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The human bricks of the Third Temple

Spiritual guidance

EMOR. “Saying.” This week’s Torah portion speaks about “kohanim.” Priests. Pretty remote — unless you’re a kohen, which most Jews aren’t.

Yet, for three reasons, Emor speaks to every Jew, precisely because it’s about priests and where they worked.

First: This is our history. The priests worked first in the Tabernacle, then  in the two ancient Temples. The holy Temples no longer stand, but are burned into our memory just the same

We have internalized the sense of exile especially since the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70.

We recall the Temples in the daily Silent Prayer, the amidah.

We remember them on Tisha b’Av.

But the Temple, as an institution,  is not just remembered history.

It’s deep in our spiritual makeup.

Deep in our souls.

In our prayers.

It’s Jerusalem.

It’s the Western Wall (did you ever ask yourself what it’s the Western Wall of? It’s the wall of the ancient Second Temple).

It’s why Passover is the most widely observed of all Jewish holidays — even the most secular Jews gather for a Passover seder. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (a kohen) explains:

Passover is the only Jewish ritual, and the only time during the Jewish year, with a physical reminder of the Temple: the shank bone on the seder plate. Something very visceral and deep about the Temple still draws Jews, whether they are conscious of it or not, whether they can articulate it or not.

The Temple Mount (adjacent to the Western Wall) is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob prayed, and where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac.

The Temple is humility: We make sacrifices to G-d because we make mistakes.

We atone. We confess. We ask for forgiveness.

We do this because of where we learned it.

In the Temple.

To take responsibility for mistakes is a tremendous growth step that originated in the Temple.

In the animal sacrifices.

In this week’s Torah portion, Emor.

It describes and prescribes the laws of the priests in the ancient holy Temple.

The laws that say: You are your own spiritual guide, even if you need and have other guides. You are responsible for your own life.

Jewish fate

SECOND: The ancient holy Temple is the future. It will be rebuilt. Emor is the blueprint for the time of the Messiah.

So is the Jewish life we adopt.

If one stands, lighting the Sabbath lights, she is a brick in the next Temple. If one stands, tefilin on head and hand, he is a brick in the next Temple.

A Jew counts.

Not just for a minyan, now.

A Jew counts, because a Jew is counted on.

Counted on to address the problems of the Jewish people, to make his or her own contribution.

Counted on to become a leader.

Jews who know they count know that by taking responsibility for their own lives, they will make a difference.

What a beautiful, heavy burden, this portion of Emor. Its agenda is the most important Jewish institution in the past and the future of the Jewish people.

Whether you’re a priest (a kohen) or not, the message of Emor is upon us all. It takes us to the essence.

To the center.

The past and the future of Jewish fate.

Unblemished leadership

THIRD: In Emor we read (22:17-19): “And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all of the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: Each man from the House of Israel  .  .  .  who will bring his sacrifice    .  .  .  to the L-rd  .  .  .  to be favorable for you, it must be unblemished.”

Unblemished.

So must our sacrifices, our leadership, our Jewish life, be.

Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News



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IJN Executive Editor | [email protected]


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