Emor - Leviticus 21:1-24:23 - 5/16/25

In rabbinic school, our professors told us ‘Never use the Torah text as a negative example’. The problem is that there are many places in the Torah that today we see as highly problematic, and sometimes just plain wrong. We have to be honest about those instances, and grapple with them with integrity.

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, contains several such difficult verses. Men with various disabilities or ‘blemishes’ are disqualified from the priesthood. Slavery is sanctioned. One who blasphemes or pronounces God’s name is stoned to death.  The daughter of a priest who is guilty of sexual immorality is to be burnt to death.

And yet, in the same parashah, we are given laws of compassion for animals, charity toward the poor, and equality before the law for citizens and strangers alike. How do we reconcile these juxtapositions and deal with this reality in our history and sacred texts?

As modern heirs to these ancient texts, we cannot simply ignore the places where the values espoused are diametrically opposed to our modern values and ideals.  Rather, our challenge is to wrestle with the text and to recognize the reality that the text is written by fallible humans many centuries ago. What may have made sense or reflect values that worked for our community 3000 years ago, may not all still hold up today.

It is at the core of Reform Judaism to wrestle with the text, to question, to evaluate, and to hold sacred what still is relevant and essential – social justice, faith in God, faith in community, the joys of our holidays and of the good in our history, but to reject what no longer fits our values and understandings of what it means to pursue justice and to be a light to the nations.

-Rabbi Bonnie Margulis