Emor
Leviticus 21:1-24:23
Ezekiel 44:15-31
Part of this week’s portion (Leviticus 23) presents us with an outline of the five haggim, or fully observed holidays, those on which one cannot work: Rosh HaShannah (here called zikhron t’ru-ah, 23:24), Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot (which is described, but does not have a title).
However, today we observe many of them in a profoundly expanded way from what we find in the Torah. Effectively, we have preserved the ancient tradition even as we have transformed it.
The most obvious change in the holidays is the absence of sacrifices; but even if we set this aside, there are still major differences from what we read in the Torah.
In terms of observance, Sukkot is easily the most recognizable festival, with most of its contemporary rituals of lulav and sukkah present; but its towering status in the passage may surprise us. For generations, when one referred to a chag, a holiday, one meant Sukkot.
Rabbi Bernard Bamberger suggests in his commentary on Leviticus (in “The Torah: A Modern Commentary”) that in this portion, Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur seem to function more as appendages of Sukkot than as independent festivals. Rosh HaShannah didn’t even acquire its name until the book of Ezikiel, 40:1 (circa 593 B.C.E.).
So what is “missing” from this account of the holidays? Among other things: prayer, Rosh HaShannah as the anniversary of the world’s creation, the Passover seder, the actual names of two of the holidays, and Shavuot as a celebration of receiving the Torah.
But the practices associated with holiday cycle did not stop here. With rabbinic Judaism’s focus on olam habah (the word to come) and its corollary of judgment, the atonement cycle that begins with Rosh HaShannah and finishes with Yom Kippur emerged.
Not only did the prayers and rituals associated with these holidays come into being, but they took a more central place in Jewish life and acquired a name befitting of their status, the Yamim Noraim or Days of Awe.
By the time of Hillel and Shammai (40 B.C.E.), the seder was being observed and with it a way of fulfilling the commandment to teach one’s children about the Exodus from Egypt.
The seder makes the fulfilling of this commandment an annual rather than occasional event, providing a way that a people buffeted by history can find hope through the annual telling of this redemptive story — a way to find renewed meaning in an established festival.
Shavuot was also transformed. According to modern scholar Nehama Leibowitz in her “Studies in Leviticus,” 19th century German Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman commented that the celebration of Matan Torah (the gift of the Torah) on Shavuot may have been omitted from this portion because of the need to guard against a tangible and therefore idolatrous conception of God.
But as we moved through time, the need to remember the wonder of receiving the Torah became critical, while the concern about some object, like the Torah, becoming an idolatrous icon diminished. This enabled non-sacrifical rituals of observance to emerge for Shavuot, such as nightlong study, Tikkun Lail Shavuot.
Through the centuries, new rituals were added, new layers of meaning were uncovered, and even the place of holidays in people’s hearts changed.
On the one hand, the visceral power of Sukkot as an agricultural holiday had diminished for the now urbanized Jewish world. On the other, with the rise of environmental concerns, new possibilities for meaning for Sukkot have been uncovered.
Dwelling in the sukkah reminds us of how fragile the world can be, even as it allows us to draw close to the natural rhythms of the earth. It reminds us that life in cities does not insulate us from the need for rain or our dependence on the land. Sukkot gains new power as we draw upon it to remind ourselves of the need to be good stewards of God’s world.
This portion reminds us that the Jewish holiday cycle has helped us transmit our tradition, even as the holidays themselves develop and gain new meaning. The holidays show us that Judaism can be at once timeless and evolving.
Rabbi E. Daniel Danson is spiritual leader of Mt. Sinai Congregation in Wausau.
