Hebraic Studies – Emor - 2021
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-
Y-H-V-H, which we usually pronounce as “Adonai” or “HaShem”.
*“This is My Name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.”
Shemot - Exodus 3:15.
Although some minor alterations have been made relating to names and attributes having been corrected.
Please Note: Verse numbers may at times vary in non Jewish Bibles.
Vayikra – Leviticus
chapters 22, 23 & 24
With Rabbi Reuven
Ben-Avraham.
- And ye shall not profane My
Holy Name; but I will be hallowed among the children of who hallow you”
Vayikra – Leviticus 22:32 (JPS version of the Torah).
Another Jewish version has the last part of the verse above is as follows;
“You shall be holy; for I your Elohim am holy”
The concepts of ‘Kiddush’ and 
– ‘Chillul HaShem’ (Y-H-V-H) have a
history. Though they are timeless and eternal, their unfolding occurred through
the course of time. In this Parsha the verse has a
narrow and localised sense. The chapter in which it
occurs has been speaking about the special duties of the priesthood and the
extreme care they must take in serving Elohim within
the Sanctuary. All of
Another dimension was disclosed by the Prophets, who used the
phrase to
describe immoral conduct that brings dishonour to Elohim’s law as a code of justice and compassion.
Amos speaks of people who “trample on the heads of the poor;
“That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the humble; and a man and his father go unto the same maid, to profane My Holy Name” Amnos - Amos 2:7 (JPS).
Jeremiah invokes to describe those who circumvent the law by
emancipating their slaves only to recapture and re-enslave them
“… ye brought
them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids”
Yirmyahu - Jeremiah 34:16 (JPS).
Malochi - Malachi said the following regarding the corrupt Priests of his day;
“For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name is great among the nations; … But ye profane it” Malochi - Malachi 1:11-12 (JPS).
Elohim and the people of Elohim, must be associated with justice, for failure to do
so constitutes a ‘’.
A third dimension appears in the book of Yechezkel
- Ezekiel. The Jewish people, or at least a significant part of it, had been
forced into exile in
“How shall we sing ’s song in a foreign land?” Tehillim -
Psalm 137:4 (JPS).
But Yechezkel - Ezekiel saw it as a tragedy for Elohim as well:
“Moreover the word of came unto me, saying: ‘Son of man, when
the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and
by their doings … I scattered them among the nations, and they were
dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their
doings I judged them. And when they came unto the nations, whither they came,
they profaned My holy name; in that men said of them’: These are the
people of , and are gone forth out of His land” Yechezkel –
Ezekiel 36:17 - 19-20 (JPS).
Exile was a desecration of Elohim’s Name because the fact that He had punished His people by letting them be conquered was interpreted by the other nations as showing that Elohim was unable to protect them. This recalls Moshe’s prayer after the Golden Calf:
“‘, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy
people, that Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power
and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil
did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them
from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil
against Thy people’” Shemot - Exodus 32:11-12 (JPS).
This is part of what we may call the Divine pathos. Having
chosen to identify His Name with the people of , a desecration of Elohim’s
Name.
A fourth sense became clear in the late
We all knew well and understood the verse;
“Ye shall therefore keep My statutes,
and Mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them: I am .” Vayikra - Leviticus 18:5 (JPS)
… it implies - “and not die by them.”
Saving life takes precedence over most of the commands. It was
at this time that the phrase “” was
used to mean the willingness to die as a martyr.
People looked up to as role-models must act as role-models. Piety in relation to Elohim must be accompanied by exemplary behaviour in relation to one’s fellow humans. When people associate a life with a strong faith with integrity, decency, humility, and compassion, Elohim’s Name is Sanctified.
Of course Vayikra - Leviticus chapter 23 is very special for is contains the commandments of Elohim’s “appointed seasons” - the Yom Tovim!
“And spoke unto Moshe, saying: Speak unto the
children of , which ye shall
proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons. Six days
shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy
convocation; ye shall do no manner of work; it is a Sabbath unto in all your dwellings. These are the appointed
seasons of , even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed
season”
Thus the Feasts are:
Pesach:
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month
at dusk, is ’s 
- Passover. And on the
fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of 
- unleavened bread unto
; seven days ye shall eat unleavened
bread” Vayikra 23:5-6 (JPS).
Reshit – First Fruits:
“Speak unto the children of 
- the first-fruits of your harvest unto the
priest”
Shavous:
The next feast “Shavous” 
is a very special feast as it reminds us of
the giving of the Torah, blessed be Elohim! However
it is not specifically mentioned by its name in Vayikra - Leviticus
chapter 23. Interestingly the Hebrew word for ‘seven’ is 
- ‘Sheva’ and the Hebrew word for
‘week’ is 
- ‘Shavua’
meaning seven days. And the Hebrew name of the holiday - “Shavous”, which means of course “Feast
of Weeks”.
Rosh Hashanah:
“And spoke unto Moshe, saying: Speak unto the children
of 
- a memorial
proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation”. Vayikra 23:24 (JPS). Of course this is “Yom TeRuach” or “Rosh Hashanah”.
Yom Kippur:
“Howbeit on the tenth day of this
seventh month is 
the day of atonement;
there shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your
souls”. Vayikra 23:27 (JPS).
Sukkot:
“Speak unto the children of 
- the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto ”
Vayikra 23:34 (JPS).
Amazingly, Elohim,
blessed be His Sanctified Name, somehow seems to have risked His reputation in
the world, by choosing to associate it with a single and singular people. For Elohim is the Elohim of all
humanity. However He has chosen
For two thousand years we, the Jewish people were without a
home, a land, civil rights, security, and the ability to shape our destiny etc.
There were those who even cast us as “a pariah people.” By
definition a pariah cannot be a positive role model. That is when ‘’ took on its tragic
dimension as the willingness to die for one’s faith. Today, for the first
time in history, we Jews have both sovereignty and independence in Eretz Yisrael must therefore be restored to its
positive sense of exemplary decency in the moral life. And we could well ask at
this point; is Eretz Yisrael
doing a good job as our ambassador to the world? To be honest no they are not!
The conviction of repeatedly being a Jew involves the pursuit of justice and the practice of compassion and that is what led our ancestors to stay loyal to our faith despite all the pressures to abandon it. It would be the ultimate tragedy if we lost that connection now, at the very moment that we are able to face the world on equal terms. Long ago we were called on to show the world that faith and morality go hand in hand. Never was that more needed than in an age driven by religiously-motivated violence in certain countries, rampant secularity in others. To be a Jew is to be dedicated to the proposition that loving Elohim means loving Him for what He has done for us, what He has given us, and what is still to come for we all know there is still a major event ahead of us! There is no greater challenge for us at this time considering the circumstances and we better get closer to being a good and a faithful Jew and I do mean as from today!
Always remember our motto seen on the logo at the top of this
page: “The
More Torah, the More Life”, for Elohim, blessed be
His Sanctified Name, is the one who gave us our Life!”
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