Among the blessings we read the following promise: And I shall go about in your midst…Obadiah Sforno draws a distinction between this vision and building of a centralized Temple or Tabernacle. Regarding the latter, the people built a home for God and then followed it (Tabernacle) or traveled to it (Temple). Here the promise is
The people still have many years of wandering the desert before they arrive in the promised land - so why does our parasha turn to the Sabbatical and Jubilee laws when the land must rest? Seforno points out that at this point, the story with the spies had not yet happened and entering the land
Emor - means - say and is so named because of how it begins: “Say to the priests…The parsha is full of harsh - even unfair - teachings. For example, it talks of what disqualifies priests from serving in the Temple. A physical challenge - something they have no control over - can disqualify them.
There’s a commandment to leave the final edge of a field for the Jewish poor: And when you reap your land’s harvest, you shall not finish off the edge of your field…Hebrew distinguishes between you singular and you plural. This verse switches from one to the other. Whereas the your of your land’s harvest is
