Emor

How can we find our way back to living in full-heartedness?

Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman from the Or HaLev team:

"The title of this week’s parsha, Emor, means `speak,` which flows beautifully from the holiday of Pesach, a word which can be broken up into `peh sach` or `the mouth that speaks.` We have a theme here. One that is not obviously connected to our meditation practice. Our practice is one of silence, not speech. Our practice returns us to our selves quietly; to the seat of the patient and loving observer, who witnesses the thoughts that pull like ocean waves to past and future.

In this week’s parsha, the laws pertaining to the kohanim are described in detail. For instance, a kohen can not serve in the Temple if they have a blemish, and they may not come in contact with a dead body. If there is a kohen inside each of us. How do these requirements apply? Our inner kohen is our inner holy being, radiating light from each of our cells. Our inner kohen offers fire and incense to the Divine through holy speech and action. But if this inner kohen is blemished, they can not be a proper conduit for connection to the Infinite. We must sit in silence and stillness before we can once again open our lips to offer prayer and praise to the Creator.

Should our inner Kohen come into close contact with something that is the opposite of life, they become ritually impure. They must find their way back to life again; to the aliveness that sends us towards truth and towards living in full-heartedness.

May our practice serve as the bridge between our inner kohen and the world around us this week.”

Shabbat Shalom from Or HaLev