Summary of the combined portion of Acharei
Mot – Kedoshim
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This sidrah is part of the Holiness Code, a collection of material
of similar content, style and feel: holiness attained through
maintaining ritual purity at the collective and individual level,
the latter also attained through personal and social righteousness.
Unusually for Leviticus, reasons for laws are sometimes given
and the Divine source and sanction of the laws is constantly
emphasised, “I the Eternal am your God.”
Emor provides laws regulating the conduct of priests and their
families and the most complete biblical account of the holy
days. It concludes with a number of short, seemingly unconnected
items: oil for the ritual lamps, the ritual ‘showbread’
and a narrative passage concerning the case of someone who blasphemes,
one of four cases in Torah that Moses seeks a special revelation
to resolve a matter that no one else knows how to judge.
Commentary
One of the festive accounts in Emor (Lev 23: 9-22) is of the
omer period: the days in-between (and that link) Pesach and
Shavuot. Most Liberal Jews would not know what to make of this
period if anything, even if they knew the berakhah (blessing)
one would recite each evening to announce the day of the omer.
Actually, the omer was a sheaf of wheat brought and elevated
and waved by the priest to mark the beginning of the wheat harvest.
A series of other rituals are associated with the events.
The modern pioneers of ‘The Land:’ Eretz Yisrael
sought to revive the Biblical precept of reaping the omer (and
Shavuot at its conclusion) and turn it into an exclusively agricultural
ceremony. Thus, glorification of nature, human toils and pride
replaced praise for the Creator, the spirit and gratitude. Perhaps
as a polemic against this trend in a comment to this sidrah,
the Meshekh Chokhmah (commentary of Rabbi Meir Simcha Ha’kohen,
Dvinsk, 1927) still speaks to me in a day that still glorifies
the material over the spiritual, the ritual over the ethical
and speaking to and through mechanical voices over talking with
God.
“When you come to the Land…and shall reap its harvest
(23:9),” this teaches that agriculture must not turn us
into materialists. Hence the many commandments affecting every
human activity and function, that turn all mundane efforts into
brightly illuminated lances leading towards ideal perfection
and communion with the Almighty…
Thus, God commanded us to offer the Eternal the omer and the
two loaves (23:17) at the beginning of the harvest, whereupon
we are allowed to consume the new produce. So too at the end
of the harvest, we must leave a corner of the field (23:22)
to the poor, whereas during the harvest we are not to gather
any gleaning (23:22)
Thus, the initial, middle and final stages of the harvest are
devoted to the Creator by acts of human mercy and loving-kindness,
whereby the Jew approaches the bliss of ideal perfection, which
marks the Divine goal. Why is it so hard for us to fulfil the
seemingly simple commandment, “Love your neighbour as
yourself”?
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Aaron Goldstein
Outreach Director, Liberal Judaism
Come and share a unique spiritual experience with Aaron this
Friday (12th May) at tent: the meeting place, 7pm, 21 maple
street, w1t 4be.
Also:
Shabbat 13 May – Herefordshire
Tuesday 16 May – together with Gili,
LJ shlicha, marking Lag B’Omer - portrait exhibition by
harel stanton, major movie, ‘campfire’ and of course
israeli food. 8pm, northwood & pinner liberal synagogue,
oaklands gate, northwood ha6 3aa. For further information, 01923
822592
Thursday 18 May – Manchester Part one
of the Liturgy Appreciation Class!
Friday 19 May – Leicester
Shabbat 20 May – Nottingham
Sunday 21 May – Nottingham - Revelation:
who do you stand with at Sinai – an exploration of Jewish
identity and our relationship to Israel.
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