Shnayim Yomi - Emor - Sheni - #2- Rabbi Meir Gavriel Elbaz - We Each Have Something to Give

Shalom Parshat Emor second Aliyah. In the beginning of this Aliyah the Torah describes the blemishes the mumim that cause a Cohen to be invalid for service in the Beit Hamikdash. The Torah has a whole list. What's interesting is that although the Torah makes it seem that when a Cohen is baal mum blemished he can't do any of the service in Beit Hamikdash that's not entirely true. If you look in the Mishna in the second perek of Masechet Middot the Rambam brings it down in Halacha in perek av Hilchot Beit Hamikdash even blemished Kohanim who could not perform the service in Beit Hamikdash were given a special job. They were given the job of going through the wood for the ma'arachah etzei ma'arachah to go through them to make sure that they weren't wormy or infested to make sure they were adequately dry and they would go through it piece by piece and chop it up to make sure that it was kosher for the mizbe'ach. The Torah means to tell us a very important lesson here. Even when there are certain limi- limitations on what a person can do in how he serves the tzibur there are halachot certain times a person can't participate because of whatever the circumstances are but every Jew no matter what has a seat at the table. There's always something to be done you can always contribute to Am Yisrael in your own special way. Even when the Torah says that they are invalid Chazal found something that the Kohanim could do in the Beit Hamikdash in spite of those limitations that's a tremendous lesson for all of us. Never get down about what you can't do. Ask not what you can't do for your nation find out what it is that you can contribute and that's the lesson for us all.