests is not really a big problem these days, except for the very orthodox who do not attend funerals nor visit cemeteries because of their priestly origins. As for the "appointed festivals" - well, we all know them, we have celebrated them and some that are not in the book: Purim, Khanukkah, and our "American" holidays of Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.
Our priests (Kohanim) have had to mourn for their dead every bit as much as the rest of us in over two millennia of wanton persecution and murder. Many have been defiled by their dead – and many died defiled and unclean. Even in the beginning of our national existence we had those who perished in war, as exemplified by our first king, Saul, and his three sons who died in a lost battle for Israel with the encroaching Philistine enemies on Mount Gilbo’a. David mourned king Saul and his son, Yehonatan, his youthful friend, "Sha’ul and Yehonatan were loved and dear in their lives, and in their death they were not divided." [II Samuel 1:23]
This line was lifted from its place of origin, and became part of the prayer for martyrs of Israel, and linked generations of heroes and scholars who lived and died for the love of Torah and the Land of Israel, the choice land, the promised land, the land God had given to us – in Hebrew eretz Yeho natan.
I first made the connection on Bicentennial Day – July 4, 1976. I will never forget that day. How can anyone ever forget that day? The bicentennial of our country – an auspicious occasion, to be sure. A special day for my dear wife and me, as we celebrated that Sunday the naming of our third child, Naomi. We had a reception at the synagogue, and in the midst of the special service the phone rang, and we were informed by an excited voice of an absent congregant, "They’ve done it! Israel sent their commandoes to Entebe and rescued the Israelis and other Jewish hostaged that were held in the heart of Africa by terrorists." Hours later, at home, watching a special report, we became aware that the rescue had been paid for with blood – Yehonatan Natanyahu, commander of the mission to save the hostages, was killed in the action.
How strange, I thought, as I mourned publicly and privately a young man I had known in Israel with family connections in my congregation in Pennsylvania, remembering David’s lament: "I am distressed over you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me;" [Ibid. 1:26] And again I was taken aback by the coincidence of his name, Yehonatan Natanyahu, and I thought of Mattetyahu’s Yehonatan, the brother of Yehuda, the Maccabee, who gave his life in the battle for the survival of Judaism and the Jewish homeland in the days of Antiochus, the Greek Assyrian king who wished to Hellenize all the Jews.
"The appointed festivals of the Lord " that we find in our portion this week do not include Yom HaSho’ah, Holocaust Memorial day. Neither do they include Israel’s "Fourth of July," Yom Ha’atzma’ut. In determining the national calendar for the infant State of Israel, with forethought that it would also become the Jewish calendar of Jews outside the state, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime-minister of Israel – who was not a religious Jew by any means, none-the-less understood the importance of embracing symbolism and symbols that would instill and uphold the meaning of the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel so that the nation, once free, would never forget the cost of powerlessness nor take its autonomy for granted. Thus it was that he fixed the day before he declared Israel's independence, the fourth day of Iyar, to be a special day on which Israel would remember the men and women who have died giving birth to and defending the country from its early struggle to all future generations. This day, called Yom Hazikaron, would come every year a mere week after Yom Ha’sho’ah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we remember the six million Jews murdered so heinously and brutally in the Holocaust, whose end came two years and one week earlier.
Unfortunately, memories of the wars and the heroes who fought to bring us victory against the intractable foes, in the battle against Nazism in Europe and the war forced upon the Jews in mandatory Palestine-Eretz Yisrael in an attempt to prevent the Jews from regaining their independence are fading quickly from the public’s mind. We seem to forget that the heroic sacrifices of those who have fought them have bequeathed to us, who live today, the freedom that we so often take for granted.
Not so in Israel. At eleven o’clock in the morning, throughout the land, the sirens wail for two solid minutes. Men, women and children, Jews, Christians, Moslems, and all others, stop everything they do; Buses and cars stop where they are; except for the infirmed, everyone stands at attention, for as long as the wail of the siren continues. The sound of the siren is sharp and piercing, its cold fingers reaching people in the pits of their stomachs, in the secret recesses of their heart, to pinch, to tear, to hurt and to command: remember!
And we recall – we recall them all, from the ones killed by the Amalekites in the desert, coming out of Egypt, to the youths who drowned in a boat too small to put to sea coming out of Morocco; from the victims of Greek Assyrian armies in the second century before the Common Era, to the victims of the huns in the Greek city of Salonika, every last one of them murdered by Zyklon B gas at Auschwitz; from the Ten Rabbis tortured to death in the days of Emperor Hadrian, to the thirty-five youths killed in the Hills of Hebron by an Arab mob because they did not have the heart to kill an old shepherd they encountered on their path to bring first aid and succor to four besieged villages; from the victims of the Inquisition in Spain, to the victims of the bombing of the Jewish Community center in Argentina. Israel is Judaism’s tear duct, and it can’t stop crying. We remember on Rosh Hashannah, and we remembers of Yom Kippur. We have Yizkor on the Pilgrimage holidays, Yahrzeits every day of the year, special memorials on Yom Hasho’ah, and of course, on Yom Hazikaron.
Possibly, this is the secret of our survival. As long as we remember, our dead are gone but not forgotten. Because they are not forgotten, they add to our numbers. We are so much more than our mere numbers. We are the sum of all the Jews that even lived, throughout all the ages. We are a memory of the past, a celebration of the present – and yes, the promise of a much better time that is still to come. That is why, even as we cry, even as we rend our clothes in deep sorrow for those who perished, we weave new cloth, we prepare new fineries to celebrate happy occasions: holidays and feasts, Sabbaths and happy life-cycle events – births, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings in fulfillment of God’s promise that the seed of Abraham shall be as numerous as the sand on the sea-shore.
When a death occurs, we say "adona’y natan v’adona’y lakakh – the Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. Praised be the name of the Lord." We have faith that He always gives more, much more than what He takes away.

Amen. Shabbat Shalom

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