Commandment and Compassion: Emor.25

Commandment and Compassion

D’var Torah for Parashat Emor

By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

May 15, 2025

This week's portion is called Emor ("Say," Leviticus 21:1—24:23). Continuing the theme of holiness, the portion contains many intricate and complex details having to do with 1) the ritual purity of the priests; and 2) the major holidays we—the rest of the people—are to observe and keep holy.

The list of holidays is one we still observe today: Shabbat, Rosh Ha-Shana and Yom Kippur, as well as the three pilgrimage holidays, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. Though the Torah talks about these holy days in earlier portions, in Emor we are given a more thorough description both of the sacrifices and the rituals that are required. The laws of priestly purity, however, are listed for the first time in this portion. These set extremely high standards, requiring something close to physical as well as moral perfection. Among these laws are practices that many Jews of priestly descent (kohanim) still observe today, such as refraining from entering cemeteries and staying out of services during yizkor (memorial) prayers. These ancient customs go back to the times when popular belief was that God's Presence simply did not extend beyond the boundaries of life. While today we have a very different understanding of life, death and God's eternity, there are those who hold on to these rules with great persistence.

These two parts of Emor are not only explicit and detailed, they also provide a reason for observing the rules: "You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people—I, Adonai, who sanctify you; I, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I, Adonai" (Lev. 22:32-33). We obey these laws because they come from above and beyond our own existence. They come from an all-powerful God, and our existence as a People is dependent on obeying God's laws without question. 

Yet in the midst of these commandments appear two verses that seem very different: "When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to Adonai. However, no animal from the herd or from the flock shall be slaughtered on the same day with its young" (Lev. 22: 27-28). While these commandments are also spoken by God (through Moses), our response to them is not regulated by outside factors. Rather, they seem to come from inside us, from a place that can't be measured or calculated. Moreover, as many commentators have observed, their purpose is not merely to sanctify God, but also to raise us, ordinary humans, to a higher level of spiritual existence. 

Some rabbis explain these two laws as having to do with showing compassion for the pain of an animal (tsa’ar ba'alei chayim). Others teach that their purpose is to ensure that we humans, imbued with a sense of morality, of good and bad, do not become desensitized and indifferent to evil and cruelty. 

The Zohar, the fundamental book of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, goes even further: "Now the act below stimulates a corresponding activity above. Thus if a man does kindness on earth, he awakens lovingkindness above... Similarly if he performs a deed of mercy, he crowns that day with mercy and it becomes his protector in the hour of need" (Zohar: Emor 18:74). 

Leviticus thus carries forward its teaching that holiness is more than "grace" in its contemporary sense as a gift bestowed upon us by God. Rather, holiness is a state of being that we reach through our deeds and behavior, commanded by God but activated by our own choices and actions.

© 2025 by Boaz D. Heilman