Tag: Emor
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We Will Not Hide Our Light
Rabbi Adrian M. Schell addresses the Wimbledon Synagogue community following the horrific knife attack on the streets of Golders Green. The fading surprise at such violence is perhaps the most terrifying reality of all. Our response cannot simply be to retreat behind higher fences.Exploring Parashat Emor and its demand for “one standard for stranger and…
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What Makes Us Whole?
In Parashat Emor, we find one of the Torah’s more difficult passages — a section that limits which kohanim, which priests, can serve at the altar. A priest with a visible difference — blind, lame, injured, or with a disfigurement — is instructed not to offer the sacred sacrifices.To modern ears, this can feel jarring.…
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Emor: Time for new bridges
Chaverim,The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take, and there is precious little in the Torah that talks about what we have that God could possibly need. What can we give to God?In our parashah (Lev 22:32) we read: “You shall not…
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Parashat Emor: How can we make God Holy?
The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take. In biblical times it seems that the different kinds of sacrifices were our (human) contribution in this reciprocal partnership. With the destruction of the Temple one could think that our relationship with God broke…
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Parashat Emor: Making the Holy One, holy.
The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take, and there is little in the Torah that talks about what we have that God could possibly need. What can we give to God? That doesn’t mean we don’t have a whole section on…
