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Emor (???? — Hebrew for "speak,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 31st weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late April or early May.
The parshah provides purity rules for priests, recounts the holy days, provides for lights and bread in the sanctuary, and tells the story of a blasphemer and his punishment.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m6598194",this)' onMouseout='hide("m6598194")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Names_of_God_in_Judaism">God told Moses to tell the priests these laws for the priests.
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Emor (???? — Hebrew for "speak,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 31st weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late April or early May.
The parshah provides purity rules for priests, recounts the holy days, provides for lights and bread in the sanctuary, and tells the story of a blasphemer and his punishment.
Summary
Rules for priests
God told Moses to tell the priests these laws for the priests. None were to come in contact with a dead body except for that of his closest relatives: his parent, child, brother, or virgin sister. They were not to shave any part of their heads or the side-growth of their beards or gash their flesh. They were not to marry a harlot or divorcee. The daughter of a priest who became a harlot was to be executed.
The High Priest was not to bare his head or rend his vestments. He was not to come near any dead body, even that of his father or mother. He was to marry only a virgin of his own kin.
No disabled priest could offer sacrifices. He could eat the meat of sacrifices, but could not come near the altar. No priest who had become unclean could eat the meat of sacrifices. A priest could not share his sacrificial meat with lay persons, persons whom the priest had hired, or the priest’s married daughters, but the priest could share that meat with his slaves and widowed or divorced daughters. Only animals without defect qualified for sacrifice.
Holy days
God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to proclaim the following sacred occasions:
- The Sabbath on the seventh day
- Passover for 7 days beginning at twilight of the 14th day of the first month
- Shavuot 50 days later
- Rosh Hashanah on the first day of the seventh month
- Yom Kippur on the 10th day of the seventh month
- Sukkot for 8 days beginning on the 15th day of the seventh month
Lights and bread in the sanctuary
God told Moses to command the Israelites to bring clear olive oil for lighting the lamps of the Tabernacle regularly, from evening to morning. And God called for baking twelve loaves to be placed in the Tabernacle every Sabbath, and thereafter given to the priests, who were to eat them in the sacred precinct.
A blasphemer
A man with an Israelite mother (from the tribe of Dan) and an Egyptian father got in a fight, and pronounced God’s Name in blasphemy. The people brought him to Moses and placed him in custody until God’s decision should be made clear. God told Moses to take the blasphemer outside the camp where all who heard him were to lay their hands upon his head, and the whole community was to stone him, and they did so. ( )
God instructed that anyone who blasphemed God was to be put to death. Anyone who killed any human being was to be put to death. One who killed a beast was to make restitution. And anyone who maimed another person was to pay proportionately (in what has been called lex talionis).
In classical rabbinic interpretation
Leviticus chapter 21
Rabbi Tanhum son of Rabbi Hannilai taught that was one of two sections in the Torah (along with on the Red Cow) that Moses gave us in writing that are both pure, dealing with the law of purity. Rabbi Tanhum taught that they were given on account of the tribe of Levi, of whom it is written (in ), “he [God’s messenger] shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them.” (Leviticus Rabbah 26:3.)
The Gemara noted the apparently superfluous “say to them” in and reported an interpretation that the language meant that adult Kohanim must warn their children away from becoming contaminated by contact with a corpse. But then the Gemara stated that the correct interpretation was that the language meant to warn adults to avoid contaminating the children through their own contact. (Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 114a.) And a Midrash explained the apparent redundancy by teaching that the first expression of “speak” was intended to intimate that a priest may defile himself on account of an unattended corpse (met mitzvah), while the second expression “say” was intended to intimate that he may not defile himself on account of any other corpse. (Leviticus Rabbah 26:8.)
The Gemara taught that where prohibited the priest from defiling himself by contact with the dead “except for his flesh, that is near to him” the words “his flesh” meant to include his wife in the exception. (Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 22b.)
The Mishnah interpreted ) to teach that both acting and retired High Priests had to marry a virgin and were forbidden to marry a widow. And the Mishnah interpreted ) to teach that both could not defile themselves for the dead bodies of their relatives, could not let their hair grow wild in mourning, and could not rend their clothes as other Jews did in mourning. (Mishnah Horayot 3:4; Babylonian Talmud Horayot 11b.) The Mishnah taught that while an ordinary priest in mourning rent his garments from above, a High Priest rent his garments from below. And the Mishnah taught that on the day of a close relative’s death, the High Priest could still offer sacrifices but could not eat of the sacrificial meat, while under those circumstances an ordinary priest could neither offer sacrifices nor eat sacrificial meat. (Mishnah Horayot 3:5; Babylonian Talmud Horayot 12b.)
Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba cited to support the proposition that a Kohen should be called up first to read the law, for the verse taught to give Kohanim precedence in every matter of sanctity. And a Baraita was taught in the school of Rabbi Ishmael that meant that Jews should give Kohanim precedence in every matter of sanctity, including speaking first at every assembly, saying grace first, and choosing his portion first when an item was to be divided. (Babylonian Talmud Gittin 59b.) The Mishnah recognized the status of the Kohanim over Levites, Levites over Israelites, and Israelites over those born from forbidden relationships, but only when they were equal in all other respects. The Mishnah taught that a learned child of forbidden parents took precedence over an ignorant High Priest. (Mishnah Horayot 3:8; Babylonian Talmud Horayot 13a.)
The Gemara interpreted the law of the Kohen’s adulterous daughter in in Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 50a–52a.
Interpreting the words “the priest that is highest among his brethren” in a Midrash taught that the High Priest was superior in five things: wisdom, strength, beauty, wealth, and age. (Leviticus Rabbah 26:9.)
Rabbi said that a priest with a blemish within the meaning of who officiated at services in the Sanctuary was liable to death at the hands of Heaven, but the Sages maintained that he was merely prohibited. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 83a.)
The Mishnah taught that a priest whose hands were deformed should not lift up his hands to say the priestly blessing, and Rabbi Judah said that a priest whose hands were discolored should not lift up his hands, because it would cause the congregation to look at him during this blessing when they should not. (Mishnah Megillah 4:7; Babylonian Talmud Megillah 24b.) A Baraita stated that deformities on the face, hands, or feet were disqualifying for saying the priestly blessing. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said that a Kohen with spotted hands should not say the blessing. A Baraita taught that one whose hands were curved inwards or bent sideways should not say the blessing. And Rav Huna said that a man whose eyes ran should not say the blessing. But the Gemara noted that such a Kohen in Rav Huna’s neighborhood used to say the priestly blessing and apparently even Rav Huna did not object, because the townspeople had become accustomed to the Kohen. And the Gemara cited a Baraita that taught that a man whose eyes ran should not lift up his hands, but he was permitted to do so if the townspeople were accustomed to him. Rabbi Johanan said that a man blind in one eye should not lift up his hands. But the Gemara noted that there was one in Rabbi Johanan’s neighborhood who used to lift up his hands, as the townspeople were accustomed to him. And the Gemara cited a Baraita that taught that a man blind in one eye should not lift up his hands, but if the townspeople were accustomed to him, he was permitted. Rabbi Judah said that a man whose hands were discolored should not lift up his hands, but the Gemara cited a Baraita that taught that if most of the men of the town follow the same hand-discoloring occupation, it was permitted. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 24b.)
Rav Ashi deduced from that arrogance constitutes a blemish. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 29a.)
Leviticus chapter 22
The Mishnah reported that when a priest performed the service while unclean in violation of his brother priests did not charge him before the bet din, but the young priests took him out of the Temple court and split his skull with clubs. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 9:6; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 81b.)
Leviticus chapter 23
Tractate Pesachim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the Passover in Exodus Numbers and (Mishnah Pesachim 1:1–10:9; Tosefta Pisha 1:1–10:13; Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 1a–; Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 2a–121b.)
Tractate Peah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the harvest of the corners of fields in (Mishnah Peah 1:1–8:9; Tosefta Peah 1:1–4:21; Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1a–73b.)
Tractate Sukkah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of Sukkot in and (Mishnah Sukkah 1:1–5:8; Tosefta Sukkah 1:1–4:28; Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 1a–; Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 2a–56b.)
Leviticus chapter 24
The Gemara taught that the words “eye for eye” in meant pecuniary compensation. Rabbi Simon ben Yohai asked those who would take the words literally how they would enforce equal justice where a blind man put out the eye of another man, or an amputee cut off the hand of another, or where a lame person broke the leg of another. The school of Rabbi Ishmael cited the words “so shall it be given to him” in and deduced that the word “give” could apply only to pecuniary compensation. The school of Rabbi Hiyya cited the words “hand for hand” in the parallel discussion in to mean that an article was given from hand to hand, namely money. Abaye reported that a sage of the school of Hezekiah taught that said “eye for eye” and “life for life,” but not “life and eye for eye,” and it could sometimes happen that eye and life would be taken for an eye, as when the offender died while being blinded. Rav Papa said in the name of Raba that referred explicitly to healing, and the verse would not make sense if one assumed that retaliation was meant. And Rav Ashi taught that the principle of pecuniary compensation could be derived from the analogous use of the term “for” in in the expression “eye for eye” and in in the expression “he shall surely pay ox for ox.” As the latter case plainly indicated pecuniary compensation, so must the former. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Kamma 84a.)
Commandments
According to the Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 24 positive and 39 negative commandments in the parshah:
- A Kohen must not defile himself for anyone except certain relatives.
- To mourn for a close relative
- An impure Kohen, following immersion, must wait until after sundown before returning to service.
- A Kohen must not marry a woman who had forbidden relations.
- A Kohen must not marry a woman born from a disqualified marriage.
- A Kohen must not marry a divorcee.
- To dedicate the Kohen for service
- The High Priest must not enter under the same roof as a corpse.
- The High Priest must not defile himself for any relative.
- The High Priest must marry a virgin.
- The High Priest must not marry a widow.
- The High Priest must not have sexual relations with a widow even outside of marriage.
- A Kohen with a physical blemish must not serve.
- A Kohen with a temporary blemish must not serve.
- A Kohen with a physical blemish must not enter the sanctuary or approach the altar.
- Impure Kohanim must not do service in the Temple.
- An impure Kohen must not eat terumah.
- A non-Kohen must not eat terumah.
- A hired worker or a Jewish bondsman of a Kohen must not eat terumah.
- An uncircumcised person must not eat terumah.
- A woman born from a disqualified marriage must not eat terumah.
- Not to eat produce from which the tithes have not been separated
- Not to dedicate a blemished animal for the altar
- To offer only unblemished animals
- Not to wound dedicated animals
- Not to sprinkle the blood of a blemished animal
- Not to slaughter a blemished animal for an offering
- Not to burn the fat of a blemished animal on the altar
- Not to castrate animals
- Not to sacrifice blemished animals even if offered by non-Jews
- To offer only animals which are at least eight days old
- Not to slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day
- Not to profane God’s Name
- To sanctify God’s Name
- To rest on the first day of Passover
- Not to do prohibited labor on the first day of Passover
- To offer the musaf offering all seven days of Passover
- To rest on the seventh day of Passover
- Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day of Passover
- To offer the wave offering from the meal of the new wheat
- Not to eat bread from new grain before the omer
- Not to eat parched grains from new grain before the omer
- Not to eat ripened grains from new grain before the omer
- To count the omer
- To bring two loaves to accompany the Shavuot sacrifice
- To offer the musaf offering on Yom Kippur
- To rest on Shavuot
- Not to do prohibited labor on Shavuot
 - Not to do prohibited labor on Rosh Hashanah
- To offer the musaf offering on Rosh Hashanah
- To fast on Yom Kippur
- Not to do prohibited labor on Yom Kippur
- Not to eat or drink on Yom Kippur
- To rest from prohibited labor on Yom Kippur
- To rest on Sukkot
- Not to do prohibited labor on Sukkot
- To offer the musaf offering all the days of Sukkot
- To rest on Shmini Atzeret
- To offer the musaf offering on Shmini Atzeret
- Not to do prohibited labor on Shmini Atzeret
- To take up a lulav and etrog all seven days
- To dwell in a sukkah for the seven days of Sukkot
(Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 3:163–363. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1984. ISBN 0-87306-297-3.)
Haftarah
The haftarah for the parshah is Ezekiel
Further reading
The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:
Biblical
- Exodus (God makes people disabled); (Passover); (Passover); (eye for eye); (three pilgrim festivals); (three pilgrim festivals).
- (Yom Kippur); (corners of fields).
- Numbers (Passover, inquiry of God on the law); (inquiry of God on the law); (inquiry of God on the law); (Passover, Shavuot); (holidays).
- Deuteronomy (three pilgrim festivals); (eye for eye); (Sukkot).
- Judges (Sukkot).
- 1 Kings (Sukkot); (northern feast like Sukkot).
- Ezekiel (Sukkot).
- Zechariah (Sukkot).
- Psalms (who shall sojourn in God’s Tabernacle); (performing vows); (performing vows); (blasphemers); (that succeeding generations may learn); (proclaiming feast days); (sacrifices of thanksgiving); (sacrifices of thanksgiving).
- Ezra (Sukkot).
- Nehemiah (Sukkot).
- 2 Chronicles (Sukkot); (Sukkot); (three Pilgrim festivals).
Ancient
- Plato. Laws 6:759. Greece, 4th Century B.C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Laws of Plato. Translated by Thomas L. Pangle, 145. New York: Basic Books, 1980. ISBN 0-465-03856-5. (priests sound of body).
Early nonrabbinic
Classical rabbinic
- Mishnah: Peah 1:1–8:9; Demai 1:1–7:8; Sheviit 2:1; Terumot 3:9, 6:6–7:4; Challah 1:1; Bikkurim 1:8; Pesachim 7:4; Yoma 7:1; Rosh Hashanah 1:9, 2:9; Megillah 3:5–6; Yevamot 2:4, 6:2–5, 7:1–8:2, 8:6, 9:2, 9:4–6, 10:3; Kiddushin 1:7, 1:9; Sanhedrin 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, 7:4–5, 9:1, 6; Makkot 3:8–9; Zevachim 9:5, 14:2; Menachot 2:2–3, 3:6, 4:2–3, 5:1, 5:3, 5:6–7, 6:2, 6:5–7, 8:1, 9:4, 10:1–11:2, 11:4–5, 11:9; Chullin 4:5, 5:5; Bekhorot 6:1–7:7; Keritot 1:1; Meilah 2:6; Parah 2:1. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 14–36, 41, 70, 100, 108, 148, 168, 242, 276, 301, 303, 321, 340, 352–54, 358, 360, 489, 585, 589, 593, 602, 604, 618, 720, 730, 735–36, 739–45, 748, 752, 755, 757, 774–75, 777, 800, 802, 836, 854, 1014. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
- Tosefta: Peah 1:1–4:21; Demai 1:28; Challah 2:7; Bikkurim 2:4; Shabbat 15:7, 17; Kippurim 1:6, 4:9; Sukkah 2:7, 3:1; Rosh Hashanah 2:10, 13; Megillah 3:5–6, 8; Yevamot 10:3, 5; Sanhedrin 4:1, 12:1; Makkot 5:4; Shevuot 1:6, 3:8; Eduyot 3:4; Shechitat Chullin 4:5; Menachot 7:7, 20, 10:26, 11:15; Bekhorot 2:3–4, 7–10, 17–19, 3:2, 6, 20, 24–25; 4:1–5:9; Temurah 1:10–11. Land of Israel, circa 300 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:47–76, 83, 339, 349, 414, 419, 542, 564, 572, 574, 613, 615, 645, 718; 2:1156, 1185, 1215, 1221, 1233, 1259, 1388, 1435, 1438, 1455, 1459. 1483, 1485, 1521. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2.
- Sifra 211:1–244:1. Land of Israel, 4th Century C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Sifra: An Analytical Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 3:161–290. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-207-0.
- Jerusalem Talmud: Berakhot 4b, 57b, 75b; Peah 1a–73b; Sheviit 5b, 27b–28a, 83a. Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 1–3, 6a–b. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
- Leviticus Rabbah 7:2; 10:3; 24:6; 26:1–32:8. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, 4:92, 124, 309, 325–417. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
Medieval
- Saadia Gaon. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, 3:1, 5; 5:1, 8. Baghdad, Babylonia, 933. Translated by Samuel Rosenblatt, 139, 154, 205, 234. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1948. ISBN 0-300-04490-9.
- Rashi. Commentary. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 3:261–315. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-89906-028-5.
- Judah Halevi. Kuzari. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 94, 102, 115, 173, 175, 295. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
*Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180.
- Maimonides. The Guide for the Perplexed, Cairo, Egypt, 1190. Reprinted in, e.g., Moses Maimonides. The Guide for the Perplexed. Translated by Michael Friedländer, 96, 287, 344, 346, 353, 360, 369, 371, 379. New York: Dover Publications, 1956. ISBN 0-486-20351-4.
- Zohar 1:65a, 112a, 166b, 181a; 2:39b, 40b, 95a, 101a, 108b, 121b, 129b, 133a, 153b, 183a–b, 215a, 216b, 231a, 237a; 3:7a, 67a, 69b, 73b, Spain, late 13th Century. Reprinted in, e.g, The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
Modern
- Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 3:40, 42. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 503–04, 572. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
- Louis Ginzberg. Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1911.
- Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, 131–32. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
- Jacob Milgrom. Leviticus 17–22, 3A:1791–1892. New York: Anchor Bible, 2000. ISBN 0-385-41255-X.
- Jacob Milgrom. Leviticus 23–27, 3B:1947–2145. New York: Anchor Bible, 2000. ISBN 0-385-50035-1.
- Judith Z. Abrams. “Misconceptions About Disabilities in the Hebrew Bible.” In Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability. Edited by Judith Z. Abrams & William C. Gaventa, 73–84. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Pastoral Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7890-3444-1.
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