Parasha Emor
By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
SAN DIEGO — When we speak words of Torah, we enhance our life, and the lives of others. To do so is a choice we make. We can surely choose not to and when we select that path, we largely create acrimony in our life and in the lives of others. While the sanctity of the Kohanim is a major theme in this week’s Torah reading, we also see another key theme in the parasha, the holiness of Shabbat, of time, and of the festivals we are blessed to enjoy. It is this latter theme that caught my attention. To be holy is freeing, expansive, liberating, to help us connect with Hashem, and properly with one another.
With protests for and against seemingly everything, vitriol and bitterness filling the media, contempt and temper raging in many communities, what we learn from Emor, “speaking,” with love and sensitivity, is vital to our health and wellbeing and that of our community.
When we look at the first verse of Emor we see forms of the word “say,” “And Hashem said to Moses: Say to the “priests,” the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them.” The word, “emor,” found three times in the first verse of the parasha, means “to say,” “to speak” – but to do so softly, kindly, perhaps even in a whisper, according to the Mechilta, Rashi Yisro 19:3.
The redundancy of the word, we are informed in the Talmud Yevamot 114a cited in Rashi’s opening commentary to this week’s portion (24:1), is “to caution the adults concerning the children.” Rashi associates the word emor with the obligation of educating our children, in a certain caring, compassionate manner. This offers insight into how adults would best speak with children and by extension, with each other – promoting ahavas and achdus Yisrael.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev teaches us that when we act from anger or fear, from negative feelings, without kindness and compassion for others, and then stop and realize the damage we are doing through our language, this can energize us to do teshuvah. We must speak softly and kindly to our children and students, educate them about life’s dangers, but do so in a way that radiates the beauties of life. And do the same with each other.
One of my teachers, Albert Ellis, Ph.D., said, “…accept all humans because they’re human. You don’t like what they do, and you stay away from some of them, and you put some of them in jail if they act immorally, but still fully accept them as persons.” We can use our words to draw near or to push away. Our sages teach that we have the ability through the way we speak and accept people unconditionally, to do good, to do chesed, to make the world a better place with kavod ha’briot, human dignity.
Shlomo HaMelech teaches us, “Mavet v’chayim b’yad lashon” (Mishlei 18:21), “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” “Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeynu Melech Haolam Meshaneh Habriot” “Praised are you Hashem our G-d who has created a variety of different types of people/who changes creatures/who makes strange and unusual creatures/who makes creatures different.” Perhaps we’d be wise to simply look at each other and remind ourselves, “B’tzelem Elokim.” “Made in G-d’s image.” Let’s use our words to be priest-like and respect all.
Wait. Are we to speak well of a person who acts inappropriately? Pirkei Avot tells us “Don’t judge your comrade until you are in his situation.” It also teaches us, “Judge every person favorably.” In other words, focus on the positive, not what is wrong, but what the person has done right. Doing so, we believe, will lead us to diminish seeing the negative and maximizing seeing the greatness in others.
Gentleness and kindliness in our speech and in our behavior toward others seems to be the path of Emor. In fact, the בּשׁ״ט, the Ba’al Shem Tov, the title given to the founder of Hasidic Judaism, Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), epitomized this method. Says, the Ba’al Shem Tov, “A person should give rebuke, speak, with love, as the verse says, “G-d chastised whom He loves.”
Interestingly, the parasha includes a commandment that Maimonides tells us in Sefer HaMitzvot, forbids priests “with blemishes” from entering and serving in the Temple.
“For any man who has a defect should not approach: A blind man or a lame one, or one with a sunken nose or with mismatching limbs; or a man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; or one with long eyebrows, or a cataract, or a commingling in his eye; dry lesions or weeping sores, or one with crushed testicles. Any man among Aaron the Kohen’s offspring who has a defect shall not draw near to offer up the Lord’s fire offerings. There is a defect in him; he shall not draw near to offer up his God’s food.”
The Sefer Hachinuch teaches that the root of these lessons is “to elevate the honor and glory of the Temple, and therefore it is improper for someone with a ‘blemish’ to come there, since it is a place of perfection…” But didn’t we just learn the most influential approach to others is through gentleness, kindness, acceptance? So, what does this teach us about how we treat people who have various “blemishes,” physical and emotional challenges? Fortunately, we endeavor to ensure a place for all in our society and strive to do all we can to promote a feeling of equality.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was once asked about whether a blind person with a seeing eye dog could be allowed to enter a shul (Responsa, Igrot Moshe, Ohr Chaim, Part 1, chapter 45). Rabbi Feinstein compassionately empathized with the plight of his fellow Jew who would otherwise never be able to pray in a synagogue and sanctioned it. Similarly, the Ramah, demonstrating sensitivity and gentleness, acceptance, and compassion, in his Responsa ruled that a “sick” individual may enter a synagogue and pray, based on the principle of “the dignity of Hashem’s creations.”
Let’s promote healthy hearts, better relationships, joy, and even anti-aging (yes, that’s what the research teaches us) through the “Emor path,” see the good in others, and accept others in our midst.
Shabbat Shalom
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com