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Purity And Holiness
Are Basic Values
RABBI ZEV SHIMANSKY
Special to The Jewish News
he role of the kohen
(priest) in Jewish life
today is extremely
limited compared to the eras
of our Holy Temples. While in
Israel the Priestly Blessing is
chanted daily, this service is
limited to the High Holy Days
and festivals elsewhere. Of
course, the kohen's role for
redemption of the first born
male (pidyon haben) is
universal.
The kohanim were chosen
to minister to the needs of the
Temple. They were to be ex-
amples for the Jewish people
and teachers of the ways of
the Torah. Mediums and
oracles being prohibited by
Torah law, the kohanim were
required to be the ones who
would provide guidance to the
people. As such, they were re-
quired to be physically and
spiritually prepared for their
task . . . physically by being
free of blemish and spiritual-
ly by being ritually clean.
Therefore, it was incumbent
upon the kohen to stay remov-
ed from defilement.
The principal defilement of
concern was to come into con-
tact with the dead. Any ac-
tual contact with a dead body,
even being in the same
building, is prohibited. This
week's sedra, Emor, begins
with the restrictions placed
upon the kohanim as to
whose burial they may at-
tend. They may attend to only
closest relatives: mother,
father, son, daughter, brother
and unmarried sister. While
the Ibrah does not specifical-
ly mention the wife, this is
certainly included since both
husband and wife are viewed
as one entity.
The kohen gadOl (high
priest) because of his exalted
status was not allowed to at-
tend even to his father or
mother. The kohen gadol was
not allowed to show any out-
ward signs of mourning such
as rending his clothes or let-
ting his hair grow wild and
was not even to follow the
funeral procession.
Additional restrictions plac-
ed upon the kohanim to main-
tain the purity of the sect
related to whom they were
free to marry. The ordinary
priest was not permitted to
marry a divorcee or profaned
woman. The high priest was
permitted to marry only a
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FRIDAY. MAY 15. 1992
Rabbi Shimansky is
headmaster of Akiva Hebrew
Day School.
virgin so that the purity of
the family of Aaron might be
maintained.
A kohen who is blemished,
disfigured or crippled may not
minister and serve in the
sanctuary, but he was permit-
ted to eat of the terumah (ho-
ly food) that kohanim normal-
ly receive. Food that had
become defiled was also pro-
hibited. A kohen who had
become defiled by any source
of ritual uncleanliness was
prohibited from coming in
contact with terumah. A
kohen's daughter may eat
terumah so long as she is still
single or is married to
another priest.
While the extensive list
governing all apsects of the
Shabbat Emor:
Leviticus
21:1-24:23
Ezekiel 44:15-31
lives of kohanim may seem
extensive, under the laws of
the Torah kohanim living in
the sanctuary lived solely
from the gifts of others. Even
their food was a gift to the
Almighty and earned the
Israelite merit in a similar
manner to a holy offering. By
serving in the sanctuary and
as teachers of Torah to the
Israelites, the kohanim
brought the spirit of holiness
to the people.
Not to depart from that
holiness and direction is a
clear message brought to us
in the past few sedrot. Two
sons of Aaron, Nadav and
Avihu, died while bringing a
"foreign fire" on the altar.
Our sages sought to describe
the sin of Nadav and Avihu.
Among the descriptions given
are: they offered incense
while drunk; they brought
the wrong type of incense;
they sacrificed on the wrong
altar; they made their own
halachic decisions, etc.
Indeed, what our sages
agree upon is that they made
their own decision and, as
well-intentioned as it may
have been, it was wrong. The
message to the kohanim is
about the specific nature of
Ibrah law. It is not open to
change by our rabbis. In a
generation so concerned
about issues that stem from a
breakdown of traditional,
Jewish values, a return to the
basic foundations of our
religion would seem to be in
order.