Shabbat Emor

Written by Rabbi Marcia Plumb Thursday, 11 May 2006

Shabbat Emor

Last week’s portion ends the Holiness code with: “you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am he Eternal one. And you shall not profane my name: but I will be sanctified among the children of Israel: I am the Eternal one who sanctifies you, that brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Eternal one.”

The Holiness code which we read last week began, “you shall be holy for I the Eternal your God am holy.”

This week’s Torah portion is quite different to last week’s – last week had cohesion – there were a series of laws regulating how we should treat each other – we should maintain fair weights and measures, we should have the corners of our fields for the poor, etc.

This week’s portion begins with details about the behaviour of the priests – they should not cut their hair, marry a divorcee or make themselves unclean by dealing with corpses. We then skip, with no transition, into an outline of the festivals in our calendar. Finally, the portion ends with the famous clause concerning ancient retribution – eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, life for life.

The question arises for me – what do the 3 sections have to do with each other? What do the priestly code, the festivals and retribution have in common?

I realised that holiness is the common denominator as the Torah says, “you shall be holy for I am Holy… or you shall not profane my name – I will be sanctified among the children of Israel.”

Our Torah portion this week is inextricably linked to last week’s. We, the children of Israel shall be a holy people, so that God can be holy. Our Torah portion this week gives us more details about how to be holy – it instructs the priests and the congregants – the priests must live by a certain code of practice. The people must observe the festivals and the rituals for each; the people must also follow laws of justice toward each other. All of this leads to holiness – religious guides, observance and discipline and justice.

Each of these four areas reminds us of the fundamental principle at work in the text – each of us can be holy by our deeds, and thereby each of us contribute to God’s divinity – God’s kedusha – God works through us – as we act in a holy way – as we are holy, God is thus holy. That is not to say that God exists only because of us. God would still be the creator of the world whether we believed or not, whether we acted in a holy manner or not. But the holier we are, the more active, the more involved, the more holy is God.

Rabbi Marcia Plumb