Ezekiel 44:15-31.
What is the most important quality for a religious leader a sharp mind or a sensitive heart, a commitment to study or a commitment to
lovingkindness?
This week’s parshah opens with the laws applying to the Kohanim, the religious, ritual leaders of Israel. The reading provides their quintessential leadership role: to direct the Jewish people in areas of the sacred and mundane, the ritually pure and impure, the teachings and the statutes, the details of the festivals and the prohibitions of the Sabbath.
One of the greatest transgressions a Jew can commit is
bitul zman, wasting or nullifying time. Conversely, one of the greatest accolades the Talmud can bestow upon anyone is that “their mouth never ceased from studying”
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From The Stoning of the Blasphemer, in The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, by Charles Foster, Hartford, Connecticut 1873. (Wikimedia Commons)
Whether you like the detail and nuance and application of the legalistic, ritualistic Book of Leviticus, or you find it somewhat (ahem) tedious, Parshat Emor would seem to be a fine sample of the book, with its delineation of the restrictions on the kohanim (priests) and the summary of the festivals for the whole nation. Or at least that is true until the very end of the parshah, where we find one of the more dramatic narratives of the Torah: the story of the Blasphemer (worthy of future consideration, perhaps, is the fact t
Disabilities and Divine Eyeglasses
This week, when I read the Parsha, I will put on my divine eyeglasses. I will see everyone around me differently and give them the love and respect they truly deserve.
Can a disabled person be a spiritual leader? The answer might seem simple, but it’s not. The reason why it is a challenging question is because of this week’s Torah reading.
On the weekend of Parashat Emor in 2009, my synagogue held a unique Bnai Mitzvah celebration. The celebrants were a group of six adults, most in the forties and fifties, who were residents at the Miriam Home, a Montreal institution that provides services for intellectually disabled adults. These Bnai Mitzvah turned 12 and 13 at a time when developmentally disabled children were hidden away, and because of that, they were excluded from a ceremony that every Jewish child takes for granted.
According to the website
Behadrei Haredim, Elk admitted as much when confronted with the evidence of fake credentials utilized to gain Israeli citizenship, along with countless other lies he has used over the years to burnish his bogus identity. There are also videos of him appearing alongside Christian pastors posing as an “Orthodox Jewish Rabbi” in which he reveals both his intimate knowledge of the Christian gospels, as well as his devoted belief in Jesus.
Make no mistake, my horror at this story is not a reflection of my feelings towards Christians. Truthfully, I am amazed by Evangelical Christian support both for Israel and for Jewish causes in my view, a true sign of Messianic times, as ancient enmities between our faiths fade into the background, so that the faithful can prepare for the end of days.
Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse,
We read in Parshat Emor, Vayikra 23:10,14-15: “Speak to B’nei Yisrael and say to them ‘Ki tavou el Ha’Aretz- when you come into the Land that I give to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring an Omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the Kohen…Bread, parched grain or tender grain you shall not eat until this very day, until you bring the offering of your God; it is an everlasting statute for all your generations (ledoroteichem) in all your dwelling places. You shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the rest day, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving- seven weeks, they shall be complete (temimot).’”