Emor

                                                    The Law

Torah is a blueprint.  And like all blueprints, it contains only the broad outlines of the building to be erected.  What kind of doors, décor, and ceiling will be determined later.

That same definition applies to our reading this week, Emor.

We will hear, “a wound for a wound, a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.”  This passage is often understood to mean just what it states. It was never interpreted that way in Judaism.  

A society that carries out such a practice (a similar law can be found in Hammurabi’s code) will be largely toothless and blind.

Our faith system is one that is based on the Oral Law and Written Law.  The latter is the Torah as we read it each week.  The former is an oral tradition that dates back to Mt Sinai.  Handed down from generation to generation it fills in the needed gaps to explain the meaning of the Torah.  Known as the Mishna (literally “that which is repeated”) it is the source for understanding the terse scripture.  

In our passage, the Oral Law understands that a person who has been maliciously wounded requires compensation.  How much should she be compensated?  The court needs to assess the utility and value of the aggrieved.  “An eye for an eye” means the court needs to place a value for the life-long disability of that particular person, shame the person suffers along with medical costs. 

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davar acher                                            


                                         The Way of the Holy

How do we become holy?

There is an avalanche of hundreds of books promising a holy, elevated life cropping up everywhere. People are hungry to learn the path to holiness. Each religious group has its own book and manual to point the way. What is the Jewish response? What is the authentic Jewish way of holiness?

Torah portions in Leviticus are filled with examples of holiness. Emor is no exception. Here are some samples:

-Kohanim must remain holy by conducting the sacrifices in a proper way, not making
intentional scars in their flesh and remaining pure. 21:6
-Those who touched blood, or who are exposed to death, may not come near the
Sanctuary. 22:1-8
-Laws of martyrdom are given to remain holy even in death. 22:32
-Days of meeting God are finely detailed as a means of becoming holy. 23:1
-The Festivals must be remembered and observed. 23:4-44

There are numerous examples of ways in which holiness can be accessed. A single strand of thought runs through them all, intention.

Unlike deep, mysterious and mystical texts, the Torah is deliberate in laying out the foundation of a holy life. Holiness is not, as we might suspect, meditating out in the wilderness or an obscure coded text that needs to be deciphered.

Chaim Vital, Kabbalist of 16th century Safed wrote a small introduction to prayer. “Before one begins one’s prayer, one must say, ‘Behold, I accept upon myself the commandment of you shall love your neighbor like yourself.’”

Holiness begins when we take seriously our relationship to God and world. Reaching out to God through prayer is not abstract; prayer is not a magical incantation. The petitioner does not utter some lofty words in a vacuum. Real prayer does not exist outside of physical action! Our mouth is an echo to the path that our feet tread. Prayer is not entirely in the hands or feet either. The heart, head, mouth and hands have to work together.

Vital teaches that prayers commence with a concrete statement of responsibility towards other people. “Behold, I accept upon myself the commandment…” That is why holy men and women in Judaism do not live in hermitages. Their thoughts have to correlate to their actions; they must translate them into deeds.

That is why a holy life begins with intention. By the way, the word intention in Hebrew translates as kavanah, which we often think of as fervency in prayer. It is not. Kavanah is simply intention. It is will and focus. With a serious attitude that translates into an act, we become holy.

When the kohen refrains from becoming tamey, impure, because that is what God wants, the kohen becomes holy. That is kavanah. When he refuses to mark his flesh as the other peoples do, he stays holy (the modern equivalent would be tattoos. Much in vogue now people see tattoos as marks of beauty.) Yet, Torah deliberately forbids such markings of the flesh. So, in the instance where a person desires to adorn their body with a tattoo but does not because they are following God’s dicta, they are holy. This too, is kavanah. Again, it is doing the Will of the Almighty with a heart that is invested in the work of the hands.

It is not enough to mourn the loss the Jew must also care for the dead. It is not enough to know that lashon ha-ra is evil we must fight against it. While it may be enticing to eat trafe the way of the holy is to refrain from eating forbidden things. Kavanah is the beginning of holiness.

The power of the next Holy Day, Shavuot is remarkable. Ruth, the heroine of the story, is a Moabite. The Moabites were the enemy. First mentioned in Genesis 19: 32-38 the Moabites remained irritants of the Jewish nation for centuries. Numbers 25 specifically regulates the interaction with them. Yet, a member of that tribe, Ruth, not only married a Jewish man but would ultimately bring about the greatest king in the history of Israel, David.

What is the moral of the story? We can become anything, even holy. We can rise above our inclinations. We can overcome our past; we can transcend our baggage. The reason why Ruth is such a powerful book and story is read on the anniversary of the Giving of the Torah is because even this Moabite woman, who had everything against her, came under the wings of God and changed the story of the Jewish people forever.

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Davar Achar

Emor, VaYikra (Leviticus) 21

                                         The Dark Side

Star Wars is big. The next installment comes out in a few weeks. The Web and fans have been flooded by speculation on the movie. Pages of every newspaper and magazine the world over are devoted to it. Some think it will be the best, most profitable film of all time. What makes the Star Wars movies so attractive? Why will millions of people see it? It speaks of the most basic human principles.

All students of Judaism have learned about the Yetsers: the yetser haTov and the Yetser haRa. They are two opposing forces that exist in all. The Yetser haTov is the urge to do good. It is the part of us, which beckons to do mitzvot, and acts of Hesed. The Yetser haTov is what makes someone you do not know suddenly come to your defense as the playground bully pushes you around or the office nasty puts out more venom. It is what makes us do things that may not help us but definitely are good for someone else.

  >Idea: Think of someone who once helped you.
What does this make you feel now?

Now the Yetser HaRa, on the other hand, is the oppositional force. It is like an animal that wants to run wild and knows no boundary. We have all had experience with this one. It screams uncontrollably. It hurts. And wants revenge. The Yetser HaRa tramples on feelings. It’s in them and us.

The Yetser HaTov and HaRa are opposing forces. They vie for domination. Here comes the Star Wars part. Both the Dark Side and the Force are the Yetsers in us. They are potential. While each of us is born with them in us, we are called upon to bring them out. More importantly, we must recognize their existence.

There are things in this world that do not belong to us. That does not mean that we cannot own them, but we are not supposed to have them. HaShem asks us to keep separate good and evil, light and dark. Like in Star Wars, both are powerful forces. Yet one is good, the other evil. Our job is to recognize that they are distinct.

These are some of the other radical differences in the world wih which this Sidra is concerned. For example.
A kohen must be distant from contamination
>What is contamination? Why is important for a kohen to be separate from
contamination?
Lesson? Don’t confuse holy with things un-holy.
For example.
A person with tzaarat (a disease) must be kept separate from the community.
Lesson? Things must be kept apart. Healthy and unhealthy.

It is important to keep things separate, which are opposites. Otherwise we might not know the difference between good and evil. And, as we all learned from the Shoah, that is when terrible things occur.