D'var for Emor

In this week’s parsha, Parshat Emor, God tells moses to tell the priests about the laws that they will have to follow, such as forbidding them from coming into contact with a dead body, excluding specific close relatives, (the High Priest couldn’t come into contact with any dead bodies at all,) forbidding shaving any part of their beards, who the priest could and couldn’t share the meat of sacrifices with, and others. Important parts of the Jewish calendar are layed out, including the holidays of Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippor, and Sukkot. The parshah ends with a story of a man who said God’s name in blasphemy, breaking one of the ten commandments. God declares that this man and anyone else blasphemed God would be put to death.