Community Torah Corner, May 16, 2025

This week's parsha is Emor, which means “speak.” In this parsha, we learn about the special laws pertaining to the Kohanim. A Kohen may not become ritually impure, cannot marry a divorcee, and various other odd commandments. 

Later in the parsha, we learn about the festivals or holidays on the Jewish calendar.

It talks about many, including, Shabbat, Passover, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and laws like the omers, dwelling in huts, fast days, and much more. 

Going back to what the name of the parsha means, which again is to speak, it talks about Moshe, speaking to hundreds and thousands of the Israelites on the spot with no time to prepare. When we were reading about this parsha, the first thing that came to our minds was public speaking (relating to Moses).

As we can all probably agree, public speaking is not easy. Whether it’s presenting a project in front of your class alone, writing and delivering a d'var Torah which I can tell you is not easy, or even participating in a school play in front of a bunch of people. It is not easy and often scary.

But, it is important to do the scary things in life, like public speaking, to positively influence the people around you with new and important ideas, help you break out of your shell, and improve your public speaking skills for the future. 

Moses even had a stutter, but he became a leader strong enough to lead an entire nation. So if he can do it, you can do it

Shabbat Shalom!