Dear CBO Family,
In parsha Emor, the Torah discusses the role and obligations of the Israelite priests. The laws concerning the observance of Shabbat and the New Moon, and the role of sacred oil and bread used in the Tabernacle, are also discussed. The punishment of a blasphemer (stoning) is also part of the parsha.
The role of the priests of Israel is clearly defined in this Torah section, and this differentiates them from the priests of the pagan gods and goddesses. The Israelite priests are also distinguished from the general population of Israel by the rules of their behavior which set them apart morally, and even by their clothing and hairstyles which set them apart visually. The general populace may have envied the priests’ higher social status, but the rigid restrictions on the priests’ behavior was probably something the populace did not envy. The priests’ lives were highly regimented, even their personal/family lives: they were required to maintain stable families, with restrictions on who they could marry. They were not permitted to marry harlots or divorced women. (These types of marriages were not forbidden to the general male population.)
Women were not permitted to be priests, while the pagan religions of that time and in that area included women as priests in their temples. We might consider this restriction to be “sexist,” but not including women in the priesthood may have been another way of showing that the Jewish religion was very different from the other religions practice by other nations and tribes living in the area.
Bread played an important part in the rituals in the desert sanctuary (the Mishkan) and in the Temple in Jerusalem. Bread used in ritual sacrifice was considered as important as the animal sacrifices. Leviticus 9:13 states that the thanksgiving offering of an animal sacrifice must be accompanied by unleavened bread, and cakes of leavened bread. Every week “showbreads” (12 loaves of bread) were displayed and later eaten by the priests. Exodus 25:30 states that God commanded, “on the table you shall set the bread of display to be before Me always.” Interestingly, only unleavened bread was used as a sacrifice; leavened bread was forbidden to be on the altar, but was required to be brought as part of the burnt sacrifice as well. Why was this? I suspect this expressed a rejection of Egyptian ways of worship. Egyptians, who were experienced bakers and brewers, used yeast often. Not permitting leavened bread on the altar was acknowledging the matzah of the Exodus, and also the rejecting of the Egyptian ways of worship.
Bread was a very important part of life for our ancestors, both as a source of nutrition and as a source of religious observance. As is written in Psalm 104, bread’s role is vital to the Jewish people, along with wine and olive oil: “wine that cheers the hearts of men, oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life.” Parsha Emor highlights the importance of bread, in our ancestor’s sacrificial rituals and even for us today as we “make motzi” at the start of our meals and at the end of our Shabbat services.
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism