Pgs. 211-225

Ch. 21-24

SECTION XXXI.

EMOR

 

XXI. AND the Lord spake to Mosheh, saying: Speak unto the priests, the men of the children of Aharon, that they keep themselves apart from defilement and thus shalt thou say to them: For a man who is dead, (the priest) shall not defile himself among his people; but for a woman who is of kin to his flesh, for his daughter, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, and for his sister, a virgin who is nigh to him, and who hath neither been betrothed, nor married to a husband, for her he may defile himself. The husband shall not defile himself on account of his wife, except so far as it is right for him; but for a relative of those who do the work of his people he may defile himself. They shall not mark themselves between their eyes, nor set a mark upon their heads, nor cut away the corners of their beards, nor make any incision in their flesh: but they shall be holy before their God, and shall not profane the name of their God; [JERUSALEM. They shall not profane for the oblations of their God they do offer, and they must be holy in their bodies. They shall not take to wife a woman who hath gone astray by fornication, [JERUSALEM. A woman a fornicatress, or profane,] or who was born illegitimate, nor a woman who hath been put away, whether from her husband or the husband's brother, may they take; for he is to be holy before his God. Thou shalt sanctify him unto the priesthood; for the oblation itself of thy God he is to offer: he shall be holy to thee, and thou shalt not make him profane: I, the Lord who sanctify you, am holy. And if the betrothed daughter of a man of the priesthood profane herself, by going astray in fornication; if, while she is yet in her father's house, she is guilty of fornication, she shall be burned with fire.

 

And the high priest who hath been anointed over his brethren, and upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and who offered his oblation to be arrayed in the (holy) robes, shall not make his head bare, nor either rend or tear his garment in the hour of grief. Nor unto any person who is dead shall he go in, nor for his father or his mother make himself unclean. And he shall not go forth from the sanctuary, or profane the sanctuary of his God; for the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife who is in her virginity; but a widow, or a divorced person, or one who was born of depraved parents, or who hath gone astray by fornication, such as these be shall not take; but a virgin proper shall he take to wife from the daughters of his people. Neither shall he profane his offspring among his people; for I the Lord do sanctify him.

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon, saying: No man of thy sons in the families of their generations who hath a blemish in him shall be qualified to offer the oblation of his God: for no man who hath a blemish in him shall offer. A man who is blind or lame, or stricken in his nostrils, or mutilated in his thigh, or a man who hath a broken foot, or a broken hand or whose eyelids droop so as to cover his eyes, who hath no hair on his eyelids; or who bath a suffusion of whiteness with darkness in his eyes; or who hath the dry scurvy, or who is full of the blotches of Egypt, or whose testicles are swollen or shrunk, (JERUSALEM. Or one whose eyelids cover his eyes, or hath no hair on his eyelids, or who is overgrown, or a dwarf, or blear‑eyed, or filled with scurvy or with blotches, or who is wanting in the testicles,] no man, a priest of the race of Aharon the priest who hath in him any such blemish, shall be qualified to offer the oblations of the Lord. He bath a blemish, and it is not meet for him to offer the oblation of his God. Nevertheless he may support himself with the residue of the oblations of his God which remaineth of the most holy and of the holy (offerings); only he must not enter within the veil, nor approach the altar; for a blemish is in him, and he shall not profane My sanctuary; for I the Lord do sanctify them. And Mosheh spake with Aharon and with his sons, and with all the sons of Israel.

 

XXII. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon and with his sons, that they keep apart from the consecrated things of the children of Israel, and profane not the Name of My Holiness (in whatever) they hallow before Me: I am the Lord. Say to them, Take heed in your generations: whatever man of all your sons who shall offer things hallowed, which the children of Israel have consecrated before the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that man shall be destroyed with a stroke of death before Me: I am the Lord. Any man, young or old of the offspring of Aharon, who is a leper, or hath a running issue, shall not eat of things consecrated till he be clean: and whoever toucheth any uncleanness of man, or one from whom uncleanness hath proceeded, or who toucheth any reptile that maketh unclean, or (the corpse of) a dead man which maketh unclean, or any of the uncleanness of his life, the man being a priest who toucheth such shall be unclean until the evening, and may not eat of the holy things, except that he wash his flesh in forty seahs of water. And when the sun hath set and he be fit, he may afterward eat of the holy things; for they are his food. But of a dead carcase, or (that which hath been) killed (by violence), he may not eat to defile himself therewith. I am the Lord. But the sons of Israel shall observe the keeping of My Word, that they may not bring sin upon themselves, nor die for it by the flaming fire; because they have profaned it: I am the Lord who sanctify them.

 

No stranger or profane person shall eat of a consecrated thing, (neither) a son of Israel who is an inmate of the priest, nor any hireling, may eat of the hallowed thing. But if the priest buy a man a stranger with the price of his money, he may eat of it, and such as have grown up in his house may eat of his bread. And the daughter of a priest, if she be married to a man a stranger, may not eat of things set apart by consecration. But if the daughter of a priest be a widow, or be divorced and having no child by him hath returned to her father's house, and hath not been wedded to a brother‑in‑law, (Deut. xxv. 5,) she, being as in the days of her youth, and not being with child, may eat of her father's meat; but no stranger shall eat thereof. And if a man of Israel eat that which is consecrated unknowingly, let him add a fifth part of its value to it, and give the (price of the) holy thing unto the priest. Let them not profane the sacred things of the children of Israel which are set apart unto the Name of the Lord, nor let the sin of their trespass be found upon them, by eating in uncleanness their consecrated things; for I am the Lord who do sanctify them.

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon and with his sons and with all the children of Israel:‑A man, whether young or old, of the house of the family of Israel, or of the strangers who are in Israel, who shall offer his oblation of any of their vows, or their free will offerings which they present before the Lord for a burnt sacrifice, to be acceptable for you, it shall be perfect, a male of the bullocks, of the lamb, or of the young goats. But anything that hath a blemish you shall not offer; for that will not be acceptable from you. And if a man will offer a consecrated victim before the Lord to fulfil a vow, or as a free will offering, from the herd, or from the flock, it must be perfect to be acceptable; no blemish shall be in it. Whatever is blind, or broken‑boned, or stricken in the eyelids, or whose eyes are stricken with a mixture of white and dark, or one filled with scurvy or the blotches murrain, you shall not offer before the Lord, nor present an oblation of them on the altar before the Lord. A bullock or a ram that hath superfluity or deficiency of the testicles, you may make a free will offering, but for a vow it will not be acceptable. That which is crushed, or ruptured, or diseased, or enervated, you shall not offer to the Name of the Lord; and in your land you shall not emasculate. And from the hand of a son of the Gentiles you shall not offer the oblation of your God of any of these, because their corruption is in them; a blemish is in them, they are profane, they shall not be acceptable for you.

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying (to the effect that): What time thou callest to our mind the order of our oblations, as they shall be offered year by year, being our expiatory offering for our sins, when on account of our sins (such sacrifices are required), and we have none to bring from our flocks of sheep, then shall a bullock be chosen before him, in memorial of the righteousness of the elder who came from the cast, the sincere one who brought the calf, fat and tender, to Thy Name. A sheep is to be chosen, secondly, in memory of the righteousness of him who was bound as a lamb on the altar, and who stretched forth his neck for Thy Name's sake, while the heavens stooped down and condescended, and Izhak beheld their foundations, and his eyes were blinded by the high things; on which account he was reckoned to be worthy that a lamb should be provided for him as a burnt offering. A kid of the goats is to be chosen likewise, in memorial of the righteousness of that perfect one who made the savoury meat of the kid, and brought it to his father, and was made worthy to receive the order of the blessing: wherefore Mosheh the prophet explaineth, saying: Sons of Israel, my people, When a bullock, or a lamb, or a kid is brought forth according, to the manner of the world, it shall be seven days after its dam, that there may be evidence that it is not imperfect; and on the eighth day and thenceforth, it is acceptable to be offered an oblation to the Name of the Lord. Sons of Israel, my people, as our Father in heaven is merciful, so shall you be merciful on earth: neither cow, nor ewe, shall you sacrifice along with her young on the same day. And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Name of the Lord, you shall offer so as to be accepted. It shall be eaten on that day, none shall remain till the morning: I am the Lord. And you shall observe My commandments to do them I am the Lord who give a good reward, to them who keep My commandments and My laws. Nor shall you profane My Holy Name, that I may be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctify you, having brought you forth redeemed from the land of Mizraim, that I may be to you Eloah: I am the Lord.

 

[JERUSALEM. In the time that thou remindest us of the order of the oblations as they are to be offered year by year; our offerings are to make atonement for our sins. But when our sins have given occasion, and we have not wherewith to bring from our flocks of sheep, a bullock is to be chosen before Me. to recall to remembrance­ the elder of the east, sincere altogether, Who brought to Thy Name a calf tender and good, Which he gave to the young man, who basted to dress it, and to bake unleavened cakes; and the angels did eat, and be was accounted worthy to receive the announcement that., behold, Sarah should give birth to Izhak. A lamb is to be chosen, secondly, to call to remembrance the righteousness of the prince who suffered himself to be bound upon the alter, and stretched forth his neck for Thy Name's sake; when the heavens stooped down and condescended, and Izhak beheld their foundations, and his eyes were blinded by the high things (or, from the heights), on which account be was held worthy that a lamb should be provided in his stead for a burnt offering. A kid of the goats also is to be chosen, to call to remembrance the righteousness of that perfect one who put on the skins of the kids, and made savory meat, and brought of his viands unto his father, and gave wine to him to drink; on account of which he was held worthy to receive the orders of blessings from Izhak his father, that the twelve sacred tribes should arise to Thy Name. Behold, then, how Mosheh, the prophet of the Lord, expoundeth, and saith, Sons of Israel, my people, When a bullock, or a lamb, or a goat is brought forth, it shall be seven days after its dam; on the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be fit to be offered as an oblation to the Name of the Lord.]

 

XXIII. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them, The orders of the time of the Festivals of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, these are the orders of the time of My festivals. Six days shalt thou do work, and the seventh day (shall be) a Sabbath and a rest, a holy convocation. No manner of work may you do; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in every place of your habitations.

 

These are the times of the Festivals of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their times: In the month of Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the suns (shall be) the time for the sacrifice of the Pascha to the Name of the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of this month the feast of unleavened cakes to the Name of the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day of the feast a holy convocation shall be to you; ye shall do no work of labour, but offer the oblation to the Name of the Lord seven days; in the seventh day of the feast shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no work of labour.

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: When you have entered into the land which I give you, and you reap the harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. After the first festal day of Pascha (or, the day after the feast‑day of Pascha) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make (the sacrifice of a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord: and its mincha, two tenths of flour, mingled with olive oil, for an oblation to the Name of the Lord, to be received with acceptance; and its libation, wine of grapes, the fourth of a hin. But neither bread nor parched corn (of the ripe harvest) nor new ears may you eat until this day, until the time of your bringing the oblation of your God: an everlasting statute unto your generations in all your dwellings

 

And number to you after the first feast day of Pascha, from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be. Until the day after the seventh week you shall number fifty days, and shall offer a mincha of the new bread unto the Name of the Lord. From the place of your dwellings you are to bring the bread for the elevation; two cakes of two‑tenths of flour, which must be baked with leaven, as first fruits unto the Name of the Lord. And with that bread you are to offer seven lambs of the year, unblemished, and a young bullock without mixture (of colour), the one for a sin offering, and two lambs of the year for a sanctified oblation. And you shall make (a sacrifice) of a young goat without mixture, the one for a sin offering and two lambs of the year for a sanctified oblation. And the priest shall uplift them with the bread of the first fruits, an elevation before the Lord, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Name of the Lord, and shall be for the priest. And you shall proclaim with life and strength

that self‑same day, that at the time of that day there shall be to you a holy convocation: you shall do no work of labour: it is an everlasting statute in all your dwelling for your generations.

 

And when you reap the harvest of the ground, you shall not finish one corner that is in thy field at thy reaping nor shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest, but leave them for the poor and the strangers: I am the Lord thy God.

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the children of Israel, saying: In Tishri, which is the seven month, shall be to you a festival of seven days, a memorial of trumpets, a holy convocation. No work of labour may you do, but offer an oblation before the Lord unto the Name of the Lord. And the Lord spake with Mosheh saying: But on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; a holy convocation shall it be to you, and you shall humble your souls, (abstaining) from food, and from drink, and from the use of the bath, and from anointing, and the use of the bed, and from sandals; and you shall offer an oblation before the Lord, and do no work on this same day; for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For every man who eateth in the fast, and will not fast that same day, shall be cut off by death from among his people. [JERUSALEM. For every soul who hideth himself from fasting and fasteth not on the day of the fast of his atonement.] And every man who doeth any work on that same day, that man will I destroy with death from among his people. No work of labour may you do an everlasting statute for your generations, in all your dwellings. It is a Sabbath and time of leisure for you to humble your souls. And you shall begin to fast at the ninth day of the month at even time; from that evening, until the next evening, shall you fast your fast, and repose in your quietude, that you may employ the time of your festivals with joy. [JERUSALEM. From evening to evening you shall fast your fast, and repose in your quietude, that you may employ the time of your festivals with joy.]

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel: In the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days unto the Name of the Lord. On the first day of the feast is a holy convocation; no work of labour may you do. Seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Name of the Lord, you shall gather together to pray before the Lord for rain; no work of labour may you do. These are the times of the order of the Lord's festivals which you are to convoke for holy convocations, to offer an oblation to the name of the Lord, a burnt sacrifice and a mincha, sanctified offerings and libations, the rite of a day in its day; beside the days of the Lord's Sabbaths, beside your gifts, and beside your vows, and beside your free‑will offering which you bring before the Lord. But on the fifteenth of the seventh month, at the time when you collect the produce of the ground, you shall solemnize a festival of the Lord seven days. On the first day, rest; and on the eighth day, rest. And of your own shall you take on the first day of the feast, the fruits of praiseworthy trees, citrons, and lulabin, and myrtles, and willows that grow by the brooks; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. [JERUSALEM. Citrons and lulabs.] And you shall solemnize it before the Lord seven days in the year, by an everlasting statute in your generations shall you observe it in the seventh month. In tabernacles of two sides according to their rule, and the third a handbreadth (higher), that its shaded part may be greater than that into which cometh the sunshine;[1] to be made for a bower (or shade) for the feast, from different kinds (of materials) which spring from the earth and are uprooted: in measure seven palms, but the height within ten palms. In it you shall sit seven days;[2] the males in Israel, and children who need not their mothers, shall sit in the tabernacles, blessing their Creator whenever they enter thereinto. That your generations may know how, under the shadow of the cloud of glory, I made the sons of Israel to dwell at the time that I brought them out redeemed from the land of Mizraim. And Mosheh declared the time of the orders of the Lord's festivals, and taught them to the sons of Israel.

 

XXIV. And the Lord spake with Mosheh,saying: Command the children of Israel that they bring of their own, pure beaten olive oil for the light, that the lamps may burn continually, on the day of Sabbath, and on the day of work; outside of the veil of the testimony for evermore, because the Shekinah dwelleth in Israel: in the tabernacle of ordinance shall Aharon order it from evening till morning before the Lord continually, by an everlasting statute unto your generations.

 

And thou shalt take flour, and bake thereof twelve cakes, according to the twelve tribes; two tenths shall be one cake. And thou shalt set them in two orders (rows), six in one order, and six in the other upon the table in its purity, as it is ordained before the Lord. And thou shalt put upon the orders pure frankincense, that it may be an oblation of memorial bread before the Lord. From Sabbath day to Sabbath day he shall order it anew before the Lord continually from the children of Israel. This shall be an everlasting statute. And it shall be for Aharon and for his sons, and they shall eat it after they have taken it from off the table in the holy place; for it is most sacred to him of the oblations of the Lord by an everlasting statute.

 

But a wicked man, a rebel against the God of heaven, had come out of Mizraim, the son of the Mizraite man who had killed the man of Israel in Mizraim, and had gone in unto his wife, who conceived and bare a son among the children of Israel. And while the Israelites were dwelling in the wilderness, he had sought to spread his tent in the midst of the tribe of the children of Dan; but they would not permit him, because in the arrangements of Israel every man dwelt with his family by the ensigns of the house of their fathers. And they contended together in the camp, and the son of the Israelitess with a man of Israel, who was of the tribe of Dan, went to the house of judgment; and when they had come out from the house of judgment, where he had been condemned, the son of the daughter of Israel expressed and reviled the great and glorious Name of Manifestation which he had heard at Sinai, and defiled and execrated; and the name of his mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibree, of the tribe of Dan. [JERUSALEM. And the son of the woman of Israel reviled the Manifested Name and defied.]

 

This is one of four judgments which were brought in before Mosheh the prophet, who decided them by the dictate of the Word, who is above. They were judgments about money and about life. In judgments on money Mosheh was prompt; but in the judgment on life he was deliberate (or slow by delay) each (party) Mosheh said, I have not heard: that he might teach the chiefs of the Sanhedrin of Israel, who were to arise after him, to be prompt in judgments respecting money, but slow in judgments that affected life; and not to be ashamed to inquire for counsel in cases that should be too hard for them, forasmuch as Mosheh, Rabban of Israel, had need to say, I have not heard. Therefore they shut him up in the house of confinement till the time that it should be explained to them by the decree of the Word of the Lord.

 

[JERUSALEM. This is one of four judgments that were brought before Mosheh our Rabbi. In two of them was Mosheh slow by delay, and in two of them was Mosheh expeditious. With the blasphemer who blasphemed the Holy Name with scoffings and with the gatherer of sticks who profaned the Sabbath, Mosheh had delay, because they were judgments that affected life; but in the case of unclean persons who could not perform the Pascha in its time, and in that of the daughters of Zelophehad, Mosheh could be prompt, because they were judgments on temporal matters. But to those he would say, I have not heard: to teach the judges who were to arise after Mosheh to be slow in judgments on life and to be expeditious in judgments of Mammon; and not to be ashamed to say, I have not heard; for Mosheh our Rabban said, I have not heard. And they shut him up in confinement, while as yet it had not been explained to them from before the Lord with what judgments they were to deal with him.]

 

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Bring forth the blasphemer without the camp, and let the witnesses who heard his blasphemy, and the judges, lay their hands upon his head, and let the whole congregation stone him with stones. And speak thou with the sons of Israel, saying: A man young or old who shall blaspheme the known Name of his God shall bear his sin. Whosoever expresseth and revileth the Name of the Lord shall verily be put to death; all the congregation shall cast stones upon him, whether he be a sojourner or native‑born, when he hath blasphemed the Name that is Alone, he shall die.

 

And if a man destroy the life of any one of the children of Israel, he shall verily be put to death by the sword. And he who destroyeth the life of an animal shall make it good, a living animal for a living one. And a man who inflicteth a blemish on his neighbour, whatsoever he hath done it shall be done unto him: the value of a fracture for a fracture; the value of an eye for an eye; the value of a tooth for a tooth; whatsoever blemish he inflicteth upon the man, the same shall be rendered unto him. [JERUSALEM. Fracture shall be recompensed by fracture, an eye shall be recompensed by an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the blemish he hath given to the man it shall be given unto him.] He who killeth a beast shall restore it; but be who slayeth a man shall be slain. One judgment shall you have for the stranger and for the native; for I am the Lord your God. And Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel, and they brought forth the blasphemer without the camp, and stoned him with stones; and the sons of Israel did it, by laying their hands upon, leading him away hanging, and burying him, as the Lord had commanded Mosheh.

 

[1] Vide Mishna, order ii, treatise 17, Sukkah.

[1] One meal at least each day in the bower.