Emor – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.The central part of Parashat Emor is dedicated to the repetitive cycle of the Biblical Holidays (Leviticus 23). The list begins with Shabbat, the day of rest, and continues with the yearly feasts – Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles).

The Jewish life cycle consists of several cycles. The first one is the week, with the Shabbat at its center. This week, the Shabbat appears first among the appointed festivals. The weekly cycle is followed by the monthly cycle, with the new moon celebration as a semi-holiday.

Knowing the beginning of the month is important, because the festivals are set according to that specific month, for example:

Next comes the yearly cycle, based on annual festivals, appointed to us by God. In a year’s time, we complete reading the entire Torah. This cycle, however, never ends. As soon as we conclude Deuteronomy, we continue reading Genesis.

Next week’s Torah portion will continue to enrich the list of life cycles, as we will learn about the Shemittah cycle that repeats itself every seven years, as well as the Jubilee cycle, which returns every 50 years.

Our life cycle is not an endless circle driven by motion, until it loses its power and dies. Instead, it always evolves and improves. Every time we read the Word of God and the weekly Torah portion we learn something new and are renewed. Human beings make progress and break records every single day of every year, in all areas of life.

The focus of our seemingly repetitive life cycle, is the family-unit and children. Thanks to the repetition of the cycle we are able to pass on our culture, faith and lifestyle to our family, children and grandchildren. This is how we pass our values on to the future generations. In the same manner, our grandchildren will continue to keep, or at least remember, the Shabbat. They will continue to celebrate Pesach and remember the creation of the world and the Exodus from Egypt.

The children must be at the center of attention with all the weekly and yearly festivals. The Biblical holidays have the children at heart. Let’s take a closer look at Passover for an example of this focus. During the plagues that God inflicts on Egypt, He reveals the reason for His mighty hand and the severity of the plagues in Egypt to Moses and, eventually to us as Bible students. The reason being:

Do we work hard during Passover by cleaning and scrubbing the entire house? All over Israel, the preparations for Passover are in the air. The purpose of all this work is to educate the children.

The Word of God even supplies us with the answer to the children’s questions:

Educating the children is not a bother, but rather our purpose! In the New Testament, the children are brought to Yeshua to be blessed. The disciples scold the parents, saying they should not waste Yeshua’s precious time. Yet, Yeshua replied:

Therefore, as believers we greatly invest in our children and youth, belonging to our movement. The Messianic movement has many options for the youth: from youth groups and activities to special classes, youth camps and conferences.

These are created to strengthen and educate the next generation. The common goal is to raise the kids to be strong believers and responsible adults. Mature and helpful believers with strong morals and high values.

Our goal is that our children will continue to walk the way that God showed our fathers and mothers. That they will add and improve our ways and what they learn from us. As believers in Yeshua the Messiah, the family has to be at the heart of our lives.

Our faith requires that we invest in our family life and sacrifice for the sake of our families and children. As believers, we see the lack of faith and distancing from the Word of God, as the main reasons for the disconnection of the family unit, and eventually to the destruction of our society.

Let’s picture what will happen when parents stop building succot (booths) with their children for the Feast of Tabernacles: eventually the Exodus from Egypt will be forgotten. Our Torah portion says:

This is the reason for believers that the family-unit is so very fundamental and important. However, a family does not live isolated. We are part of a society and of a nation. The word of God requires that we build up and improve the society we live in. That we care for those around us, everyone included, but perhaps especially for those who are different, less fortunate and poor.

Let’s take a better look at interesting command that appeared last and also this week:

God commands us not to reap the margins of our fields. Instead, we should leave them and their produce and fruit for the poor to glean and pick. On the one hand, God blesses us with an income, a family and a land flowing with milk and honey. He grants us the entire land as our property and inheritance. Yet He is also the One who commands us to allow the needy to enter our fields and pick our fruit.

We might think: ‘Wait a second… this field is my property! I paid for it myself! Who bought this field and invested in it? Who plowed, sowed and watered it with sweat and tears? I did! And now I should give up part of my harvest to others? To strangers? We might continue, reasoning: if they want bread, let them get a job.

How is this my problem? I am honest and work hard. I work hard to provide for my family. Why should I donate part of my earnings to others, to strangers, I do not even know? …If you’re looking for a saint, don’t call me… I’ll call you!

Here we reach the concept of grace and mercy. In spite of the fact that our time and property are valuable and they belong to us; we do not live in a bubble, however. We live in a society, and are part of a nation. We should donate some of our precious time to society. God’s Word tells us we need to help each other – and yes, that comes out of our own pocket!

Proverbs tells us twice that ‘charity will save from death’, because charity has an enormous impact on the society we live in. A supportive society is promised a long life. That is why charity and aiding the poor have such a powerful role in faith.

According to Yeshua, the disciple way and that of faith, is one of care and aid to others. Even to such an extent, that even at joyous family events, we are commanded to invite those who cannot cover the cost of their plate and those who will not invite us in return.

Inviting people with problems is not easy, whether they are financial or health-related. Yeshua says that if those same poor cannot cover the cost of their plate, our Heavenly Father will bless and reward us, instead. He says so in Luke chapter 14:

Yeshua’s teaching is similar to the famous saying:

The idea behind both is that we search for, and want to be close to those who share our values. Likewise, we refrain from those who represent values we disagree with. Our circle-of-friends represents the values we identify with.

Here Yeshua teaches us that caring for others, for someone different or less fortunate is a very important value. We should also invite those who are unable to buy us an expensive gift.

Those who are rarely invited, and often do not even get a second glance. This is the only way to actively battle all kinds of social rejection and boycotts, in order to build a stronger and a more cohesive society, together. Yeshua’s way leads to real social justice.

Since we discuss social justice, let’s take a look at a somewhat strange and difficult story that appears at the end of our Torah portion:

The ending is tragic:

The following commonly known midrash )or: commentary( sheds light on this story. It explains how both sides appeal to the court due to a property dispute between the son of an Egyptian and the tribe of Dan. The claim of the Egyptian’s son is rejected. According to the text in Numbers, the inheritance rights go by the father; and so, the son of the Egyptian cannot inherit with the tribe of Dan. This verdict upsets the son of the Egyptian to such a degree, that he blasphemes.

Between the lines lies a message about the individual’s responsibility to society, but also of a society towards the individual. Now, whether this Midrash is right or wrong, the story hints at discrimination. The mention of the son’s origins is for a reason. Besides ‘the son of an Egyptian’, he is also ‘the son of an Israelite woman’. On the one hand, we learn about the severity of the man’s actions and about the heavy punishment he received. On the other hand, this story places a great responsibility upon the community and society.

The Egyptian’s son feels alienated and powerless as his rights and identity have been denied. What can he do? Nothing! He reacts the way he does from this helpless feeling.

Here we need to ask, whose fault the blasphemy was. If the community is guilty, then why is the son of the Egyptian put to death, while the rest of the community goes unpunished? The answer is simple: everyone is responsible for his or her actions. Rightful or not: if you break the law, you are at fault.

The morale of this commentary is simple. We must stay calm, patient and in control at all times. When someone drinks too much alcohol, he loses control. According to the law, it is forbidden to drive under the influence, because one could hurt or even kill trying to control a car. This law is logical and easy to understand.

In a similar manner, someone might get so extremely aggravated, to the point where one loses control of his or her words or even their actions. This person could cause damage to someone else’s possessions, or even hurt someone. In case we did not remain calm and hurt others, whether by driving under the influence, or by the loss of control leading us to cause damage... the Torah, however, does not accept the ‘temporary insanity’-excuse. If you have committed a crime, it is on you. That is why, at the end of this story, the son of an Egyptian is stoned to death.

In addition to the verdict, God reminds us all:

Here God points a finger at society: look at the mirror, are you blameless? Did you follow this command and have a just ruling? Did you fulfill the ‘stranger like a native’-commandment? Yes, the accused will be stoned to death, but all the witnesses are requested to first put their hands on the accused and grasp the full measure of their part in this.

The Torah emphasizes the great importance of the society’s responsibility towards the individual.She commands us to be fair, understanding, helpful and more, Also when it comes from our pocket, from the margins of our field that God commanded us to leave for others.

Also to our parties and celebrations, we will invite those less fortunate, the hurt and the lonely. That is the right way to educate our children against the idea of social boycotts and exclusion. It is the way of our Heavenly Father and of our Messiah, Yeshua, to bring cause true social justice and real mutual responsibility.