Below is a collection of Parashat Emor resources created by The Lookstein Center staff or contributed to the site by Jewish educators.

This is a growing collection. Check back soon or write to us at content@lookstein.org if you didn’t find what you’re looking for. 

Return to Sefer Vayikra Resources
Parasha Points
  • Kohanim (priests) have extra restrictions, over and above those of everyone else.
  • A kohen with a permanent wound may not serve in the Mishkan (Tabernacle). An animal with a permanent blemish may not be brought as an offering.
  • There is a complete itemization of the holidays and their associated mitzvot.
  • A man cursed God publicly and was put to death.
Major Mitzvot
  • A kohen may not marry a divorced woman. A kohen gadol (high priest) may not marry a woman who was married once before.
  • Kohanim are forbidden to come in contact with a corpse except for a few immediate relatives.
  • Every holiday has its associated mitzvah – eating matzah, the two bread loaves (Shavuot), shofar, fasting, the four species, and dwelling in the sukkah. 
  • We count 49 days of the omer from the second day of the Pesach until Shavuot.
  • People or animals that are impure are forbidden to enter the Mishkan.
Educational Themes
  • The Mishkan is a sacred place, and everything associated with it must be treated as such.
  • Shabbat and the holidays are sacred times. The pilgrimage holidays have both historical and agricultural motifs.
Notable Quotes
  • This is often recited as part of the kiddush on the holidays –
     וידבר משה את מועדי ה’ אל בני ישראל
  • This is often sung prior to counting the omer –
     וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת השבת מיום הביאכם את עומר התנופה שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה
  • The underlying principle behind payment for wounding someone –
    עין תחת עין שן תחת שן

DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Question #1: In Parashat Emor, we read a review of the holidays. The list begins with Shabbat and continues with Passover. Then there is a description of the omer offering (the first barley harvest) and the verse we read before counting the omer every night between Passover and Shavuot:

(Vayikra 23:15),

  וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה – And from the day on which you bring the omer offering—the day after Shabbat—you should count off seven weeks. They must be complete.

We are commanded to count the seven weeks and days between Passover and Shavuot. This is unlike any other mitzvah we have – to count days and weeks with a blessing! Some explain that this is an expression of our excitement to receive the Torah. Can you think of an event for which you actively count the days until it happens? (your birthday? A special vacation? The end of school?) How does counting days help? How does it make you feel?

Question #2: Emor is the parasha about the holidays. But at the end of the description of the holiday of Shavuot, we read a law not connected to the holidays. Shavuot is a harvest holiday and a time for special family meals and celebrations. The Torah uses this opportunity to remind farmers that when they harvest their fields they must leave crops for the poor to collect -the corners of their fields and anything which drops to the ground. When someone has a lot of food and is enjoying it do you think it’s easier or harder to remember to share with those that are less fortunate?

Look inside the text (Vayikra 23:22),

וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם לֹא תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָֽׂדְךָ בְּקֻצְרֶךָ וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִ֤י וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם אֲנִי ה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃ – And 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 should leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am your God.

Question #3: Every culture has holidays, special days for celebration and rejoicing. When the Torah speaks of holidays, it inserts into each of them some obligations – both obligations to God and obligations to other humans. What message does the presence of these obligations send? How do obligations transform us as people?

Question #4: Kohanim (priests) live with an extra set of restrictions, specifically regarding their encounter with death and who they may marry. This sets them apart from the rest of the people. Should we expect a higher standard of practice from our leaders? Does being a role model generate greater responsibility, or is that unfair? Do higher expectations make our leaders more or less accessible, more or less available as role models?