Emor
Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23
Emor addresses three concentric circles of holiness: the priests, the festivals, and the sacred objects. Special restrictions govern the priests — they must avoid corpse contamination (with exceptions for close relatives), and the High Priest faces even stricter standards. The parasha then presents the annual festival calendar: Shabbat, Passover, the Omer offering, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret. It concludes with the laws of the menorah and showbread, and the narrative of a blasphemer who is stoned, establishing the principle of 'an eye for an eye' in judicial context.
Key figures
- Aaron and his sons — Subject to heightened holiness requirements as priests
- Moses — Transmits the priestly laws and the festival calendar
- The blasphemer (son of Shelomith bat Dibri) — Half-Israelite who blasphemes the Name and is stoned by the community
Famous verses
- 23:3 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of work; it is a sabbath to Hashem in all your dwellings.
- 23:40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of the citron tree, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Hashem your God seven days.
- 24:20 breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has maimed a man, so shall it be rendered to him.
Haftarah: {'ref': 'Ezekiel 44:15-31', 'connection': 'Ezekiel describes the priestly duties in the future Temple, echoing the standards of holiness and conduct required of the priests in Emor.'}
Total gematria: 424,119.