Emor - Time = Opportunity | Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky

Hi, this is David Wolpe, welcome to the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes we try to give you an insight into the Parsha. Parsha is Emor. You know, whenever you see a Parsha everything fits in thematically. Yeah, sometimes you can find it, sometimes you can't. Not always easy to see that. But of course, we have in this Parsha a lot of the laws of the Kohanim, Emor el ha Kohanim. And the idea of Kedusha, that a Kohen has to maintain himself in Kedusha. We have laws relating to Trumah. We have laws about the Kohen Gadol, who they can marry. We have about Bal Mum. We have all kinds of different things. Then we have animals that have a Bal Mum. We have all kinds of a lot of Kedusha, and then all of a sudden we have the Parshas Hamoadim. That's how the Rambam refers to Emor. It's the Parshas Hamoadim, where all of the Moadim are. In Parshas Ki Sisa, in Mishpatim, and in Re'eh, we have the Shalosh Regalim. But here we have everything. We have Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sefirat Haomer. All of the Yamim Tovim are here, and in that particular order, how everything is set up. Chronological order. Yeah. This is the Parshas Hamoadim. What's it doing over here? So the Ramban in his introduction to Vayikra explains that everything that is in Vayikra, which is Torat Kohanim, has something to do with Kedusha and with um and with the Korbanos, etc. So of course, there are special Korbanos that are brought on every single Yom Tov, and each one has its own thing. But there's another idea I think that fits into this, and that is that you find on Yom Kippur right? A Seder Yuchsin, there are 10 levels. And you have at the bottom, you know, a a Mamzer, a Natin, and Eved Ivri, you know. You work your way up to 10 levels until you come to a Yisrael, a Levi, a Kohen, and then a Kohen Gadol. That's the highest level. There's a Mishnah at the end of the first perek uh of Keilim, where it says Eser Kedushot Hen. There are 10 places. The first is Eretz Yisrael. The second are walled cities from the time of Yehoshua. The third is Yerushalayim. Then there's the Har HaBayit, and it keeps going till you come to the Kodesh Kodashim. And in time, there are also 10 levels. So, for example, when it comes to the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, we build up to the 10th day. And so on Yom Kippur, the 10th day, the Kohen, who is the 10th level of Yuchsin yeah? goes into the Kodesh Kodashim, the 10th level of Kedusha. To teach us what? That there's Kedusha in place, there's Kedusha in time, and there is Kedusha in people. And therefore, we have to understand that when we discuss the Kohanim and that there's a higher level of Kedusha in people, you have to remember that there's a Kedusha in time. And it's not just every day is the same. Right? The calendar is a roadmap, just like when you come to Eretz Yisrael, you want to find your way to Yerushalayim, to the Har HaBayit, to the Beit HaMikdash, the Kodesh Kodashim. So too in time, you get to understand that there is Kedusha in time. In fact, as we know, they did not build the Mishkan on Shabbat because Shabbat was already a Mishkan in time, and that's how the Parshas Hamoadim begins, with Shabbat. The time itself has Kedusha, and we have the ability to be able to be Mekadesh Zman. And that's why the very first Mitzvah given to the Jewish people was HaChodesh Hazeh Lakhem Rosh Chodashim. Understand that time is holy. And that we have the have to appreciate that when a Yom Tov comes along the Gemara Megillah says that 30 days before the Chag, you have to learn the Halachot of that holiday, of that time. That's why we here in Eretz Yisrael on Purim Shushan Purim one of the dinim we do at our Seudah is we have to learn Hilchot Pesach because if you celebrate the 14th, it's 31 days away from Pesach, but for us, it's 30 days away. You have to already start learning the Halachot of that time. You have to prepare for that time. And and when that time comes along, it's an opportunity. Place is an opportunity, and time is an opportunity, and people are an opportunity. And so we have to look at the Parshas Hamoadim and understand that just like the Beit HaMikdash was called the Ohel Mo'ed the holidays are called the Moadim. They are a destination, a pointed time and a pointed place, and it's an opportunity for us to find the Kedusha that is in time. Im Yirtzeh Hashem, as we go into this Shabbat, which is the first that's listed in the Moadim, we should take advantage of that Kedusha. Shabbat.