Emor

A New Understanding of Inclusiveness

By MICHELLE KAY

Parashat Emor 5767 contains many stringent laws pertaining to how people should worship. But since the rabbis re-examined human-Divine relationships, there has been a more inclusive, democratic, grassroots approach to prayer. Jews should apply this concept by insisting that vital resources become more available to those in need throughout the world.

Judaism’s Posture of Compassion

By BRENT CHAIM SPODEK

Tucked among the 63 commandments of Parashat Emor, there is one which the rabbinic tradition elevated to an unusually high status. The Torah says that a Jew "must leave the edges of his field and the gleanings of his harvest for the poor and the stranger," and the Talmudic tradition decided that this commandment in particular is an indispensable part of the process for conversion to Judaism. So writes Brent Chaim Spodek for the American Jewish World Service’s weekly Torah commentary.

Killing in Our Name?

By RABBI JOANNA SAMUELS

The entire community of Israelites stoned a man to death. Are we responsible communally for the death penalty?

Your Brother’s Blood Cries Out to Me

By RABBI MICHAEL LATZ

To humiliate Iraqi detainees and photograph them is to shame them publicly. “Anyone who shames his fellow in public, it is as if he spilled blood,” teaches the Talmud.