Dear Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua, Emor is being sponsored by Rabbi Meir Arnold of Ramat Beit Shemesh and dedicated lilui nishmas his mother Rivka bas Mordechai a”h, as well as dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all remaining hostages as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Arnold family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Subscribe to the Israel and the Sin of Expulsion blog, to ask questions or to sponsor a Parsha Vort at: olehchadash@yahoo.com
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Near the end of our Parshat Emor, Torah records:
“Hashem spoke to Moshe saying, ‘Command [Tzav] the B’nei Yisrael that they take to you clear olive oil, pressed for lighting, to kindle a continual lamp.'” (Sefer Vayikra, Perek 24, posukim 1 – 2 rendered to English in The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
By way of referencing back to Parshat Tzav,The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash (page 568) explains the loshen: Tzav in this way:
Tzav — Command. Up to now, commandments regarding the offerings were introduced with “Amartah” = say (Sefer Varikra Perek 1, posuk 2) or “Dabeir” = speak. The Sages explain that the more emphatic term, “Tzav” = command, implies that the Kohanim are being urged to be especially zealous in performing this service, and that this exhortation must be repeated constantly to future generations (citing Sifra: Kiddushin 29a).
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides a commentary in our Parsha Emor on Tzav = Command (page 690 – 691):
This chapter seems to repeat the commandment of oil, which was already stated in Sefer Shemot, Perek 27, posuk 20. Rashi explains that the Perek in Shemot related that the Menorah would be needed for the kindling of a continual flame, for which oil would be required. Not until this passage, however, was the actual command given tor the Menorah to be lit.
Ramban disagrees. He comments that the earlier chapter asked people to contribute for the Mishkan, just as they contributed all the other materials needed for its construction. Now that the original oil was used up, Hashem commanded Moshe that henceforth the provision of oil should be a communal responsibility, to be prepared at communal expense.
In discussing the commandment of oil, we refer back to Sefer Shemot, Perek 27, posuk 20 and commentary in The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash (pages 464 – 465) :
“…You shall command the B’nei Yisrael that they shall take for you pure, pressed olive for illumination, to kindle the lamp continually.” (Sefer Shemot, Perek 27, posuk 20 as rendered to English in The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
…Torah…. teaches that the oil for the Menorah must be absolutely pure, without any admixture of a foreign substance, or even olive sediment. This requirement of absolute purity is a fitting prelude to the selection of Aaron and his sons as Kohanim, for they, too must remain pure and separate from the rest of the nation, in the sense that they may not permit unauthorized people to take part in the service. (The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Ibn Ezra)
The Sapirstein Edition. “The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary” adds with a further note on “Command” (Sefer Vayikra, page 60) :
“Tzav et Aaron” — Command Aaron. “Command” can only be meant to express urging on; for the immediate moment and future generations.
Note on Rashi; (The Sapirstein Edition. “The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary” citing Kiddushin 29a) Whenever the Torah uses Tzav rather than Dabeir or Emor, it indicates three points: (a) urging on; (b) that the matter commanded must be done immediately; and that (c) it must also be performed in future generations. (ibid, see Korban Aaron)
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, z’l renders to English Sefer Vayikra, Perek 24, posuk 2 in his sefer, “Kol Dodi” and provides commentary citing Ba’al HaTurim (page 195) :
“They shall take to you clear olive oil, pressed for lighting, to kindle a continual lamp.”
Ba’al HaTurim comments that the commandment to press pure olive oil for the Menorah immediately follows the commandments of the festival of Succot to make a comparison between Succot and Chanukah, the festival which commemorates the pure olive oil which burned for eight days in the Menorah.
We may say that this juxtaposition is an allusion to the fact that Chanukah, which was added after the Torah was given, follows Succot in the yearly calendar.
Just as the absolute purity of the olive oil used for lighting the Menorah would set a model of purity for the Kohanim, and indeed for Kol Am Yisrael as the prototype for purity in all mankind, so should such purity extend to governmental and military high command echelons in their treatment of their fellow Jews.
It seems that generations of Israel’s politicians, governmental and national leaders, and The Military High Command have fostered a degree of impurity by way of their airs (Plural, Noun: affected manners intended to impress others; especially in the phrase, “put on airs”) of superiority and arrogance toward their subordinates, their fellow Jews, such that their threats and intimidations of their subordinates seem constituting an immense Chillul Hashem before the nations and have led us to the strategic military quagmire (noun: a situation from which extrication is very difficult) we currently face in winning this war, eradicating ALL of the terror animals of Hamas, etc. and Liberating the remaining hostages.
Not withstanding the previous horrendous “ceasefires” and drips and drabs of hostages in exchange for thousands of bloody-handed terrorists, may it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of malfeasance and non-feasance by their previous high command to date, but now under command of both a new defense minister and chief of staff, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, Islamic Jihad, their other terrorist buddies, UNWRA and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds. may our Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. May we see a Final and Decisive victory by our Chayalim, mandated by a government secure in it’s foremost service of and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fifth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
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