Shabbat Parshat Emor 5775

The parsha opens with chapter 21 which is addressed solely to the Kohanim and contains the laws governing who they can marry and which kohanim are fit to serve in the temple.The parsha continues in chapter 22 with laws regarding who gets to eat from the sacrifices and which types of animal are allowed to be sacrificed. Again, these are primarily Kohen related.The next chapter (23) details the laws of Shabbat and all of the Yamim tovim. It is actually the most extensive treatment of all holidays that we have recorded in the Torah.The question that we address this morning is “what are the laws of the festivals doing here?”The Ramban, Nachmonides, in the 13th century in Spain offers the following seemingly obvious answer. Sacrifices are offered on the holidays and thus it relates directly to both the kohanim who will be offering these sacrifices and to the book of vayikra which places a heavy emphasis on sacrifice.That would be too easy! There are two problems with this approach that Ramban himself notes.

1. Why is Shabbat combined here with the other festivals? That is not that difficult a question.

2. A better question is – if that is indeed why they are here then one would expect to find the sacrifices to be offered on those days laid out in full detail. But that we do not find. There is reference to sacrifice in general but the main focus seems to be on the mitzvoth that we perform outside of the realm of the midkash.

And so we are once again faced with our original question, slightly reformulated. Why in the book of sacrifice and priesthood, do we find an entire section of holidays detailing the mitzvoth of the days and not the actual animals offered?

Ramban does offer answers to each of the questions that he poses and we could look at those and analyze them and see if we like them but I would prefer to leave that alone and suggest an entirely different approach.

I would argue that this section has very little to do with the kohanim and everything to do with the entire Jewish people.

One of the fears that one might have reading through Leviticus is that Judaism’s service to God is relegated to a particular time and subset of the people. One might think that our service of God takes place primarily in the Temple and is performed primarily by the Kohanim, leaving the rest of us on the periphery.

Specifically to combat that perception numerous laws pertaining to the entire Jewish people are inserted to highlight and stress the importance of every Jews daily activity and our collective ability to serve God in multiple arenas, places and venues.

Jewish practice is not limited to a particular place or segment of the population; Jewish practice is relevant for all Jews and at all times.

That is why, I believe we have a recording of the festivals and their mitzvoth here. They are here to teach us clearly and plainly that the Yamim Tovim are for us. Even on the holidays where the temple is focused, the activity is not just in the Mikdash with the kohanim, but there are mitzvoth for all of us every where. The korbanot are not here because the korbanot are associated with the temple aspect of the chag; rather we include the non korbanot elements of the chag because that is our focus here.

In addition to the fact that the korbanot are not the focus I have two other supports for this approach, both of them textual:

1. A couple of hundred years after the Ramban in Spain, Isaac Abarbanel offered the following explanation for the placement of this chapter in Vayikra. He argues that the chapter of the festivals is a direct continuation of the last two verses of the previous chapter. There we read that we are to sanctify and not disgrace the holy name of God in this world. How do we ensure that we will indeed accomplish this?  We do so by coming together for the festivals and thinking about God’s providence in the world and all that God has done for us. Then we go to Jerusalem and provide food for the poor and the kohanim and do other good deeds. Admittedly his spin is different than mine but he too is speaking about the holidays universal appeal and makes not mention of the korbanot at all.

2. I think that the text itself suggests such an approach. In the beginning of each section Hashem tells Moshe who to speak to,i.e. who the intended audience is.  The intro to chapter 21 is וַיֹּאמֶר יְקֹוָק אֶל מֹשֶׁה אֱמֹר אֶל הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן –speak to the kohanim, the children of Aaron because the laws related to them only. We find the same in 21/17 and 22/1. chapter 22 verse 18 reads דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל בָּנָיו וְאֶל כָּל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל  – speak this to Aaron, his sons (the kohanim) and the people of Israel because those laws, which animals can be brought is relevant to both groups, those bringing the sacrifice and those actually offering it. How does the section of the festivals open?  דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם – speak to the children of Israel, with no mention of the kohanim at all. If this were about the sacrifices it should have once again been addressed to the Kohanim, not the people of Israel.

Why then does the Torah address this to all Jews? Because it is not about the sacrifice; it is about each Jews involvement in the Holiday. I would further argue that is why Shabbat is included in the list as well- to remind us that our obligations are constant- we don’t just show up for the holidays a couple of times a years. It is week in and week out, for each and every Jew.