Parshat Emor
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Considering all the talk of Kedusha and the attainment of holiness that was the focus of the last few parshas, one wonders what Parshas Emor, which focuses on specifics that Kohanim, those ordained to serve in the Mishkan/Mikdash, will bring in terms of alerting Kohanim as to how to achieve and maintain such a holy status.
In fact, the opening verse says “And the Lord said to Moshe ‘Say to the Kohanim, Sons of Aharon, and say to them not to become tameh (spiritually impure/defiled) through coming in contact with a soul [i.e. a dead body]’” (21:1).
One might expect a focus on purity, on spirituality, on prayer, on meditation, on focusing on the task at hand! But the first rule is listed in the negative – Don’t become impure.
This is not to suggest that such an instruction is unimportant. To be sure, a Kohen who is tameh may not serve in the Mishkan/Mikdash and thus removes himself for a spell from serving the people in their attempts to get closer to God through the Kohen’s agency in the Mishkan/Mikdash. In this light, perhaps it is important as a starting space for the Kohen to know what not to do, to avoid disqualifying himself from his important role.
And yet it still seems odd that this would be the first instruction given.
Some argue that the first thing they were in fact told was “Sons of Aharon!” Note how the verse has God telling Moshe “Say to the Kohanim” as well as “and say to them” implying two different things to tell them. In this light, the approach (championed by Yalkut HeGershuni, Ibn Ezra and others) is that the Kohanim must first remember that their calling is as the sons of Aharon. They must emulate their holy father who demonstrates his fear of God, who demonstrates humility, who demonstrates and lives by the dictum of loving every Jew.
After all, if they will not come in contact with the dead, how will they be reminded of the fragility of life? If they are first reminded that they are the sons of Aharon, and perhaps the sons of Aharon who lived while their brothers died, they will always remember that people are human, fallible, and can die. Thus the role of the Sons of Aharon becomes heavily emphasized to them as a role to take seriously, with trepidation, and with focus on why we have to do what we have to do.
In a different way, they need to embody the words of Malachi from chapter 2, especially the last verse quoted below.
4 And you shall know that I have sent you this commandment, that My covenant be with Levi, says the Lord of Hosts. דוִֽידַעְתֶּ֕ם כִּי שִׁלַּ֣חְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם אֵ֖ת הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את לִֽהְי֚וֹת בְּרִיתִי֙ אֶת־לֵוִ֔י אָמַ֖ר ה' צְבָאֽוֹת:
5 My covenant was with him, life and peace, and I gave them to him [with] fear; and he feared Me, and because of My Name, he was over-awed. הבְּרִיתִ֣י | הָֽיְתָ֣ה אִתּ֗וֹ הַֽחַיִּים֙ וְהַשָּׁל֔וֹם וָֽאֶתְּנֵם־ל֥וֹ מוֹרָ֖א וַיִּֽירָאֵ֑נִי וּמִפְּנֵ֥י שְׁמִ֖י נִחַ֥ת הֽוּא:
6 True teaching was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace and equity he went with Me, and he brought back many from iniquity. ותּוֹרַ֚ת אֱמֶת֙ הָֽיְתָ֣ה בְּפִ֔יהוּ וְעַוְלָ֖ה לֹֽא־נִמְצָ֣א בִשְׂפָתָ֑יו בְּשָׁל֚וֹם וּבְמִישׁוֹר֙ הָלַ֣ךְ אִתִּ֔י וְרַבִּ֖ים הֵשִׁ֥יב מֵֽעָוֹֽן:
7 For a priest's lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts. זכִּֽי־שִׂפְתֵ֚י כֹהֵן֙ יִשְׁמְרוּ־דַ֔עַת וְתוֹרָ֖ה יְבַקְשׁ֣וּ מִפִּ֑יהוּ כִּ֛י מַלְאַ֥ךְ ה'־צְבָא֖וֹת הֽוּא:
Another perspective is offered by the Midrash Aggadah, which presents an Aggadic tale as follows:
“Why are there two instructions (אמירות) given to the Kohanim? The first is not to become tameh to a dead body, and the second is that even though I told them not to become tameh, they may become tameh to a Mes Mitzvah (an abandoned corpse) as well as to tsaddikim, for the righteous, in their death, are חיים (living).”
Whether this is followed in practice in halakha is certainly up for debate – how, for example, do we define a tsaddik? – the Midrash Aggadah proceeds to share a tale, which includes an appearance by Eliyahu HaNavi (as Aggadot often do), who happened to be a Kohen.
“Rabbi Akiva was imprisoned and Rabbi Yehoshua HaGarsi would tend to him. When it was Yom Kippur, Rabbi Yehoshua begged leave of Rabbi Akiva and went home. Eliyahu came and knocked on his door. Who are you? I’m Eliyahu. And what do you want? I came to tell you that your Rebbe, Rabbi Akiva, has died. The two of them went through the night until they arrived at the prison only to find the prison open, the warden sleeping along with everyone else (also sleeping). Eliyahu got to the cell and the door opened. Eliyahu began dealing with [Rabbi Akiva]. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him, but aren’t you a Kohen? He said, My son, there is no tumah when it comes to tsaddikim and Hakhamim. When they left the prison [carrying Rabbi Akiva], angels approached them saying ‘the righteousness of God has been done’ as the path before them was illuminated like a shining firmament. When they got to the palace of the Caesar, they went down three steps and then up three steps only to find a cave which had a bed (bier), chair, and candelabra. They put him on the bier and were leaving, when Rabbi Yehoshua looked around and saw an even more elaborate bier in the cave. They were leaving, but Rabbi Yehoshua said I will not leave until you tell me for whom is that bier. [Eliyahu] told him it is for the wife of the wicked Titus, [rewarded] because of all the good she did for Rabbi Akiva while he was imprisoned… After they left, Eliyahu turned to Rabbi Yehoshua and told him, Go tell the Hakhamim to teach their students that there is no tumah on the tsaddikim.”
This, the Midrash concludes, is what Moshe was telling the Kohanim. Do not become tameh to just anyone. But for a mes mitzvah, for tsaddikim, and for Hakhamim there is no tumah!
This approach in the Midrash focuses on the concept of tumah as something the Kohanim are meant to avoid in general, with the three exceptions as noted. The verses also note that for all Kohanim except the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) there are exceptions as well for close family.
But there is another perspective that I recently learned in a teaching from Rabbi Meir Shapiro Z”L. In the context of explaining how he managed to suffer through the travails and financial woes of sustaining the Great Yeshivas Hakhmei Lublin and still come across as being happy and living b’simcha, he noted that he took notes from Kohanim who were not allowed to participate in funerals.
His explanation for their restriction with becoming tameh was less focused on their becoming unable to serve in the Mikdash, and more on how if they were to become regularly habituated to attending funerals, they would be saddened and less capable of fulfilling the dictum of עבדו את ה' בשמחה, serve God with joy.
Kohanim, he argued, have an added mitzvah to bring joy to Judaism and to the task of serving the Almighty. While he wasn’t a Kohen, Rabbi Shapiro felt that in his role as Rabbi of communities and teacher of hundreds of Talmidim (students), he needed to be b’Simcha (have a positive outlook) in his life dedicated to teaching and inspiring, so he took a page from the Kohen playbook.
This perspective offers a keen insight to Kohanim specifically, and to all of us in general, as to what a goal in life can be. It is not that life doesn’t have its complicated moments and difficult times. But our challenge is to weed through it to find not only reasons to be happy, but to present ourselves as b’simcha as much as possible.
It is sometimes difficult, and sometimes seemingly impossible. But our challenge in life is to challenge ourselves to be the best version of us that we can be, as often as possible.
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