Parsha Emor 5765:  Toward a Higher Standard between Jewish Brethren - By Moshe Burt

The positioning in Torah of our Parsha Emor, following last week's Parsha Kedoshim gives rise to thought and contemplation.

Kedoshim teaches "...You shall be holy, for holy am I, Hashem, your G'd." (Sefer Vayikra, Perek 19, posuk 1)  And we learn that the epitome of this holiness is the principle taught by Rabbi Hillel to the convert, on one foot, says "V'ohavtoh L'reiachoh Komochoh" -- "... you shall love your fellow as yourself..." (Sefer Vayikra, Perek 19, posuk 18) The Halachot
subsequently taught in Parsha Kedoshim are all built upon the emulation of Hashem.

Following on the heels of learning about the concept of kindness for one Jew to another, in Parsha Emor, we learn about the Avodah, the Service of the Kohanim and how they are expected "...to maintain an especially high standard of ourity and perfection." (L'lmod L'Lamed, Rabbi Mordechai Katz, Parsha Emor, page 119)

Shem Mishmuel explains the function of the Kohen and relates to the Kohen's Kedusha in this way, "The Job of the Kohen is to join the physical world to it's spiritual counterpart."  He performs the Avodah in the Beit HaMikdash, the place where heaven and earth meet.  He brings Hashem's fire upon the Mizbei'ach (altar) in a service which joins the physical earth to Hashem.

He continues by saying that the co-existence of physical and spiritual is broken by the tumah (defilement) associated with death.  Therefore, it is inappropriate for a Kohen to come into contact with death as death tears apart the unity of the physical and spiritual.

He adds, in the name of the Arizal, that prior to death, a person is attacked by impure forces. "The holy soul which rests within a person can't bear to be connected with those forces and departs from the body to alleviate it's discomfort.  This is the moment of death.  The tumah induces a split between the body and soul which is totally opposite of the Kohen's role as a unifier or 'joiner.'" (Sefer Shem Mishmuel, Parsha Emor, pages
273-275)

Shem Mishmuel extends the Kohen's attribute of being a unifier or a "joiner" even to the subject of prohibited marriages and quotes Rabbi Akiva, "a man and a woman, if they so merit, the divine presence rests between them, if they do not merit, fire consumes them."  (Sotah 17a)

I've often heard it said that the Jews, as a light unto the world, are to the nations as the Kohanim are to the rest of the Jewish people.  The point is that the Kohanim are meant to be a paradigm, to set an example for all of B'nai Yisrael; of derech, of midos, of chessed to one's brothers -- ones fellow Jews, and of Avodat Hashem. 

To expand on the attributes of Kohanim, the B'nai Yisrael are meant to be the paradigm of Derech Hashem providing light unto the nations.  And, indeed history shows the influence and impact of Torah principles in the creation of institutions, laws and government in Western Democracies.

However, what do the Jews show the nations when a dictatorial Medina Yisrael pits Jew against Jew strictly for political expedience and to keep a dictator from legal prosecution and loss of his power.  What message does it send the nations when Israel's bulldozing strongman prime minister surrenders to blackmail, under threat of prosecution for his and his sons' wrongdoings, by the small group of effete socialists who control the Justice Ministry, the "High Court", the universities and every governmental and bureaucratic institution in Israel?

What does the governmentally-planned Chillul Hashem, the spectacle of Jews hard-heartedly, cruelly and violently expelling their Jewish brethren from Jewish Land show and tell the other peoples about the nature of the Jew?  What message does it give to the nations as to how the Jews value Torah and it's very first precept; "Breish't bora Keilokim..."?

What contradictory message does Jew expelling Jew hand the nations concerning Hashem's sovereignty over the universe?  Can it bode anything but ill for Jews when the world laughs hysterically and disdainfully at  a weak-kneed, weak-willed people, who first expell their brethren from any part of Jewish Land?  Does even the most naive person really believe that expulsions began and will end for all times with just this planned expulsion of Gush Katif and the 4 Shomron Towns?

And here's a question which occurred to me today, Yom Ha'tzma'ot, as I travelled to and visited in Gush Katif.  Does Arik Sharon and his whole flock of anti-Torah Left Wing rocket scientists really think that the land that they would hand over to the Arabs will flourish and produce agriculture for anyone else but the Jews?  Do they really believe that those expelled from Gush Katif will first hand over to the cowardly murderers of Jews the technology which made a formerly fallow land flourish?  I think NOT!

In the merit of B'Ezrat Hashem, our collective unity -- "Adat B'nai Yisrael", our emunah and actions, and the proper motivations for them, may we ALL be zocha to have our Tefillah reach Shemayim, unimpeded, ungarbled.  And in recognition that if we all emulate Aaron HaKohen and his consistency and constancy of Avodat Hashem, may we be zocha, as Rabbi Moshe Ungar would say each Thursday evening at his Gemara Shiur back in Philadelphia, in "the old country",  B'Ezrat Hashem, to demand, to compel HaKodosh Borchu to do "what he wants to do, to bring us the Moshiach and the Ge'ula Shlaima,
"bimhayra v'yameinu -- speedily, in our time." 

May we see an end to low, dirty politics, political equivocation, perfidy and false cheshbonot; freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard and special merit for our brethren currently subject to police harrassment, political interrogation and political persecution. 

IY'H, may it be that come this Rosh Hashana, that we pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge'ula Shlaima and for keeping our Brethren in Gush Katif and the Shomron in their homes and neighborhoods and away from the horror and Chillul Hashem of expulsion.

May we see the "Yom Hashem Al Kol HaGoyim" Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad,
Etmol!!

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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.