Parashat Emor

by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon

Founder and Board Chairman, JobKatif

The time between Pesach and Shavuot is very special. This time can almost be considered a holiday. The Ramban on Vayikrah 23:36 says that Pesach is like the first days of the holiday, the 49 days of the omer are chol hamoed and Shavuot is the last day of the holiday.

The 49 days of the omer connect Pesach and Shavout. It is a connection between the physical redemption of Egypt to the spiritual acceptance of the Torah.

The Zohar on this week’s parasha (Emore, Ote 166) says that one who does not count the omer is not pure and should not have a part in Torah. Someone who comes to Shavuot when he is pure, must spend that night learning and connecting to Torah. He must observe its purity. And when he does this, the vastness of the Torah will enter him.

According to the Zohar we are not just supposed to wait for the coming ofShavuot but to prepare for it, prepare for the acceptance of the Torah.

Before a person does something of significance in his life, he must prepare himself. A person prepares himself before his wedding.  This preparation has two purposes. One purpose is so the person will know what will happen during the given event, such as the technical preparations for a wedding.  The second type of preparation is a spiritual one. He must bring himself up from his ordinary position to a spiritually elevated and special level.

This type of preparation must be done for a lot of things in one’s life. This is how the nation of Israel had to prepare to receive the Torah, a divine revelation that occurred at the foot of Har Sinai. As it says in Shemot 19:10-11:

“And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.”

This is how the Kohen Gadol prepared himself for the Yom Kippur service. It says in Gemrah Yoma 1a that the Kohenwould leave his house for seven days to prepare for the day. And this is what we are doing when we count the 50 days up to the holiday of Shavuot.

We therefore learn that the days of the counting of the Omer connect Pesach and Shavuot and connect the physical redemption to the spiritual one. This bond displays the preparation we must undertake to make us more complete and pure in order to receive the Torah bezrat Hashem!

 

Shabbat Shalom!