- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Emor
Emor
Part of the problem of leadership is that one who achieves such position and prominence is always held to a higher standard of behavior and accomplishment than we ordinary humans are subjected to. In this week’s parsha the Torah sets out special and stringent rules for the descendants of Aharon, the kohanim/priests of Israel. Apparently with public privilege there comes added responsibilities. Because of this the Torah describes and demands specific personal and public behavior actions and attitudes from kohanim. The prophet will later record for us that "the lips of the kohein will guard knowledge and the people will ask for Torah lessons from him for he is likened unto and angel of the Lord of hosts." To this verse the Talmud comments that "if he resembles an angel of the Lord of hosts then the people should ask of him to teach them Torah. However, if in his personal and public deportment he bears no resemblance whatsoever to an angel of the Lord of hosts then the people should abstain from asking him to teach them Torah." In the long history of the Jewish people, both in First and Second Temple times there were righteous High Priests who resembled angels and there were those who disgraced their exalted position by immoral and sinful behavior. There were Saduccean High Priests who denied the very divinity of the office that they occupied. And there were righteous High Priests such as Shimon HaTzadik who proved themselves to be the saviors of Israel in difficult and dangerous times and circumstances. To a great extent therefore the entire situation of Israel, favorable or otherwise, depended on the High Priest and his attitudes and comportment.
It is interesting to note that the Torah in this week’s parsha lays down many rules about the actions and behavior of the kohanim as regarding their own personal lives. Apparently, nowhere does the Torah deal with public policy issues and the national direction that the kohanim are to lead the people of Israel in. The Torah assumes that people who behave in a holy and correct fashion in their own personal lives will benefit from Divine intuition and aid when it comes to making vital decisions about public policy for the Jewish people. Shimon HaTzadik saved the Jewish commonwealth of his day from destruction by Alexander the Great though successful and clever negotiation. The Tzadik bested the Great in that encounter. That is why throughout Tanach we find the leaders of Israel judged not so much by their public persona and public policy decisions, by their wars and victories and reverses, as much as by their private behavior and interpersonal relationships and actions. In the blessings of the Haftorah reading we state that the Lord gave us "good prophets" - people of personal worth and integrity, of honesty and morality and correct Torah behavior. Bad people are disqualified from being our true prophets. There are no perfect people so there cannot be any perfect leaders either. Yet, the Torah demands of the kohanim a constant striving for holiness and self-improvement. It therefore prescribes a regimen of behavior in personal life that will aid the kohein in that quest for holy self-fulfillment.
It is interesting to note that the Torah in this week’s parsha lays down many rules about the actions and behavior of the kohanim as regarding their own personal lives. Apparently, nowhere does the Torah deal with public policy issues and the national direction that the kohanim are to lead the people of Israel in. The Torah assumes that people who behave in a holy and correct fashion in their own personal lives will benefit from Divine intuition and aid when it comes to making vital decisions about public policy for the Jewish people. Shimon HaTzadik saved the Jewish commonwealth of his day from destruction by Alexander the Great though successful and clever negotiation. The Tzadik bested the Great in that encounter. That is why throughout Tanach we find the leaders of Israel judged not so much by their public persona and public policy decisions, by their wars and victories and reverses, as much as by their private behavior and interpersonal relationships and actions. In the blessings of the Haftorah reading we state that the Lord gave us "good prophets" - people of personal worth and integrity, of honesty and morality and correct Torah behavior. Bad people are disqualified from being our true prophets. There are no perfect people so there cannot be any perfect leaders either. Yet, the Torah demands of the kohanim a constant striving for holiness and self-improvement. It therefore prescribes a regimen of behavior in personal life that will aid the kohein in that quest for holy self-fulfillment.

Chadash
Parashat Emor
Rabbi Stanley Fass | 5764

The Mitzvah of ViKidashto
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770

Radical Uncertainty
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | Iyar 11 5780

From Animal to Holy
Parashat Emor
Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman | Iyar, 5763
Rabbi Berel Wein
The rabbi of the "HANASI" congregation in Yerushalim, head of the Destiny foundation, former head of the OU, Rosh Yeshiva of 'sharai Tora" and rabbi of the "Beit Tora" congregation, Monsey, New York.
Converts
5771
NOACH
Light the Candles
Sivan 10 5782
Blessings And ...
אלול תשע"א

Double Wrapping Food in a Treif Oven
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Kislev 4 5777

Roasted Foods on Pesach
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Nissan 12 5776
The Laws of Matza
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | Nissan 5768

Writing on Shabbat
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff

Lessons from Europe?
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook #146 part 5
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Nissan 5783

The Day after the Shabbat
Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt"l | Nissan 5783
The Secret Love
Rabbi Netanel Yossifun | Nissan 2 5783
