Emor
Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"The Torah portion this week, Emor, begins by outlining many laws pertaining to the Kohanim, the priests, including the prohibition against becoming ritually impure through contact with a dead body, unless the person was a close relative of the Kohen.
If we turn this parsha inwards, as we are inclined to do with our meditation practice, we find that there is a Kohen who lives inside of each of us. This is the part of us that truly desires to be close to the Source, no matter what it entails. This part of us burns with a passion to be connected to the Infinite One & remembers well the ecstasy of the times when we've reached that state before.
The question is, what causes us to feel distant?
It's taught that the Hebrew word for truth, אֶמֶת, encompasses the entirety of a thing - from Aleph, the first letter of the Aleph Bet, through Mem, the middle letter, all the way to Tav, the last. In this way, Emet captures the essence of something. When we fall out of alignment & away from the truth of how things are, the Aleph falls away & we are left with the word מֵת meaning dead. This is how it feels when we are not living from our center, when things are misaligned, when a sense of separateness replaces trust in Creator & creation.
It's as if we are dead. And that causes us to be ritually impure. Because how can we act out our holy desires to be close, to be connected, to be in Love, if we are stuck in the false illusion of a separate, small self?
Emor is urging us to recognize this state when we fall into it, & for those who have a steady meditation practice, we can utilize this tool to reclaim our center & our closeness with the Infinite One. May our practice serve just this purpose."