From the Rabbi

In this weeks Pasha, “Emor-Say unto the Cohaneem,” we learn how special it was to be a spiritual leader amongst the Children of Israel. The interesting thing is, that today’s leaders, whether Rabbi’s and Cantor’s or Political leadership like Netanyahu are chosen by the people, or the person themselves. The Priests or Cohaneem were there by virtue of being born to a father who is a Cohen descended from only one person Aaron the older brother of Moses.

            In other words, it wasn’t how much you studied to become a Rabbi, or how astute you were to become a leader of people. It was strictly a matter of birth. Now this doesn’t mean that a Cohen in ancient times didn’t learn and study in order to perform their duties. Quite the contrary. A Cohen had to be a Shochet, a bit of a doctor to diagnose certain diseases, a chemist who could mix the Ketoret of holy incense and many more jobs. The Torah portion enumerates several other restrictions that are laid on the Cohen even mentioning who he could marry.

            In our Haftorah, Ezekiel, the incredible prophet who speaks to the Jewish people in Babylonian exile, speaks to the Cohaneem and Levites who survived the destruction of the first temple. Ezekiel was among a thousand of the Jerusalem Elite who were taken to Babylonia 10 years before the destruction. He had visions of the next Temple or Beit Hamikdash not knowing that it would be only 70 years before the Jewish people returned to Israel. The Book of Chronicles reports that only 4,000-5000 people first returned, most stayed in Babylonia soon to become the Persian Empire.

            Mostly, Ezekiel's message is that the Cohaneem should maintain their physical and spiritual piety and comport themselves properly. If the people could see and experience the purity and specialness of an entire group of Jews, it would give them the strength and motivation to re-build the Holy Land. We need more Ezekiels in our time, to give us strength of purpose and to withstand the barrage of Anti-Jewish hate and propaganda that surrounds us. We are a strong people who have seen pretty much everything over the years. Now, with mass media, tik-tok etc, that have spread falsehoods and outright lies, we all need to be Ezekiels with a vision of a brighter future.