Next Family Shabbat: May 16
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 16 - Family Shabbat
May 21 - Book of Esther
June 6 - Pride Shabbat
June 14 - Adult Bat Mitzvah
June 20 - BBQ
Starts Wednesday, May 21
Pride Shabbat: June 6
Adult Bat Mitzvah: June 14
Family BBQ: June 20
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Rabbi Linda's Weekly Message |
May 16, 2025 |
Dear Friends,
This week’s Torah portion, Emor (Leviticus 21:1–24:23), means speak or say. It is an imperative to Moses from the Divine. Moses is to speak to the people. And speak he does, at great length, about the restrictions related to priests’ sexuality and marriage. The portion also includes a description of two of the three pilgrimage holidays, Passover, and Sukkot, along with Shabbat and Yom Kippur. We also get a description of the Omer as the period between Passover and the barley harvest being a time to bring offerings to the priests.
The two pilgrimage holidays, Passover and Sukkot, are each seven days and are six months apart. Each requires a pilgrimage. However, they are intrinsically different in what we are being asked to commemorate. Passover is a miraculous holiday, recounting our liberation through the intervention of the Divine, while Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, is about us. There is no liberation story underlying Sukkot. It is a holiday that celebrates the harvest and our hard work in cultivating and caring for our crops.
Mitzvah of the Week
In looking over my past divrei Torah on this week’s Torah portion, Emor, I quote the same passage over and over again, noting that we read almost the identical passage last week.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I, the Eternal One, am your God (Leviticus 23:22).”
I invite you to imagine a planted field, filled with products of the farmer’s labor; yet the corners are not harvested. Those in need are not to be made feel lesser; they too have to labor to harvest. When we examine this type of giving, we discover that those being aided are able to maintain a sense of agency.
In this time with so many in need, may we remember the dignity of those whom we are aiding. When we are enjoined to do the same thing two weeks in a row, the importance of this action is emphasized.
Riverdale Y 
| Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol Israel, ve'imru, Amen. |
| May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us all and all the people of Israel. |
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