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Emor 5772 – Forging the Mundane into Holiness
Chazal describe Hashem’s plan for the formation and structure of the world in the following terms: “ביקש לו דירה בתחתונים — Hashem desired a dwelling place in the world below.” To accomplish this, He created both spirituality (שמים) and physicality (ארץ)1.
Table of Contents
Part One: Nefesh — Kohanim
- Kedushah and dinim of Kohanim, including mumim and mumei korbanos
- Kiddush and chillul Hashem
- Level One: Taharah
- Tumah is a state of spiritual blockage and darkness
- Tahara is the ability to circumvent the blockage from above
- Compare with Aramaic Tihara for “high noon”
- When Adam HaRishon erred, he created a blockage within himself, an extra hurdle between the body and spirituality
- Level Two: Kedushah
- Taharah is analogous to purifying the ore
- Forging the slug into a tool is like becoming a Kadosh
- The Torah concept of Kedushah (holiness) is one who is accomplishing and living his yeud (purpose)
- This level requires a willing, self-imposed restriction from those relevant aspects of physicality
- Level Three: Kehunah
- Being responsible for the avodah of raising up the korbanos requires a yet higher level of sanctification
- Each Jew has within himself an aspect of kehuna in that regard
- Level Four: Korban
- When a person completely sublimates his physical self to avodas Hashem, he figuratively offers himself up on the altar
- Level Five: Kiddush Hashem
- In fact the source of all the lower levels
- I can’t make myself into a kiddush Hashem, I must be lifted up to that level from above.
Part Two: Zman — The Moadim
- The five levels represent points in consciousness
- Everyone experiences momentary flashes of inspiration to different levels e.g. self–sacrifice, separation from the mundane
- Drawing those momentary flashes out into longer sustained periods brings those flashes into the realm of time
- This is represented by the moadim (holidays), including the moadim derabbanan — Channukah and Purim, which are represented by the Menorah and Shewbread Table
- Shabbos represents the highest level of Kiddush Hashem, Hashem himself sanctifies the Shabbos
- The moadim represent the lower levels, human consciousness sanctifies the moadim through the setting of the calendar.
Part Three: Makom — The Mekaleil
- In relating the story of the mekaleil (blasphemer), the Torah emphasizes his place:
- ויצא — he left
- איש מיצרי — a man from Egypt
- בתוך בני ישראל — within the [camp of] the Children of Israel
- במחנה — within the camp
- ויבאו אותו — they brought him in
- He placed his tent in the tribe of Dan
- He detached his very place from kedushah
- Makom (place) is higher than nefesh and zman. It is when kedushah not only continues through time, but actually permeates space.
- It is the fulfilment of ”ביקש לו דירה בתחתונים — Hashem desired a dwelling place in the world below.”
- The mekaleil thus is the archetypical materialist
Towards Parshas Behar
Now we understand how Behar (a place) teaches us the value of life. Although life is a hierarchy, with absolute value at each level, any one living being has access to climb that ladder to higher levels, and thus all life is inviolate.
Image Credit: Ilker Ender
- 1. Genesis 1:1 ↩