emor-himi1

1 Emor V’amarta — The Puzzling Doubling

Why does the Torah say both “Speak to the Kohanim” and “and you shall say to them”? What is this redundancy doing?

G-d said to Moses: Speak to the Kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: For a dead person he shall not become impure among his people Leviticus 21:1

Wait — if the Torah already said “Speak to the Kohanim, the sons of Aaron,” why add “and you shall say to them”? The phrase looks redundant. And it happens again: “and you shall say to them, for a dead person he shall not become impure.” What is the secret of this doubling?

Rashi confronts the difficulty and answers: “Emor v’amarta — to warn the elders concerning the young.” The first call is addressed to the senior Kohanim. The second call — that they themselves should warn the young, their children, and pass on every detail of the priestly laws.

⭐ The historical context matters: this is right after the death of Nadav and Avihu. Who is left? Elazar and Itamar. Moses tells them: you are responsible not only for yourselves — but for transmitting the tradition to the next generation. Torah is not finished when it is heard — it is finished when it is passed on.

2 “Upon the Young” — Not “To the Young”

Rashi wrote “to warn the elders upon the young” — but that’s not normal Hebrew! We would say “to warn the young.” What is the secret of “upon”?

Rashi does not make Hebrew mistakes — and he does not phrase things carelessly. He chose “upon” deliberately, not “to.” What is the difference? “To the young” = warn them, talk to them, tell them “be careful!” “Upon the young” = something completely different.

The secret: the word “l’hazhir” (to warn) has two meanings in Lashon HaKodesh:
(a) From “tizaher” — warning, alert.
(b) From “Zohar” — to shine with light. Like the holy book of the Zohar, which illuminates the divine light upon the fields of Torah.
Rashi was pointing to the second meaning.

⭐ Therefore — “to warn the elders upon the young” = the elders, by their very behavior, function as a projector casting light upon the young. Not talking to them — being their lamp. Their conduct is the warning.

3 The Father at the Red Light — Real Education

What carries more educational power: hundreds of verbal warnings, or one act?

This is a colossal foundation in education. You can talk from morning to night and explain to a child what to do and what not to do — he might listen, he might not. But there is one thing that always works: the child watches how Dad behaves, how Mom behaves. That is what shapes him.

🚦 The Parable of the Red Light:

A father is walking with his child. They reach a red light. The father keeps crossing while telling the child: “Be careful! Don’t cross on red!”

What did the child learn? The exact opposite. He saw Dad cross on red. All the words were erased.

But if the father stops, waits in silence, and only crosses on green — he warned the child without one word. He cast light upon him. That is the real warning.

This is what Moses told Elazar and Itamar: if you want your children, the young Kohanim, to be good Kohanim — first you be good Kohanim. Your behavior will shine upon them. “The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.”

4 “Festivals of G-d” — So Why Is Shabbat Inside?

The Torah opens a chapter on festivals with the heading “The Festivals of G-d.” Which festival would you expect first? Pesach? Sukkot? And yet — right after the heading, Shabbat appears!

Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: The festivals of G-d which you shall declare as holy assemblies — these are My festivals Leviticus 23:2

Six days work shall be done, and on the seventh day a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy assembly — you shall do no work; it is a Shabbat to G-d in all your dwellings Leviticus 23:3

Something is off. Two strong difficulties:

1. Shabbat has already been told to us multiple times — in the Ten Commandments, in Vayakhel (“Moses gathered the entire congregation”), in Ki Tisa (“The children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat”). Why repeat?

2. Shabbat is not a “festival” at all — it is fixed from the six days of Creation, not dependent on a Beit Din ruling. So why is it inside the chapter on festivals?

And there is more — immediately after the “Shabbat” verse, the Torah repeats: “These are the festivals of G-d, holy assemblies, which you shall declare in their appointed times.” Two headings back to back! That is not the Torah’s style. Something deep is hidden here.

5 The Insight — The Six Festival Days

What if “Shabbat” here is not referring to the weekly Sabbath at all? What if the verse is speaking only about the festival days?

A new reading: the Torah here is speaking only about the festivals. When you ask “how many festival days are there in the year on which food preparation (melekhet nefesh) is permitted?” — let’s count:

Rosh HaShanah

One day from the Torah. Yom Tov — food preparation permitted.

Pesach

First day + seventh day = 2 Yom Tov days. Food preparation permitted.

Shavuot

One day. Yom Tov — food preparation permitted.

Sukkot

First day + Shemini Atzeret = 2 Yom Tov days. Food preparation permitted.

Total

1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 6 days on which food preparation is permitted.

And now the verse becomes crystal clear: “Six days the work shall be done” — the verb té’assé is passive: the work happens of itself, through us as instruments of the Divine. These are the six festival days we just counted. On these six days food preparation is permitted (other work — forbidden).

🔷 Rosh HaShanah is one day according to the Torah. The two days we observe today are a rabbinic enactment from the era of declaring the new month by witnesses. According to the Zohar: one day strict judgment, one day softened. But in our verse — one day.

6 “And on the Seventh Day” — Yom Kippur

If “six days” = the six festival days — then what is “the seventh day, a Shabbat of complete rest”?

It is not the weekly Shabbat we know. It is the seventh festival — the day on which even food preparation is forbidden. That is Yom Kippur. On all other festivals food preparation is permitted; on Yom Kippur — everything is forbidden. Even eating itself is forbidden.

And on the seventh day a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy assembly — you shall do no work; it is a Shabbat to G-d in all your dwellings Leviticus 23:3

Now the order is fully understood. The following verses do indeed list all the festivals in order: Pesach (in the first month, on the 14th), Counting of the Omer, Shavuot, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot. The Torah did not repeat Shabbat — it taught us the entire structure of the festivals: 6 + 1.

⭐ This reading opens a new light on the entire chapter. No redundancy, no detour, no ambiguity. The Torah is perfectly precise — and the first verse after the heading is not about the weekly Shabbat, but rather the infrastructure of the entire festival system: six festival days with food preparation, and a seventh day holiest of all — Yom Kippur, on which even eating is forbidden.

7 Shaatnez — The Massive Contradiction

The Torah forbids wearing shaatnez (wool and linen together). So how did the Kohen in the Temple wear garments containing shaatnez?! And how is it permitted for us to wear a wool tallit with linen threads?!

You shall keep My statutes… and a garment of mixed kinds, shaatnez, shall not come upon you Leviticus 19:19

The priestly garments contained wool and linen together: the Avnet (Kohen’s belt) was made of four threads — three of wool, one of linen. The Choshen and Ephod (High Priest’s garments) were made of “twisted linen” — threads that included both wool and linen. And for us? The tzitzit is permitted even with wool plus linen threads.

All this permission demands a deep explanation. If shaatnez is a Torah prohibition, how is it permitted in the holiest place — the Temple?! And how is it permitted in the most basic mitzvah — tefillin and tallit each morning? To understand — we must descend to the root of the prohibition.

8 Cain and Abel — The Root of the Prohibition and the Secret of Repair

Where does the prohibition of shaatnez begin? What is the spiritual root of “do not mix wool with linen”?

The holy Zohar reveals the root: Cain and Abel. When they brought their offering to G-d — Abel brought “from the firstborn of his flock” = wool. And Cain brought “from the fruit of the ground” = Rashi explains in the name of the Midrash: specifically the lowliest crop — flax. The result:

Abel → Wool → Positive Pole

From Abel came all the shepherds: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David — the root of the righteous, the side of kindness.

Cain → Linen → Negative Pole

From Cain came “a man of the field, a hunter” — Nimrod and all the “gangsters” of Tanakh.

⚡ The Battery Parable:

Your car breaks down. You ask for help with jumper cables. What is the first thing you check? That the plus and minus do not touch each other! Because if plus touches minus — short circuit, the battery drains in one strike.

So too the ordinary person. If he wears wool and linen together — he becomes a spiritual short circuit. Plus and minus consume each other. He drains.

🔷 So why is it permitted for the Kohen and for us with the tallit?

The Kohen is the trait of Chesed (right side, positive). He has the spiritual power to hold both poles together — to repair the negative and strengthen the positive. He can wear shaatnez because he is able to “contain” both sides without short-circuiting.

And us under the tallit? “You shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” Exodus 19:6 — every Jew is potentially a Kohen. When we wrap ourselves in the tallit each morning — we take the four corners and encompass the four directions of the world.

⭐ And this is the purpose of everything: when we encompass the four corners, we declare — “There is no evil in the world.” Even what looks evil contains good. Without the evil inclination, no children would be born, no bread would rise (the very leavening that ferments). Without the negative pole — no engine. G-d did not create evil — only good we have not yet learned to use. This is the purpose of the redemption.

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