Emor
Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23
Précis: This parasha is divided into four sections. First, it reviews procedures for the Priests to use to remain ritually pure. Second, it outlines the festival and holiday calendar. Third, it explains the use of the olive oil and bread on display on the altar. Finally, there is a brief narrative about a blasphemer who is condemned to death.
This week’s parasha opens with detailed guidelines regarding the holiness of priests and sacrifices. We read specific ways to avoid desecrating the holy space of the Temple - essentially by making sure that all who enter its confines, especially the Priests and Levites, are ritually pure. Subsequent verses (e.g., see Lev. 23:4) change the perspective from sacred space to sacred time by designating festivals for their “appointed times.”
It is this shift from sacred space to sacred time that enabled the Jewish People to survive wherever they were dispersed across the world for more than two millennia. One can create a sacred space by simply building walls, as has also happened with frequency during our history. We can also metaphorically try to “wall ourselves off” from the influences of the outside world as some Jews have always done (and some do to this day).
On the other hand, we all have the opportunity to “wall off” a period of time and make it sacred. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s work, The Shabbat: Its Meaning for Modern Man, focuses on the importance of sanctifying time. Judaism, he teaches, sanctifies the concept of time, setting times apart from the routine, when we are free – in the truest sense – to contemplate the Ineffable and thank God for creation.
In a busy day or a busy week, particularly as we approach Shabbat, we can remember this week’s parasha and strive to create a distinct time for contemplation and renewal. It is a great challenge to “wall off time” and make it sacred. This is God’s gift to us, and the Jewish People’s gift to the rest of humanity.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Revering our Mothers and Fathers
Kedoshim
Leviticus 19:1-:20:27
Précis: The opening words of Kedoshim are “You shall be holy” (kedoshim tihyu), and it continues with various descriptions of how the People are to strive for holiness. Included are fundamental laws, such as fearing one’s parents and observing Shabbat. Consideration of the poor through the commandments to leave the corners of fields for gleaners is included, as are mandates which complement the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments (being honest, avoiding vengeance). Specific bans against magicians, soothsaying, witchcraft and defiling the dead follow, as are reminders to avoid human sacrifice. This parasha is often viewed as the very core of moral teaching for the Jewish People.
Leviticus 19:3 “You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I the Eternal am your God.”
I am blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law in my life. Now in her 10th decade of vigorous, meaningful life, she is my personal role model for how one should age: not only graciously but with purpose. Amazingly, she is still actively employed (and not as a volunteer!), and finds the time to be incredibly supportive of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. When one has such a mother in one’s life, “revering” her as the text commands is not difficult at all.
The command to honor one’s parents comes in two different forms. In Exodus 20:12, we are told to “honor” (“kabeid” from the root “kavod”) one’s parents; here, we are instructed to “revere” (tira-u) our parents. Many would suggest that a more accurate translation of “revere” is “fear.” Additionally, while in Exodus we are told to “honor” our fathers and mothers, here the parental order is reversed.
First, what’s the difference in meaning between “honor” and “fear” in this context? Rashi suggests that honor (kavod) means seeing to their physical needs, especially when they are not able to do so themselves. He further suggests that the father is mentioned first because a child often has a closer relationship with the mother, and Rashi assumes that she is more likely to be honored by the child. Sforno adds, however, that merely taking care of the parent’s physical needs is insufficient, because one is able to do that without “honoring” them. Therefore, he suggests, the verse here in Leviticus is added so that awe (or fear) helps us “honor” the parent.
Second, the fact that observance of Shabbat is in the same sentence can lead one to understand that we “revere” God when we observe Shabbat. God stands, in this way as “in loco parentis.” The reverence and honor owed to our parents is owed to God, and when we honor and revere our parents, we are, at the same time, giving honor and reverence to God as well.
Modern parenting techniques seem to eschew the concept of “awe” or “fear” and even “honoring” (the latter often modified to be “honor your parents – if they deserve it”). I personally was amazed by how much more intelligent my father (z’l) became between the time I was 20 and I reached 30! It was, of course, only after I had attained a certain level of maturity that I could understand how wise he actually was – and how much I needed to honor him.
While few of my generation (or those which follow) live lives in which “fear of God” is an ever-present phenomenon, this text does teach us that by honoring and revering our parents, we also honor and revere God.
Leviticus 19:1-:20:27
Précis: The opening words of Kedoshim are “You shall be holy” (kedoshim tihyu), and it continues with various descriptions of how the People are to strive for holiness. Included are fundamental laws, such as fearing one’s parents and observing Shabbat. Consideration of the poor through the commandments to leave the corners of fields for gleaners is included, as are mandates which complement the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments (being honest, avoiding vengeance). Specific bans against magicians, soothsaying, witchcraft and defiling the dead follow, as are reminders to avoid human sacrifice. This parasha is often viewed as the very core of moral teaching for the Jewish People.
Leviticus 19:3 “You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I the Eternal am your God.”
I am blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law in my life. Now in her 10th decade of vigorous, meaningful life, she is my personal role model for how one should age: not only graciously but with purpose. Amazingly, she is still actively employed (and not as a volunteer!), and finds the time to be incredibly supportive of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. When one has such a mother in one’s life, “revering” her as the text commands is not difficult at all.
The command to honor one’s parents comes in two different forms. In Exodus 20:12, we are told to “honor” (“kabeid” from the root “kavod”) one’s parents; here, we are instructed to “revere” (tira-u) our parents. Many would suggest that a more accurate translation of “revere” is “fear.” Additionally, while in Exodus we are told to “honor” our fathers and mothers, here the parental order is reversed.
First, what’s the difference in meaning between “honor” and “fear” in this context? Rashi suggests that honor (kavod) means seeing to their physical needs, especially when they are not able to do so themselves. He further suggests that the father is mentioned first because a child often has a closer relationship with the mother, and Rashi assumes that she is more likely to be honored by the child. Sforno adds, however, that merely taking care of the parent’s physical needs is insufficient, because one is able to do that without “honoring” them. Therefore, he suggests, the verse here in Leviticus is added so that awe (or fear) helps us “honor” the parent.
Second, the fact that observance of Shabbat is in the same sentence can lead one to understand that we “revere” God when we observe Shabbat. God stands, in this way as “in loco parentis.” The reverence and honor owed to our parents is owed to God, and when we honor and revere our parents, we are, at the same time, giving honor and reverence to God as well.
Modern parenting techniques seem to eschew the concept of “awe” or “fear” and even “honoring” (the latter often modified to be “honor your parents – if they deserve it”). I personally was amazed by how much more intelligent my father (z’l) became between the time I was 20 and I reached 30! It was, of course, only after I had attained a certain level of maturity that I could understand how wise he actually was – and how much I needed to honor him.
While few of my generation (or those which follow) live lives in which “fear of God” is an ever-present phenomenon, this text does teach us that by honoring and revering our parents, we also honor and revere God.
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