Emor

Par sh at E mor T' mi mut Ra bbi Ari Kahn Parshat Emor begins with instructions given to Moshe, which effect his brother Aharon, and all of Aharon’s descendants. And G-d spoke to Moshe; ‘Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aharon, and say to them, “Do not defile yourselves to [with] the [dead] souls among your people” (21:1) In this verse, one of the central characteristics of the “priestly family,” the kohanim, is introduced: A kohen is not permitted to come in contact with the dead. To those brought up within the Jewish tradition, this prohibition is familiar, almost obvious. Only when we consider this issue a priori does it seem strange: Why should a kohen not be permitted to be exposed to the dead or death? If such contact is fundamentally wrong, it should be inappropriate for all Jews. Is there something unique about being a kohen which makes contact with the dead incongruous? Insight into this question may be found in the verse immediately preceding this prohibition (the last verse of the previous parsha, Kedoshim): Any man or woman who is involved in the practices Ov or Yid’oni (mediums or oracles) shall be put to death... (20:27) This is the third instance in Parshat Kedoshim in which this prohibition is reiterated, and here serves the conclusion of Kedoshim. We cannot help but contrast this finale with the opening verses of Emor, in which the kohanim in particular are instructed in such a closely related matter. The contrast becomes even sharper when we realize what the practices of Ov and Yid’oni involved. In Devarim, the prohibitions are repeated yet again: When you come to the land that the Lord your G-d has given you, do not learn to do the revolting practices of those nations. . . nor practice Ov or Yid’oni or attempt to communicate with the dead. (Devarim 18:9-11). From the context, we learn that Ov and Yid’oni were types of witchcraft involving communication with the dead. The Talmud explains that a human skull was used in the rite of Ov. Our Rabbis taught: Ba'al ov denotes both him who conjures up the dead by means of soothsaying and one who consults a skull. (Sanhedrin 65b) King Shaul made use of this method in an attempt to communicate with Shmuel

the Prophet, who had passed away: Shmuel passed away and was eulogized by all of Israel. He was buried in Ramah, in his city. Shaul eradicated the Ovot and Yid’onim from the Land. (I Shmuel 28:3) Next, the text tells us that the Philistines attacked Shaul, and he was frightened. With his Prophet Shmuel no longer at his side, Shaul did not know where to turn for counsel. When his prayers went unanswered, he became frustrated: And Shaul said to his servants, ‘Find for me a woman who masters the practice of Ov and I will go and seek her out.’ And his servants said to him, ‘Behold, there is a woman in Ein-Dor who is a medium.’ And Shaul disguised himself, and put on other garments, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, ‘I beg you, divine for me by a spirit, and bring him up for me, whoever I shall name to you.’ And the woman said to him, ‘Behold, you know what Shaul has done, how he has expelled those who are mediums, and the wizards, from the land; why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?’ And Shaul swore to her by the Lord, saying, ‘As the Lord lives, you shall not be punished for this thing.’ She said, ‘Who should I bring back?’, and he said, ‘Shmuel’. . .And Shmuel said to Shaul, ‘Why have you angered me and raised me up… G-d will tear the Kingdom from your hands and give it to your friend David. (I Shmuel 28:7-17) In this most unusual passage, King Shaul utilized the forbidden services of a medium and communicated with the dead, clearly violating Jewish Law. As punishment, Shaul was stripped of his kingship. The verse in Devarim quoted earlier concludes: When you come to the land that the Lord your G-d has given you, do not learn to do the revolting practices of those nations. . . nor practice Ov or Yid’oni or attempt to communicate with the dead. For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord your G-d drives them out from before you. Be complete (tamim) with the Lord your G-d (Devarim 18:9-13). The opposite of these practices is tamim, this completeness, ‘oneness’ with G-d. The word tamim, or its singular form tam, can have connotations of innocence, simpleness, or completeness. The first two definitions often carry with them a negative nuance. Here, G-d calls upon man to trust Him, and thus to be one with G-d. Confusion, fear, neurosis lead man to seek guidance and certainty in the occult, the archetype of such behavior being none other than King Shaul. G-d calls upon man to be complete in his trust. Such trust goes beyond the therapeutic; total trust in G-d is spiritually uplifting as well as psychologically comforting.

The Shem MiShmuel observes that the first instance of lost t’mimut, lost innocence/oneness with G-d was the fall of Adam and Eve. In Eden, they were truly one with G-d, experiencing His presence in the Garden, but they exchanged that for a bite of fruit, which they hoped would give them knowledge of G-d. The result was the introduction of death into the world. Death is the opposite of t’mimut; once man separated himself from G-d, the power of tum’ah gained a foothold. Death was born. In fact, the Zohar notes that the word tam is the reverse of the word met. ‫מת‬-‫תם‬: When man is no longer tam, having reversed and perverted his natural innocence, the result is inevitable, inexorable. The mandate of the kohen is to reunite man with G-d through korbanot which serve to bring man closer to G-d and G-d closer to man. The kohen’s function is to bring about shleimut, oneness or wholeness, a return to the original state forfeited by Adam and Eve. We now understand why the kohen is to avoid contact with death. The corpse represents the separation of the Divine from our physical existence, the difference between a corpse and a living person being only the breath of G-d, the soul. Here is where the Jewish concept of spirituality diverges from the magical rites and incantations of the heathen: The kohen avoids death and seeks t’mimut, while the Ov and Yid’oni use death to gain understanding and security in this world. The person most clearly identified as tam was Ya’akov, who was described by the Torah as “Ish tam who sat in the tents” (Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents Bereishit 25:27), as opposed to Esav the warrior who gallivanted in the fields. Ya’akov was shalem, complete (Bereishit 33:18); Ya’akov was one with G-d. All he needed could be found in the tents of study. Esav sought adventure and conquest. It is no coincidence, then, that our Sages taught that Ya’akov, the Ish tam, was untouched by death: Thus said R. Johanan: ‘Yaakov our patriarch is not dead.’ He [R. Nahman] objected: ‘Was it then for nought that he was bewailed and embalmed and buried?’-The other replied: ‘I derive this from a scriptural verse, as it is said, “Therefore fear not, O Yaakov, My servant, said the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel,- for I will save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity.” The verse likens him [Yaakov] to his seed [Israel]; as his seed will then be alive so he too will be alive.(Ta’anit 5b): He was tam and shalem. The word shalem, whole, is closely associated with the word shalom, peace. Another function of Aharon, the prototype of all kohanim, was to purvey peace among Jews: Hillel said, ‘Be of the disciples of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and bringing them closer to the Torah (Avot 1:12)

Hillel emphasizes that Aharon’s function was not only to bring about shleimut between man and G-d, but also, and no less importantly, to bring about shalom between man and his fellow man. Shalom and shleimut are intertwined; they are two sides of the same coin. The Maharal teaches that shalom is G-dly; it emanates from G-d and is thus an aspect of G-d Himself 1. For this reason, one of the names of G-d is “Shalom”. Avot D’Rabi Natan describes Aharon’s method of pursuing peace: If he heard of two people who had a falling out, he would tell each one individually that the other had expressed a strong desire to make amends2. This method, while wellintentioned and successful, is disturbing: Apparently, the ends are seen as justifying the means. Aharon’s actions become less troubling when we familiarize ourselves with a teaching of the Rambam: According to Jewish Law, a get, or writ of divorce, is only valid if given of free volition by the husband. Nonetheless, if a court of law decides that a man should grant his wife a divorce but he refuses to do so, the court may appoint emissaries to physically “beat him until he says, I agree” (Mishne Torah, Gerushin 2:20). He who according to the law must divorce his wife but he does not wish to comply and divorce her, a Jewish court in any place in any time may strike him until he says I wish [to divorce her] (Rambam Laws of Divorce 2:20) This would appear to contradict the law that a get granted under duress is invalid. The Rambam goes on to explain that once the court rules that a man must divorce his wife, the husband truly wishes to comply rather than defy the decision of the court. The Evil Inclination is all that stands in his way. In the philosophy of the Rambam, a Jew always wants to do the right thing; “circumstances”, “ego”, “honor” may sway him, but do not change his basic nature. Aharon’s understanding of the essence of the Jewish soul is echoed in this teaching of the Rambam. He knew that two people at odds with one another always hope for reconciliation, although on the operative level they may allow extraneous considerations to sway them from the course of peace. Aharon pursued peace by bringing people in touch with themselves, their fellow man, and G-d. Only someone who is tam, complete, can bring out the completeness in others. Aharon was not guilty of naivet ‫ י‬assuming the all man are completely good. Rather, because of his positivistic view of man, he was able to excavate beyond the levels of narcissism and self-indulgence, and discern the essence of man - the good in man. Aharon’s function was therefore one: shleimut, reuniting man with G-d, and reuniting man with himself. Moshe and Aharon represent two different aspects of leadership: Moshe was a teacher of Torah. He taught truth—direct, clear, unadulterated truth. Aharon sought peace. While the pursuit of peace may sometimes seem to compromise or pervert truth, peace emanates from G-d. Peace is neither a compromise nor a perversion of truth. It is an expression of G-dliness; indeed, it is the very name of 1 2

Netivot Olam Page 215 Avot D’Rabi Natan, Chapter 12

G-d. At the School of R. Ishmael it was taught: Great is the cause of peace. Seeing that for its sake even the Holy One, blessed be He, modified a statement; for at first it is written, My lord being old, while afterwards it is written, And I am old. (Yevamot 65b) Truth is a means of approaching G-d, while peace is the destination. Truth and Peace work together, as we see from the verse in Tehilim:

In reality,

Hesed (kindness) and Emet (truth) met; Tzedek (justice) and Shalom (peace) kissed. (Tehilim 85:11) The Midrash associates Hesed with Aharon and Emet with Moshe, Tzedek with Moshe and Shalom with Aharon: AND HE WENT, AND MET HIM ( Shmot IV, 27). When it says: Mercy (hesed) and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps. LXXXV, 11)- ’mercy’ refers to Aaron, of whom it is said: ‘And of Levi he said: Thy Thummim and Thy Urim be with Thy holy one (hasideka)’ (Devarim XXXIII, 8), while ‘truth’ refers to Moshe, of whom it says: ‘My servant Moshe is not so; he is trusted in all My house (Bamidbar XII, 7). Hence ’Mercy and truth met together’ when ’He went and met him in the mountain of G-d.’ Righteousness refers to Moshe, of whom it is said: ‘He executed the righteousness of the Lord’ (Devarim XXXIII, 21), and peace refers to Aaron, of whom it says: ‘He walked with Me in peace and uprightness’ (Mal. II, 6). (Sh’mot Rabbah 5:10). It should come as no surprise that Shalom and Hesed are attributes of Aharon, while Emet and Tzedek are attributes of Moshe. The verse, though, concludes that Justice and Peace can embrace and kiss, in expression of harmony, of oneness. Moshe teaches Torah, Truth, and he represents Justice. In this realm, reality cannot be bent or distorted. Aharon, on the other hand, operates on the level of purity, distanced from death, from tum’ah, from the distortions of sin. These two realms are not in conflict. They meet, they kiss, and they converge in their ultimate goal, which is shleimut,- shalom. Truth is a means of achieving the goal, of mending the world. Peace is the result. Aharon, the archetypal kohen, represents this unity and completeness, as is expressed so beautifully in the Priestly Blessing he is instructed to bestow upon all Israel: May G-d bless and safeguard you; may He make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May G-d lift up his countenance upon you, and grant you peace (BaMidbar 6:24-26). The idea of t'mimut is discussed explicitly in the Parsha itself;

And you shall count from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf offering, seven “t’mimot” sabbaths ( seven complete weeks).(23:15) Here, we are instructed to count seven complete weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. Unlike the counting of Sabbatical years, which is the obligation exclusively of the High Court (Sanhedrin), the counting of these seven weeks applies to the entire nation. The entire nation was meant to be tamim - the entire nation was meant to be kohanim: "You shall be for me nation of Preists, a holy nation." (Shmot 19:6) Every person must prepare to receive the Torah. The way to prepare is to become tamim, complete. This is the meaning of "Na'ase Venishma": With this phrase, the Jewish People expressed their total trust in G-d, a trust which was lacking in Adam and Eve and all doubters who followed. R. Eleazar said: When the Israelites gave precedence to ‘we will do’ over ‘we will hearken,’ a Heavenly Voice went forth and exclaimed to them, ‘Who revealed to My children this secret, which is employed by the Ministering Angels, as it is written, “Bless the Lord, ye angels of his. Ye mighty in strength, that fulfill his word, that hearken unto the voice of his word”. First they fulfill and then they hearken? (Shabbat 88a). A prerequisite to receiving the Torah in the fullest sense is t'mimut, both in our relationship with G-d and in our relationship with our fellow man. The description of Ya'akov as "Ish tam yoshev oholim", referring to the tents of Torah study, illustrates the connection between interpersonal and religious t'mimut. As we saw above, man sins when he ignores the good within him, when man ignores his essence. This completeness is a prerequisite for learning Torah. In the words of the Midrash, For R. Samuel b. Nahman said: [The duty of] derek-erez preceded the Torah by twenty-six generations. This is [implied in] what is written, “To keep the way to the Tree of Life” (Bereshit III, 24). [First Scripture mentions] the way (derek) which means derek-erez, and afterwards [does it mention] ‘The Tree of Life’, which means the Torah. (Midrash Rabbah - Vayikra IX:3) "Derech Eretz kadama l'Torah" --proper (interpersonal) behavior precedes Torah. The Kotzker Rebbi was fond of saying that "Derech Eretz Hakdama l'Torah"-proper behavior is the introduction to Torah. Just as every book has an introduction, the Torah too has an introduction - Derech Eretz. When the Torah describes the period of time to be counted, the term "t'mimot" is used in reference to this aspect of completeness in human relations. When the students of Rabbi Akiva, arguably the greatest Torah scholars of their generation, mistreated one another during the omer, the result was their deaths. Again, the opposite of "tam" is "met", death.

The key to being tam is rejecting the Yetzer Hara, which enslaves us, and causes us to be incomplete, fragmenting our souls. The truly free person is the one who involves himself in Torah. He becomes unified in spirit, both tam and nishlam, and achieves oneness with man and G-d. This was the message of Aharon, who attempted to introduce people to the purity within them. When this message is finally and fully understood and internalized, "shlemut" will become a reality, between man and his fellow man and between man and G-d. The result will be Shalom - peace, true peace, everlasting peace.