Emor

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Emor (אמור – Hebrew for "speak,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 31st weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 21:1–24:23. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in May.

1 Summary
2 Commandments
3 Haftarah
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Summary

[edit] Rules for priests

God told Moses to tell the priests these laws for the priests. (Lev. 21:1.) None were to come in contact with a dead body except for that of his closest relatives: his parent, child, brother, or virgin sister. (Lev. 21:1–4.) They were not to shave any part of their heads or the side-growth of their beards or gash their flesh. (Lev. 21:5.) They were not to marry a harlot or divorcee. (Lev. 21:7.) The daughter of a priest who became a harlot was to be executed. (Lev. 21:9.)

The High Priest was not to bare his head or rend his vestments. (Lev. 21:10.) He was not to come near any dead body, even that of his father or mother. (Lev. 21:11.) He was to marry only a virgin of his own kin. (Lev. 21:13–15.)

No disabled priest could offer sacrifices. (Lev. 21:16–21.) He could eat the meat of sacrifices, but could not come near the altar. (Lev. 21:22–23.) No priest who had become unclean could eat the meat of sacrifices. (Lev. 22:1–9.) A priest could not share his sacrificial meat with lay persons, persons whom the priest had hired, or the priest’s married daughters, but the priest could share that meat with his slaves and widowed or divorced daughters. (Lev. 22:10–16.) Only animals without defect qualified for sacrifice. (Lev. 22:17–25.)

a shofar

[edit] Holy days

God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to proclaim the following sacred occasions:

The Sabbath on the seventh day (Lev. 23:3.)
Passover for 7 days beginning at twilight of the 14th day of the first month (Lev. 23:4–8.)
Shavuot 50 days later (Lev. 23:15–21.)
Rosh Hashanah on the first day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:23–25.)
Yom Kippur on the 10th day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:26–32.)
Sukkot for 8 days beginning on the 15th day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:33–42.)

[edit] Lights and bread in the sanctuary

God told Moses to command the Israelites to bring clear olive oil for lighting the lamps of the Tabernacle regularly, from evening to morning. (Lev. 24:1–4.) And God called for baking twelve loaves to be placed in the Tabernacle every Sabbath, and thereafter given to the priests, who were to eat them in the sacred precinct. (Lev. 24:5–9.)

[edit] A blasphemer

A man with an Israelite mother (from the tribe of Dan) and an Egyptian father got in a fight, and pronounced God’s Name in blasphemy. (Lev. 24:10–11.) The people brought him to Moses and placed him in custody until God’s decision should be made clear. (Lev. 24:11–12.) God told Moses to take the blasphemer outside the camp where all who heard him were to lay their hands upon his head, and the whole community was to stone him, and they did so. (Lev. 24:13–14, 23.)

God instructed that anyone who blasphemed God was to be put to death. (Lev. 24:15–16.) Anyone who killed any human being was to be put to death. (Lev. 24:17.) One who killed a beast was to make restitution. (Lev. 24:18.) And anyone who maimed another person was to pay proportionately (in what has been called lex talionis). (Lev. 24:19–20.)

[edit] Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 24 positive and 39 negative commandments in the parshah:

A Kohen must not defile himself for anyone except certain relatives (Lev. 21:1)
To mourn for a close relative (Lev. 21:3)
An impure Kohen, following immersion, must wait until after sundown before returning to service (Lev. 22:7)
A Kohen must not marry a woman who had forbidden relations (Lev. 21:7)
A Kohen must not marry a woman born from a disqualified marriage (Lev. 21:7)
A Kohen must not marry a divorcee (Lev. 21:7)
To dedicate the Kohen for service (Lev. 21:8)
The High Priest must not enter under the same roof as a corpse (Lev. 21:11)
The High Priest must not defile himself for any relative (Lev. 21:11)
The High Priest must marry a virgin (Lev. 21:13)
The High Priest must not marry a widow (Lev. 21:14)
The High Priest must not have sexual relations with a widow even outside of marriage (Lev. 21:15)
A Kohen with a physical blemish must not serve (Lev. 21:17)
A Kohen with a temporary blemish must not serve (Lev. 21:17)
A Kohen with a physical blemish must not enter the sanctuary or approach the altar (Lev. 21:23)
Impure Kohanim must not do service in the Temple (Lev. 22:2)
An impure Kohen must not eat terumah (Lev. 22:4)
A non-Kohen must not eat terumah (Lev. 22:10)
A hired worker or a Jewish bondsman of a Kohen must not eat terumah (Lev. 22:10)
An uncircumcised person must not eat terumah (Lev. 22:10)
A woman born from a disqualified marriage must not eat terumah (Lev. 22:12)
Not to eat produce from which the tithes have not been separated (Lev. 22:15)
Not to dedicate a blemished animal for the altar (Lev. 22:20)
To offer only unblemished animals (Lev. 22:21)
Not to wound dedicated animals (Lev. 22:21)
Not to sprinkle the blood of a blemished animal (Lev. 22:24)
Not to slaughter a blemished animal for an offering (Lev. 22:22)
Not to burn the fat of a blemished animal on the altar (Lev. 22:22)
Not to castrate animals (Lev. 22:24)
Not to sacrifice blemished animals even if offered by non-Jews (Lev. 22:25)
To offer only animals which are at least eight days old (Lev. 22:27)
Not to slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day (Lev. 22:28)
Not to profane God’s Name (Lev. 22:32)
To sanctify God’s Name (Lev. 22:32)
To rest on the first day of Passover (Lev. 23:7)
Not to do prohibited labor on the first day of Passover (Lev. 23:8)
To offer the musaf offering all seven days of Passover (Lev. 23:8)
To rest on the seventh day of Passover (Lev. 23:8)
Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day of Passover (Lev. 23:8)
To offer the wave offering from the meal of the new wheat (Lev. 23:10)
Not to eat bread from new grain before the omer (Lev. 23:14)
Not to eat parched grains from new grain before the omer (Lev. 23:14)
Not to eat ripened grains from new grain before the omer (Lev. 23:14)
To count the omer (Lev. 23:15)
To bring two loaves to accompany the Shavuot sacrifice (Lev. 23:17)
To rest on Shavuot (Lev. 23:21)
Not to do prohibited labor on Shavuot (Lev. 23:21)
To rest on Rosh Hashanah (Lev. 23:24)
Not to do prohibited labor on Rosh Hashanah (Lev. 23:25)
To offer the musaf offering on Rosh Hashanah (Lev. 23:25)
To fast on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:27)
To offer the musaf offering on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:27)

lulav and etrog
Not to do prohibited labor on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:27)
Not to eat or drink on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:29)
To rest from prohibited labor on Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:32)
To rest on Sukkot (Lev. 23:35)
Not to do prohibited labor on Sukkot (Lev. 23:35)
To offer the musaf offering all the days of Sukkot (Lev. 23:36)
To rest on Shmini Atzeret (Lev. 23:36)
To offer the musaf offering on Shmini Atzeret (Lev. 23:36)
Not to do prohibited labor on Shmini Atzeret (Lev. 23:36)
To take up a lulav and etrog all seven days (Lev. 23:40)
To dwell in a sukkah for the seven days of Sukkot (Lev. 23:42)

[edit] Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is Ezekiel 44:15–31.

[edit] Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:

Leviticus 16:1–34.
Numbers 29:1–39.
Mishnah: Peah 4:1; Demai 1:1–7:8; Sheviit 2:1; Terumot 3:9, 6:6–7:4; Challah 1:1; Bikkurim 1:8; Pesachim 7:4; Yoma 7:1; Rosh Hashanah 1:9, 2:9; Megillah 3:5–6; Yevamot 2:4, 6:2–5, 7:1–8:2, 8:6, 9:2, 9:4–6, 10:3; Kiddushin 1:7, 1:9; Sanhedrin 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, 7:4–5, 9:1; Makkot 3:8–9; Zevachim 9:5, 14:2; Menachot 2:2–3, 3:6, 4:2–3, 5:1, 5:3, 5:6–7, 6:2, 6:5–7, 8:1, 9:4, 10:1–11:2, 11:4–5, 11:9; Chullin 4:5, 5:5; Bekhorot 6:1–7:7; Keritot 1:1; Meilah 2:6; Parah 2:1.
Tosefta: Peah 1:1; Demai 1:28; Challah 2:7; Bikkurim 2:4; Shabbat 15:7, 17; Kippurim 1:6, 4:9; Sukkah 2:7, 3:1; Rosh Hashanah 2:10, 13; Megillah 3:5–6, 8; Yevamot 10:3, 5; Sanhedrin 4:1, 12:1; Makkot 5:4; Shevuot 1:6, 3:8; Eduyot 3:4; Shechitat Chullin 4:5; Menachot 7:7, 20, 10:26, 11:15; Bekhorot 2:3–4, 7–10, 17–19, 3:2, 6, 20, 24–25; 4:1–5:9; Temurah 1:10–11.
Sifra 211:1–244:1.
Babylonian Talmud: Shabbat 65a; Eruvin 105a; Pesachim 72b, 75a; Rosh Hashanah 16b; Yoma 13b, 18a, 73a; Megillah 29a; Chagigah 13a, 14b; Mo’ed Katan 14b, 20a–b, 28b; Yevamot 5a, 6a, 15b, 20a–b, 22b, 24a, 37a, 44a, 52a, 55a–b, 56b, 58b–60a, 61a–b, 66a, 69a, 77b, 84a–85b, 86b, 87b, 88b, 89b, 90b–91a, 92a–b, 94a, 99b, 100b, 108a, 114a–b, 120a; Ketubot 14b, 26a, 29b–30a, 36b, 51b, 53a, 70a, 72b, 81a, 89b, 97b–98a, 100b–101b; Nedarim 10b, 62a; Nazir 38a, 40b–41a, 42b–44a, 47b–49a, 52b, 58a–b; Sotah 3a, 6a, 23b, 26b, 29a, 44a; Gittin 24b, 59b–60a, 82b; Kiddushin 10a, 13b, 18b, 35b–36a, 64a, 68a, 72b, 74b, 77a–78a; Bava Kamma 109b–110a, 114b; Bava Metzia 10b, 18a, 30a; Bava Batra 32a, 160b; Sanhedrin 4a, 5b, 18a–19a, 28b, 46a, 47a, 50a–52a, 53b, 66b, 69b, 76a, 83a–84a; Makkot 2a, 13a, 15a, 16a, 20a, 21a–b; Horayot 9a, 11b, 12b; Zevachim 13a, 15a–16a, 17a, 100a, 101b; Menachot 6a, 109a; Chullin 24a–b, 72a, 134b; Bekhorot 29a, 43a–45a, 56b; Temurah 5b, 29b; Keritot 7a; Niddah 8b, 69b.
Leviticus Rabbah 26:1–32:8.
Zohar 3:88a–107b.
Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, 131–32. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.