Transcript
This morning we had the privilege of studying together פרשת אמור Parshas Emor. פרשת אמור Parshas Emor is found in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, page 672. So as has become our custom, just a brief review or overview of the פרשה parsha and then we'll get into some of the פסוקים psukim, a text-based analysis in particular. So the פרשה parsha begins with the laws of כהנים kohanim. And the previous פרשיות parshiyos we discussed last week has to do with קדושה kedusha, has to do with holiness and sanctity, and remember we talked about last week being a nation of priests, that we are to the world what the priests are to our particular or any particular religion. So since last week we spoke in the generality of פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim, so now this week we move to the more specific of the sacred, the sanctified within our people, namely the priests, namely the כהנים kohanim. So the תורה Torah delineates exactly the law specific to them, that כהנים kohanim are not allowed to become impure. We know כהנים kohanim can't be in contact with a corpse. It's all kinds of questions. Can a כהן kohein go to the hospital? Can they visit a hospital? It's a fascinating question in הלכה halacha. If a woman is an אשת כהן eishes kohein, a woman who's married to a כהן kohein is pregnant, so can she go to the hospital to give birth for regular checkups? Because what if what if she's carrying a boy? If she's carrying a girl it's not a problem. If she's carrying a boy it's a problem. So there's all kinds of, it's very very interesting discussion in הלכה halacha including the question of do we trust the ultrasound? Do we trust an ultrasound today to determine that it's a girl that would allow her to go to a hospital with no problems whatsoever? What is the status of an ultrasound in הלכה halacha? Is it definitive? Is it a definitive clarification, conclusive, or is it just a suggestion? All kinds of interesting questions about this. שערי צדק Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in ירושלים Yerushalayim, where my oldest daughter was born, they will put a sign in front of the hospital if there is a deceased in the hospital, if there's a corpse in the hospital, so the כהן kohein knows not to enter. There's all kinds of questions. כהנים Kohanim going to medical school and so on and so forth. So it comes from this week's פרשה parsha, that a כהן kohein is held to a higher level. A כהן kohein is mandated to keep a higher form of purity, to be pure all the time, and therefore the only one he's allowed to become impure to are immediately family, immediate family members and their burial needs, their funeral. So that means a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, spouse. Those seven immediate relatives, that's who they can become contaminated. The תורה Torah then goes right into about not mourning too excessively, not grieving too excessively, desecrate השם's Hashem's name, who the כהן kohein can then marry. אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו Isha zonah v'chalalah lo yikachu, which spells out, the acronym for אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו isha zonah v'chalalah lo yikachu is אזולאי Azulai. Does the name אזולאי Azulai mean anything to anybody? Was a great rabbi, אזולאי Azulai. חיים אזולאי Chaim Azulai. He was a, he was a kabbalist, כף החיים Kaf HaChaim. He was a, he was a great rabbi, he was a כהן kohein. And it's assumed his family name wasn't really his family name, they didn't have family names. They named from the place that they came. But אזולאי Azulai, because they were כהנים kohanim, they took the name אזולאי Azulai, אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו isha zonah v'chalalah lo yikachu, that a כהן kohein is not allowed to marry a woman who is promiscuous or who has been desecrated, in a woman who is divorced, a כהן kohein can't marry a divorcee, and so on. So we have here the laws of the of the כהנים kohanim, the laws of the כהן גדול kohein gadol, has even higher level of sanctity. כהן גדול Kohein gadol is not allowed to marry, and so on. Then the תורה Torah goes on and gives disqualifying blemishes, the blemishes that disqualify a person, a כהן kohein from performing the service. The כהן kohein would not be able to participate. And then the תורה Torah goes on and tells us when it comes to תרומה terumah, the offering and the sanctification of תרומה terumah, protecting the תרומה terumah, that of course the כהן kohein eats, their food is designated for the כהן kohein since we're talking about the כהן kohein and his higher level of sanctity, we talk about the consecrated foods that the כהן kohein eats. Blemished animals, then קידוש השם kiddush Hashem and חילול השם chillul Hashem, ולא תחללו את שם קדשי v'lo sechalelu es shem kodshi ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל v'nikdashti b'soch Bnei Yisrael. The Jewish people are reminded, don't desecrate God's name, and rather create a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. And I always find the פסוק pasuk is always reminds me that we make the mistake of thinking that the obligation to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem is before whom? The non-Jewish world. We often think about what's a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem? Be careful how you act in public, be careful how you appear before the non-Jewish world. Our job is to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, our job is to sanctify God's name, right? The ultimate, no חילול השם chillul Hashem, קידוש השם kiddush Hashem is when you're a kid at that school trip, don't stick your head out the window on the bus, don't throw a thing, don't make a חילול השם chillul Hashem. Make sure to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. But we forget that the פסוק pasuk when it frames this מצוה mitzva, when it gives a context to this mandate, it does so בתוך בני ישראל b'soch Bnei Yisrael. We often think a שאנדע shanda within the Jewish people, that's okay, Jewish people, we're all family, it's all, we're all family. It's to the rest of the world we have to be careful about a חילול השם chillul Hashem and a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. The פסוק pasuk reminds us that's not true. That's not true. ונקדשתי V'nikdashti, במקדש מי b'mekadesh mi, for make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem where? בתוך בני ישראל b'soch Bnei Yisrael. Specifically among the Jewish people. That's where the קידוש השם kiddush Hashem matters most. Don't turn off other Jews. Don't distance other Jews from God. Create a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, attract other Jews to God. In fact the רמב\"ם Rambam in ספר המצוות Sefer Hamitzvos when he codifies this מצוה mitzva of ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל v'nikdashti b'soch Bnei Yisrael of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, the רמב\"ם Rambam counts the מצוה mitzva of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, the רמב\"ם Rambam does not count the מצוה mitzva of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem as dying על קידוש השם al kiddush Hashem, which I might have thought it means. It's a whole conversation in הלכה halacha again about the obligation to die על קידוש השם al kiddush Hashem, do you make a ברכה bracha? What blessing do you recite if you're going to die על קידוש השם al kiddush Hashem? Does dying על קידוש השם al kiddush Hashem get a blessing? Somebody's going to kill a Jew simply because they're a Jew. A Jew stands poised to die because they're a Jew. Is there a blessing you recite? Because that's a מצוה mitzva to die על קידוש al kiddush, not not not a מצוה חיובית mitzva chiyuvis, it's not a מצוה mitzva like go out and fulfill it, but it's a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis, one fulfills a מצוה mitzva when they've given their life, the ultimate. שמע Shma, right? We say בכל נפשך b'chol nafshecha, with all of your, with your life, be willing to give your life, רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva. So there's a whole question. The ברכה bracha we say in the morning, מקדש שמך ברבים mekadesh shimcha b'rabim. Some assume that that's the ברכה bracha. There's a whole discussion about a ברכה bracha on קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. But the רמב\"ם Rambam when he codifies the מצוה mitzva of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem, he does not codify it as a מצוה mitzva to die. The רמב\"ם Rambam codifies it as a מצוה mitzva to live and to attract other people to God. Essentially the רמב\"ם Rambam says the מצוה mitzva of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem is a מצוה mitzva of outreach, of outreach. If you love God, you want to promote Godliness, you want to bring other people closer to God. You're excited about God, you want to sell the product of God. You want to sell the services of God. You want to get other people to have that relationship with God. So ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל v'nikdashti b'soch Bnei Yisrael is the mandate, behave and act in a way that will draw others closer to what you have and to to connecting with God. Well, this is within the Jewish people, בתוך בני ישראל b'soch Bnei Yisrael. So we do believe in outreach within the Jewish, we proselytize full force within the Jewish people. That's our outreach revolution. The Boca Raton synagogue outreach revolution. Why is there not a prohibition, but we don't proselytize among non-Jews. We don't proselytize among, first of all, even that's a misnomer. We should proselytize among non-Jews. The question is what are you promoting. We should promote non-Jews to be drawn closer to the authentic God and an authentic worship of Him. We're not proselytizing for them to become Jewish because we don't recruit converts. That's a whole separate story why, again, all of this is just the introduction so I don't want to distract us from getting too much into it. We do not recruit converts. But we absolutely should be recruiting Noachides, people to embrace an authentic relationship with the authentic creator of the world. That is something that we regularly should be doing, Jew and non-Jew alike. Okay, the parsha continues now and ends really with going through all of the Jewish calendar, all of the holidays. This is one of the two פרשיות המועדים parshiyos hamoadim. Here and in פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh are the two times that we have listed all of the different holidays, and this is why this is the choice of reading on יום טוב Yom Tov. This is what we read on יום טוב Yom Tov. So we read about the מועדי השם אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש moadei Hashem asher tikru osam mikraei kodesh. We read about the appointed festivals that were supposed to designate as holy times, namely פסח Pesach, the העומר haomer, counting the omer till שבועות Shavuos, ראש השנה Rosh Hashana, סוכות Sukkos, שמיני עצרת Shemini Atzeres, and so on. And then the פרשה parsha ends with the מנורה menorah, the reminder of the lighting of the מנורה menorah where it is every every evening to morning. And then the the שתי הלחם shtei ha'lechem, the the showbread on the שולחן shulchan, and then the פרשה parsha tells us the story of the the blasphemer, the individual who cursed God, ויצא בן אשה הישראלית vayetze ben isha ha'Yisraelis והוא בן איש מצרי v'hu ben ish Mitzri, and the the punishment that that person endured. Okay, that's an overview of the פרשה parsha. So here's what I wanted to discuss. No. I don't think it's that one. A better chance last week has קדושים Kedoshim definitely has more. Yeah? Wow. It's impressive, George. It is a lot, but I don't think it's the most. Okay, so what I want to study with you together this morning is the פרשת המועדים parshas hamoadim. So beginning in פרק כ\"ג perek chaf gimmel, פסוק ט pasuk tes. I thought it's relevant particularly the part that deals with ספירת העומר Sefiras Haomer. Actually go back. פרק כ\"ג Perek chaf gimmel, פסוק ד pasuk daled. Actually go back a little further. פרק כ\"ג Perek chaf gimmel, פסוק א pasuk aleph. Might as well start from the beginning. So here the תורה Torah begins again, I mentioned that this פרשה parsha contains the Jewish calendar. If you want to learn the Jewish calendar from its source, you go to either פרשת אמור Parshas Emor or later פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, God spoke to the Jewish people saying, דבר אל בני ישראל Daber el Bnei Yisrael, sorry he spoke to Moshe saying, speak to the Jewish people, ואמרת אליהם v'amarta aleihem and tell them the following. מועדי השם אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש Moadei Hashem asher tikru osam mikraei kodesh, אלה הם מועדי eileh hem moadai, that God has appointed festivals. מועדי השם Moadei Hashem, the appointed times. מועד Moed, the term מועד moed comes from like יעד, ועד yeed, vaad, which means an appointed time, a designated time, a rendezvous in time. אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש Asher tikru osam mikraei kodesh. So God has designated his appointed festivals, his appointed holidays that are designated as holy. אלה הם מועדי Eileh hem moadai, these are my designated times. By the way which really tells us everything about the the holiday, that they're not arbitrary times. They're not commemorative or memorializing historical events superimposed on time, but they are actually built into the fabric of time. They are appointed times. They are designated times. I don't want to spend too much time on this, but this is I think something so critical to understand that tragically most of the Jewish community do not understand. Jewish holidays are not about the past. Jewish holidays are not about the past. I always say this, you likely have heard me say this before. People make tragic mistakes when they think Jewish holidays are about the past. Secular holidays more often than not are about the past. Something happened in the past and we're commemorating it today with a barbecue and with a sale and with a football game, we're commemorating the past. Jewish holidays are not about the past. פסח Pesach is not about the past. פסח Pesach is about the present. פסח Pesach is about tapping into freedom and liberty and emancipation and identity in the present. The past reveals for us those qualities and characteristics. The past reveals for us what that day is an appointed time for. But once I use the past to reveal to me what the 15th of ניסן Nissan is an appointed time for, my task and my job on the 15th of ניסן Nissan is not to commemorate the past, but it's to experience it in the present. פסח Pesach is perhaps the most stark example, בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו b'chol dor vador chayav adam liros es atzmo. Every generation a person is obligated to see themselves as experiencing it. חנוכה Chanukah, in על הנסים Al Hanisim, בימים ההם בזמן הזה bayamim hahem bazman hazeh. Every Jewish holiday the idea is the holiday exposes and reveals for us what that is an appointed time for. That's all that history plays that role for. History plays the role to teach us what is inherent, what is imbued within that time that I can grow from. But now my job is not just to commemorate flippantly. Okay, thousands of years ago, they left. Okay. And why do I say it's so important to understand this? First of all because for ourselves, to get something out of the holiday, you need to understand what its essence, what its energy, what its core and tap into it and walk out of the holiday a different person the way you walked into it. And I don't mean because you're a שמאטע shmatta from פסח Pesach walk out a different, I don't mean limp away, limp away a different person than you came into it. But I mean walk away from פסח Pesach and say, you know what, we had conversations around my סדר seder table and יום טוב Yom Tov table, what is freedom? What is liberty? What are we enslaved to currently? How can we free ourselves of it? Is it technology? Is it pop culture? Is it texting? Is it, that's what it means. שבועות Shavuos, we're counting down towards שבועות Shavuos. What is שבועות Shavuos about? שבועות Shavuos is not about, שבועות Shavuos of course is about מתן תורה Matan Torah, it's about accepting the תורה Torah. But it's not a historical commemoration of accepting the תורה Torah, because then, okay so I eat a little cheesecake and stay up and learn a little bit and okay, so thousands of years ago we got the תורה Torah, yippee, nice, good. And then I just walk away, just a few pounds heavier, maybe a little lactose intolerant. But that's, I've missed the point of the holiday. שבועות Shavuos is not about that. שבועות Shavuos is about, I just every year went to הר סיני Har Sinai. I go to הר סיני Har Sinai annually. I accept the תורה Torah, I receive the תורה Torah, I absorb the תורה Torah, I pledge and commit my allegiance to תורה Torah annually, once a year. That's what Jewish holidays are about. The fact that again, שבועות Shavuos occurred teaches me that in Sivan there's a notion of an energy of being able to reaccept the תורה Torah, but that's not, again, you may have heard me say this, I don't want to bore you and I want to get back to the text. But that's what it means when it says אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu when he's visited by the three angels and he serves them מצה matzah and חלה challah and רש\"י Rashi tells us he was observing פסח Pesach. So you learned that in kindergarten, you come home, I learned the מדרש midrash, אברהם Avraham was פסח Pesach, he gave the angels מצה matzah, he gave them מצה matzah pizza, whatever he gave them. So you say, okay that's cute, that's adorable, but that's ridiculous. Why is that ridiculous? It's ridiculous. אברהם Avraham is observing פסח Pesach? How could אברהם Avraham observe פסח Pesach? The Jews had not gone down to Egypt, we've not been enslaved and oppressed and persecuted, we were not freed and liberated, no miracles had occurred. What he was observing what? They didn't yet have time, they didn't yet not have time for the bread to rise and eat the מצה matzah. What was אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu? That's absurd. What's he's observing? That's absurd. But the answer is, if you understand what I said, that's not absurd at all. Now you understand when אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu was observing פסח Pesach, it means we all needed פסח Pesach to historically occur to reveal to us that this is the time of freedom. אברהם Avraham was so in tune with time, אברהם Avraham was so in touch with השם's Hashem's design of the world that he understood it was פסח Pesach. He understood it was a time of freedom. He understood it was a time of liberty. Did he actually drink the four cups and eat the מצה matzah and the מרור maror? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he anticipated so much that he even anticipated the historical event. I don't want to be excommunicated, so I don't want to say that he didn't do those things. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't do those things. But what to me the מדרש midrash is trying to say is that he was he, like the other אבות avos and אמהות imahos, patriarchs and matriarchs, were so, their their antenna was extended and picked up such a frequency that they understood what is inherent in time, what we can only understand through the unfolding of historical events that reveal it to us. Yes, Helen. Absolutely. Thank you for making that point. People mistakenly think, why do we have a Jewish leap year? We have a Jewish leap year because פסח Pesach has to be in the spring. So therefore we have to, because it's a lunar calendar and it keeps getting adjusted shorter and shorter, פסח Pesach in December, that's ridiculous. All the people, how's it going to work? So we push it off. That's not true at all. It's not that פסח Pesach has to happen in the spring because that's when it happened. It's that the spring allowed פסח Pesach to happen. Not that פסח Pesach happened in the spring so we commemorate it in the spring. The spring created פסח Pesach. The same value inherent within the spring of blossoming and growth, of coming out of a shell, of coming into one's own, of blossoming forth, that those notions of spring are contributed to what allowed פסח Pesach to happen and that's why פסח Pesach has to be in the spring. Exactly. So all of this I'm getting into, I have much more to say on this, which I'm not going to say now, but I'm all getting into because the notion of מועדי moadai or מועדי השם moadei Hashem. A מועד moed means an appointed time. That's a מועד moed. מועד Moed doesn't mean a holiday. We use the term secular holiday. It's a holiday, it's Labor Day, it's President's Day, it's Thanksgiving, it's a holiday. Let's go shopping. It's a big sale, it's a holiday. It's not a holiday. It is an appointed time. There's a huge difference between a holiday and an appointed time. A holiday kind of has nothing to do with me. I don't, I'm not trying to come out a different person than I went into a holiday. I'm just trying to have a good meal. I'm just trying to get a good bargain at the mall. I'm just trying to take in a good football game. But an appointed time means this is an appointed time for me to grow, to gain something from it. I would say the same thing by the way, in a Jewish perspective, about birthdays and anniversaries. I feel very strongly about this. I wrote this in the weekly many months ago. How many people even know their Hebrew birthday? How many people know their Hebrew anniversary? I don't want to embarrass anyone. How many people know what Hebrew day? It's ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh today, so that's kind of an easy one. We don't have a consciousness and a presence within the Jewish calendar. And that's the real calendar. So in other words, from a secular perspective, why do I celebrate my birthday or my anniversary? My anniversary is coming up in a few weeks. Coming on 14 blessed incredible years with marriage. So why do I celebrate my anniversary in a secular sense? Because 14 years ago I got married. In a Jewish sense, no. My Hebrew anniversary is כ' אייר chaf Iyar. And the reason I celebrate כ' אייר chaf Iyar is because every, כ' אייר chaf Iyar when God created me and he created יוכבד Yocheved and within time, כ' אייר chaf Iyar is a מועד moed. It's an appointed time that celebrates our union, our coming together, והיו לבשר אחד v'hayu l'vasar echad, our finding each other, our bringing a family into the world. And each year we're not commemorating that 14 years ago we stood under the חופה chuppah. Each year we stand under the חופה chuppah again. Each year we renew our vows again. A person has their birthday. So you don't just celebrate your birthday means X number of years ago my mother gave birth to me, so I'm commemorating that. A birthday means that God designated this day for me as an appointed time of rebirth, of renewal, of coming into the world, of having a contract of something to offer. It transforms the way you view time. So when you don't even know your Hebrew birthday, you're celebrating your secular birthday from a Jewish perspective is meaningless. I don't mean it's meaningless, enjoy, get a card, your Facebook friends will know it's your birthday, very good. But I'm saying from a, from a spiritual religious existential perspective, the Hebrew day of your birthday, your anniversary is more than just a holiday. It's not about the past. It is an appointed time that you can grow, renewal, rebirth, recommitment to חופה chuppah, all of these things again in the present, not in the past. In the present, not in the past. It is an absolutely different way of looking at it. And it's a critical way by the way for this ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל v'nikdashti b'soch Bnei Yisrael for outreach. Because how many Jews have walked away because they say this religion is so outdated, it's archaic. What thousands, you want me to come to what for what because thousands of years ago something happened? What does that have to do with me? Move on, you've graduated. I'm done. What is that the פסח סדר Pesach Seder? I'm sitting at the Seder, you're going to tell, you're going to tell, like we live in an age that moves at light speed. What happened yesterday is not important to me anymore. I don't even remember what happened last week. You're going to tell me because thousands of years ago Jews came out of Egypt. I wasn't there, I don't remember it, I can't recall, it means nothing to me. You know? That you're going to tell me I should commemorate? But imagine if we taught them instead that you're not commemorating the past. You're coming to have a meaningful conversation in the present. What are we enslaved to? Right? What, what are we so enslaved to in our life and how can we become free from it? It changes the conversation and makes Judaism so much more relevant. All of that is my commentary on the word מועד moed, appointed time. Okay, got that out of my system. Next. Next. Okay, so what's the first מועד moed? So first of all before we even get to that, so look at the Ramban. The Ramban is wondering what is the connection. אין לכהנים עסק בענין המועדות יותר משאר ישראל בהם Ein la'kohanim eisek b'inyan hamoados yoser mishar Yisrael b'hem? What, what's, what's the flow, what's the continuity, what's the juxtaposition of the entire פרשה parsha until now? The whole first part of the פרשה parsha dealt with the unique status of the priests, of the כהנים kohanim. They can't become impure, they eat consecrated foods, they have a unique role, if they have a blemish they're ineligible. All the laws of the כהן kohein. What does that have to do with holidays? כהן Kohein, do כהנים kohanim keep holidays better than we do? על כן לא הזכיר בפרשה זאת אהרן ובניו רק בני ישראל Al kein lo hizkir b'parsha zos Aaron u'vanav rak b'nei Yisrael. What's the, what's the flow, what's the continuity, what's the juxtaposition of the entire פרשה parsha until now? The whole first part of the פרשה parsha dealt with the unique status of the priests, of the כהנים kohanim. They can't become impure, they eat consecrated foods, they have a unique role, if they have a blemish, they're ineligible, all the laws of the כהן kohein. What does that have to do with holidays? כהן Kohein, do כהנים kohanim keep holidays better than we do? על כן לא הזכיר בפרשה זאת אהרן ובניו רק בני ישראל Al kein lo hizkir b'parsha zos Aaron u'vanav rak b'nei Yisrael. What is the connection? אין לכהנים עסק בענין המועדות יותר משאר ישראל בהם Ein la'kohanim eisek b'inyan hamoados yoser mishar Yisrael b'hem? What, what's the flow, what's the continuity, what's the juxtaposition of the entire פרשה parsha until now? The whole first part of the פרשה parsha dealt with the unique status of the priests, of the כהנים kohanim. They can't become impure, they eat consecrated foods, they have a unique role, if they have a blemish, they're ineligible. All the laws of the כהן kohein. What does that have to do with holidays? כהן Kohein, do כהנים kohanim keep holidays better than we do? על כן לא הזכיר בפרשה זאת אהרן ובניו רק בני ישראל Al kein lo hizkir b'parsha zos Aaron u'vanav rak b'nei Yisrael, שיכלול את כולם כאחד sheyichlol es kulam k'echad כי לא יפרש קרבנות המוספין בפרשה הזאת ki lo yifareish korbanos hamusafin b'parsha hazos. So that's why we now go from talking about דבר אל אהרן ובניו Daber el Aaron u'vanav, we don't go talk about speaking to Aaron and his sons. Now it's דבר אל בני ישראל Daber el Bnei Yisrael, speak to the Jewish people. Because the Ramban says that דבר אל בני ישראל Daber el Bnei Yisrael is the transition from a message that is directed to the priests, to the כהנים kohanim, to that which is relevant to the whole Jewish people. אבל הזכיר המועדים כאן בתורת כהנים aval hizkir hamoadim ka'an b'Toras Kohanim, עבור שהם ימי הקרבנות avur shehem yemei hakorbanos. וירמז אליהם כאשר אמר לכבוד השם v'yermoz aleihem ka'asher omar lichvod Hashem, והקרבתם אשה להשם vikraftem isheh l'Hashem. ויאמר בסוף הפרשה אלה מועדי השם vayomer b'sof ha'parsha eileh moadei Hashem אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קדש asher tikru osam mikraei kodesh, להקריב אשה להשם עולה ומנחה זבח ונסכים l'hakriv isheh l'Hashem olah umincha zevach u'nesachim. So the Ramban says why is it here at all? ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra is other name is תורת כהנים Toras Kohanim. The other name for ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra is the book of the laws of priests. It's the book of sacrifices, קרבנות korbanos, priests, that is, it's the manual for priests. So why, why is it even appear here? Leave it in פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh. In פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh, in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, you already have the מועדים moadim repeated. We repeat all the holidays. So why is it here? So the Ramban says it does have some relevance. Because when the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash exists, what characterizes the holidays? The sacrifices. Each of the holidays have different sacrifices. So when the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash exists, the holidays are certainly identified by their sacrifices and who brings those sacrifices? Of course it is the כהנים kohanim and that's the relevance to it appearing here in ספר תורת כהנים Sefer Toras Kohanim. אבל לא האריך לבאר המוספין שרצה שינהגו להם במדבר aval lo herech livar hamusafin shelotzeh sh'yinhagu lahem ba'midbar. במדבר Bamidbar, חומש במדבר Chumash Bamidbar, חומש פקודים Chumash Pekudim. וצוה להם תחילת הארץ באר המוספין כולם בפרשת פנחס v'tziva l'eileh techilas ha'aretz bier hamusafin kulam b'parshas Pinchas שיעשו אותם בארץ מיד ולדורותם sheya'asu osam b'aretz miyad v'l'dorosam. In פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, I'm sorry, I should have been saying פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas all along. In פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas when we repeat the holidays, that's when we add the קרבנות korbanos. So here it appears because there is relevance because there's קרבנות korbanos, but פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas is where we really elaborate on the special קרבן מוסף korban musaf offering that is brought uniquely to each of the holidays. ועל כן אמר ביום הכיפורים v'al kein omar b'yom haKippurim, ויעש כאשר צוה השם את משה vayase ka'asher tziva Hashem es Moshe, שעשה כן במדבר she'asa kein ba'midbar. והזכיר בפרשה זו קרבן העומר וקרבן שתי הלחם ועצרת v'hizkir b'parsha zo korban ha'omer v'korban shtei halechem v'aseres, כי ידוע שלא ינהגו אלו בארץ ki b'du'a shelo yinhagu eilu b'aretz. Okay fine, that's the basic comment of the רמב\"ן Ramban. Okay, so what's the first holiday that the פרשה parsha is now going to elaborate? פסוק ג Pasuk gimmel. ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי שבת שבתון מקרא קדש, כל מלאכה לא תעשו, שבת היא להשם בכל מושבותיכם Sheishes yamim tei'aseh melacha u'vayom hashvi'i Shabbos Shabbason mikra kodesh, kol melacha lo sa'asu, Shabbos hi l'Hashem b'chol moshvoseichem. Six days do work, conquer the world, manipulate it and beat it. And on the seventh day שבת שבתון מקרא קדש Shabbos Shabbason mikra kodesh, the seventh day is a holy day. It's a set aside day. כל מלאכה לא תעשו kol melacha lo sa'asu. Be at peace with the world, be at peace with nature. שבת היא להשם בכל מושבותיכם Shabbos hi l'Hashem b'chol moshvoseichem. It is a, it is a שבת Shabbos for God in all of your dwelling places. We observe this שבת Shabbos for God within all of our dwelling places. So we don't often think of שבת Shabbos as a holiday. We take for granted there's שבת Shabbos and then there's all the ימים טובים yomim tovim. But the way the תורה Torah includes שבת Shabbos here, שבת Shabbos is kind of the the premier holiday. שבת Shabbos is the umbrella of all of the holidays. Look at רש\"י Rashi. מה ענין שבת אצל המועדות Ma inyan Shabbos eitzel hamoados? Why is שבת Shabbos included with the holidays? כל המחלל את המועדות מעלין עליו כאילו חילל את השבתות Kol hamechalel es hamoados ma'alin alav k'ilu chillul es haShabbasos. וכל המקיים את המועדות מעלין עליו כאילו קיים את השבתות v'chol hamekayem es hamoados ma'alin alav k'ilu kiyem es haShabbasos. That יום טוב Yom Tov is no less significant than שבת Shabbos. If you observe the holidays, it's as if you've observed שבת Shabbos. If you desecrate the holidays, you've desecrated שבת Shabbos. These things go in tandem, these things go together. שבת Shabbos and the holidays create a combined, what I would describe as time awareness. They represent God's design for how we relate to time. You see again, if you understand that ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל v'nikdashti b'soch Bnei Yisrael, that קידוש השם kiddush Hashem to the whole world means that God put us in a world which is very confusing. God put us in a world which is very complex and there's no manual for most people how to live life. And living life is no less sophisticated, complex, challenging and difficult than being a doctor, a lawyer, or any other profession that you go to school and you study. There's no manual. The only answer is actually that we do have a manual. It's called תורה Torah. And God says I want the Jewish people to represent what does it mean to relate to time? What does it mean to relate to space? What does it mean to relate to food? What does it mean to relate to marriage, to sex and so on? And bring that to the world, teach the world, teach that to the world. So שבת Shabbos and רש\"י Rashi says שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yom Tov go together to create that time awareness, to teach ourselves and to teach the world what it means to have a proper relationship with time. Okay. Okay, Rishbam says that even more. Okay Rishbam, אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קדש asher tikru osam mikraei kodesh, that פסוק pasuk? אשר תזמנו אותם Asher tizmanu osam. אשר תזמנו אותם זמני קדש Asher tizmanu osam zmanei kodesh. כל לשון קריאה אצל מועד לשון קביעת זמן הוא Kol lashon kri'a eitzel mo'ed, lashon kfi'as zman hu, כמו קרא עלי מועד k'mo kara alai moed. וכן תרגום אונקלוס ולשון כמקרא קביעת זמן הוא v'chein targum unkelos v'lashon k'mikra k'fi'as zman hu. It means a designated time. We were invited to a designated time. So a designated time again is everything we just spoke about, that there's a designated time in order to extract from, to grow from and to be elevated by. Good. The um Okay, let's keep going. There's so much I want to say, but I want to get to some of the stuff a little bit later. So let's let's keep going. This by all of this. פסוק ד Pasuk daled. אלה מועדי השם מקראי קדש אשר תקראו אותם במועדם Eileh moadei Hashem mikraei kodesh asher tikru osam b'moadam. So that פתיחה pesicha, the Torah takes a little break there and end of paragraph, we dealt with שבת Shabbos and now we go onto the next holiday. אלה מועדי השם Eileh moadei Hashem, these are God's appointed times which he's designated as holy. אשר תקראו אותם במועדם asher tikru osam b'moadam that we call them on their holidays. In other words, we relate to them. So בחדש הראשון בארבעה עשר לחדש בין הערבים פסח להשם b'chodesh harishon b'arba'ah asar lachodesh bein ha'arbayim Pesach l'Hashem. What are they? On the first month, from the תורה Torah perspective, what's the first month? ניסן Nissan. We think of תשרי Tishrei as the first month, ראש השנה Rosh Hashana, יום כיפור Yom Kippur. תורה Torah perspective, ניסן Nissan. Really we have two first months, it's all a question of what perspective you're looking at the calendar from. So in the first month namely ניסן Nissan on the 14th of the month, בין הערבים bein ha'arbayim, what does בין הערבים bein ha'arbayim mean? Twilight, or look at רש\"י Rashi, משש שעות ולמעלה mi'sheish sha'os ul'ma'ala, from six hours and on, פסח להשם Pesach l'Hashem. What does it mean פסח להשם Pesach l'Hashem? It's the holiday of פסח Pesach really? six hours halfway into the 15th, it's not פסח Pesach yet. It is פסח Pesach in the sense that now is when you're obligated to bring the קרבן פסח Korban Pesach. As I spoke about on שבת הגדול Shabbos Hagadol from the sixth hour on ערב פסח Erev Pesach, one would offer the sacrifice and that's why it has the status of a quasi-holiday for us until today. Until today, we as of midday on ערב פסח Erev Pesach has the status like of חול המועד Chol Hamoed. It's a quasi-holiday. Whatever you can't do on חול המועד Chol Hamoed, you can't do on ערב פסח Erev Pesach as well. So that's what the פסוק pasuk, that's what the תורה Torah here is referring to. Um ובחמשה עשר יום לחדש הזה חג המצות להשם u'vachamisha asar yom lachodesh hazeh chag hamatzos l'Hashem. And then on the 15th, the next day, it is חג המצות chag hamatzos, it's פסח Pesach. שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו shivas yamim matzos tocheilu, for seven days eat מצה matzah. The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon brought evidence from this פסוק pasuk, it's a big debate. How long is there a מצוה mitzva to eat מצה matzah? Is the מצוה mitzva of eating מצה matzah one night? Or two nights, because we have the סדר seder for two nights here in חוץ לארץ chutz la'aretz. But in Israel is the מצוה mitzva one night? And then after that you don't have to touch מצה matzah, it's just that if you're hungry you can't have bread, so the only thing you could have is מצה matzah, but there's no מצוה mitzva to eat מצה matzah. Or is it that no, the מצוה mitzva of eating מצה matzah is for seven days, but the nature of the מצוה mitzva changes. The first night the מצוה mitzva is a מצוה חיובית mitzva chiyuvis. You're obligated to eat מצה matzah. You're not in the mood? Too bad. You have to eat מצה matzah the night of פסח Pesach. The next six days, it's when you eat מצה matzah, you fulfill a מצוה mitzva. So that's a מחלוקת machlokes, that's a debate, there's different opinions on this issue between the ראשונים Rishonim, between the early commentaries. The רמב\"ם Rambam holds the מצוה mitzva is only the first. Yeah, yeah. The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon is famous for his opinion, which is that there's a מצוה חיובית mitzva chiyuv, there's a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis rather, that there's no the obligation is only the first night, but you fulfill a מצוה mitzva the other six days. And he gets part of that as evidence is שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו shivas yamim matzos tochailu. Seven days you shall eat matzah. Doesn't just sound like you only have to eat it the first night and if you want to eat something bread-like, all you have is matzah. Sounds like you should eat matzah. In fact, that's why on the seventh day or for what us, for us, what is the eighth day, the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon would have a third meal. Now the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon never has a third meal, a שלש סעודות Shalosh Seudos on יום טוב Yom Tov. שלש סעודות Shalosh Seudos is unique to שבת Shabbos. Three meals for שבת Shabbos. It says עונג oineg three times in the pasuk why why we have three meals for שבת Shabbos. But יום טוב Yom Tov, we don't have that. With the exception of פסח Pesach. The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon held there was a שלש סעודות Shalosh Seudos on the eighth day. Why? Since it's a מצוה mitzva to eat מצה matzah, we try to on the last day add one more opportunity, one more opportunity, so we have a third meal where we eat מצה matzah to fulfill yet one more מצוה mitzva. This is his third meal. The חסידים Chassidim, the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov introduced the third meal on the last day of יום טוב Yom Tov. For him it was the סעודת משיח Seudas Mashiach. That on the last day of יום טוב Yom Tov, the eighth day, is a tradition that in ניסן Nissan, the גאולה geulah happened once, it's going to redemption will happen yet again, משיח Mashiach is going to come. And as we conclude, culminate the holiday of פסח Pesach, characterized by redemption, we celebrate a סעודת משיח Seudas Mashiach, the meal anticipating משיח Mashiach. So, I always, when we have a סעודת משיח Seudas Mashiach on the eighth day, so I always point out, part of the reason משיח Mashiach will come is because it's something that the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov and the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon agreed on, that you should have that meal. Right? The בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov and the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon were arch enemies, they didn't agree on anything. And the fact that they both endorsed that third meal, to the exclusion of anybody else in the tradition, so that in itself is evidence משיח Mashiach will come, that they're both having that third meal. So anyway, just as a passing, You don't make a ברכה bracha. You don't make a ברכה bracha. Why don't you make a ברכה bracha? That's a good question. Do you make a ברכה bracha on a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis? Do you make a ברכה bracha on a מצוה mitzva that you're not obligated in, but that if you choose to do it, you fulfill it? But לולב lulav, we have a מצוה mitzva, it's דרבנן d'rabanan today, but we have a מצוה mitzva to take a לולב lulav. Question is about מצה matzah. סוכה Sukkah you have the same question by the way. You have the same exact, am I obligated to sit in a סוכה sukkah for all of סוכות Sukkos? Or is it that if I want to eat, now I could eat fruit and sit outside the סוכה sukkah. It's, am I obligated to specifically eat bread to sit in the סוכה sukkah? Or is it that if I want to eat, then, but do you get a מצוה mitzva for eating bread in the סוכה sukkah? After the first night. So same debate, do you get a מצוה mitzva? So anyway, just as an example. So it's a whole other area, it's worth to give a חבורה chaburah on more than it is this פרשה parsha class. But do you make a ברכה bracha on a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis? For example, there's another מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis. Let's say שחיטה shechitah, שעכטן shechting, slaughtering, sacrificing an animal. Is that a מצוה mitzva? That in itself is a debate. Some are of the opinion there's no מצוה mitzva to slaughter. It's a מתיר matir. It's not a מצוה mitzva, it's a מתיר matir. What does it mean a מתיר matir? It means you're not allowed to eat an animal unless it's ritually slaughtered. The ritual slaughter permits it to become edible to you, but there's no מצוה mitzva. So some see it as a מתיר matir. Others see it is no, it's a מצוה mitzva. It's a מצוה mitzva. Now, is there a מצוה חיובית mitzva chiyuvis? Is there an obligation to go out? How often? Daily? Three times a day? Once a month? Is there a מצוה mitzva to go slaughter? No, there's no מצוה mitzva to go. No one would argue there's a מצוה mitzva to go slaughter. That opinion says if you're slaughtering, it's a מצוה mitzva. And yet you make the ברכה bracha, על השחיטה al ha'shechitah. So, do you make a ברכה bracha on a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis, do you not make a ברכה bracha on a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis? We sit in the סוכה sukkah the rest of, when you're eating bread sitting in a סוכה sukkah the rest of the time, you make a ברכה bracha. So why why do you make a ברכה bracha there, but not on מצה matzah the rest of the time? The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon has to give an answer for that. There's a whole, the בעל המאור Ba'al HaMaor makes a comment. The בעל המאור Ba'al HaMaor says סוכה sukkah is different because a person couldn't go, it's impossible that you'd go all those days without eating. So, so therefore you're going to because you're definitely going to, we already instituted a ברכה bracha on it. But here you could go the rest of פסח Pesach without eating the מצה matzah, so... you ask a lot of questions on that opinion. It's a whole other area. Yeah. In practical terms for next פסח Pesach. Yes. When we're eating מצה matzah in those חול המועד Chol HaMoed, um, המוציא hamotzi. There's no other ברכה bracha you make. But you don't make that על al... No, correct. It's only at the סדרים sederim? Only at the סדר seder you make that. Yes. Exactly. But there's no מצוה mitzvah to eat meat so there's no מצוה mitzvah for שחיטה shechitah. But some some hold there's no obligation to שכט shecht, but when you שכט shecht, you're doing a מצוה mitzva. By the way, it's the same thing with ציצית tzitzis. The best kept secret that we have from adolescent boys is that there's no real obligation to wear ציצית tzitzis. If you're wearing a four-cornered garment, you have to put ציצית tzitzis on them. But who says you're obligated to wear a four-cornered garment? We have accepted upon ourselves an obligation because it's an opportunity to do a מצוה mitzva. But if you're not wearing a four-cornered garment, it's a מצוה קיומית mitzva kiyumis, not a חיובית chiyuvis. קיומית Kiyumis in the sense that if you're wearing a four-cornered garment, you have to now put ציצית tzitzis on the corners. So if you wear a jacket that's four-cornered, you have to put ציצית tzitzis on. You do. Our jackets aren't four-cornered. They're curved. That's why. That's why they're curved. Okay. So מקרא קדש Mikra Kodesh, the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim says that these holidays are all called holy. So the term מקרא קדש mikra kodesh בגמטריא b'gematria is משתה mishteh. In מקרא קדש mikra kodesh in גמטריא gematria means a meal. It means a משתה mishteh. It also in גמטריא gematria is במאכל בכסות נקיה b'maachal b'ksus n'kiyah, with food and with clean clothing. מקרא Mikra, so what's the, what's the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim really saying? He likes to say it in his creative sense through numerical values. What the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim is really saying is, what makes it a holy time? What makes it special? What makes it special is the way we carry ourselves. Do we make delicacies and special food? Are we wearing clean clothing? Do we designate שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yom Tov clothing that make us feel different rather than just wearing our same וואכעדיגע vachadika clothing that we wear all the time? What makes it מקרא קדש mikra kodesh is משתה במאכל וכסות נקיה mishteh, b'maachal v'ksus n'kiyah. That's what makes it have that sense, what makes it have that feeling. Okay. Um, weiter. Let's keep going. פסוק ז' Pasuk Zayin. ביום הראשון מקרא קדש יהיה לכם, כל מלאכת עבדה לא תעשו Bayom harishon mikra kodesh yihiyeh lachem, kol melaches avodah lo sa'asu. On פסח Pesach, on that first day, it's a holiday, you may not do מלאכה melacha. So the first day of פסח Pesach, it's a holiday, you cannot do, um, you can't do מלאכה melacha, you cannot do creative labor. There's a long רמב\"ן Ramban here, we're not going to have time to go into, but the רמב\"ן Ramban tries to talk about חול המועד Chol HaMoed, what what's the איסור מלאכה issur melacha, what is prohibited on חול המועד Chol HaMoed. חול המועד Chol HaMoed is a funny time period. Because which is it? Is it more חול chol? Is it more מועד moed? On the one hand, the in-between days are part of the, within the brackets of the holiday. You have the holiday clearly in the beginning, holiday clearly in the end. Both have an איסור מלאכה issur melacha, both are prohibited in creative labor, both have the designation of holiday. The days in between, what are they? Are they you return back to the normal world of חול chol of a weekday in between? Or no, you are still, it's has the energy of the bookends to it, and therefore it has a component of מועד moed. And that that's its very name represents that tension, חול המועד chol hamoed. It's the weekday of the holiday, חול המועד chol hamoed. One example where you have that tension is, do you put תפילין tefillin on on חול המועד Chol HaMoed? How many people here put תפילין tefillin on on חול המועד Chol HaMoed? With a ברכה bracha or without a ברכה bracha? Without a ברכה bracha. With a ברכה bracha. So here you have represented right here, you have all three opinions. It's a מחלוקת machlokes. The רמב\"ם Rambam, the רא\"ש Rosh, רש\"י Rashi, you have תוספות Tosafos, you have a big מחלוקת machlokes. What do you do on חול המועד Chol HaMoed? Do you put תפילין tefillin on? So one opinion is you don't put תפילין tefillin on. The other opinion is of course you put תפילין tefillin on with a ברכה bracha. The third opinion is you put תפילין tefillin on, but without a ברכה bracha. What's the tension? What's the debate about? Is it more חול chol or is it more מועד moed? חול המועד Chol hamoed. Is it more חול chol or is it more מועד moed? If it's more חול chol, you have to put תפילין tefillin on. If it's more מועד moed, it's like the מועד moed, מועד moed is an אות os, you don't need תפילין tefillin. So that's תפילין tefillin is a perfect example of the tension of is it more חול chol or is it more מועד moed? So we have this period of חול המועד Chol HaMoed. So when the Torah says you can't do מלאכה melacha in the beginning of the holiday, יום ראשון Yom Rishon you can't. And next פסוק pasuk, והקרבתם אשה לה' שבעת ימים v'hikravtem isheh l'Hashem shivas yamim, ביום השביעי מקרא קדש כל מלאכת עבדה לא תעשו bayom hashvi'i mikra kodesh kol melaches avodah lo sa'asu. So day one and day seven, כל מלאכת עבדה לא תעשו kol melaches avodah lo sa'asu. So what can you extrapolate between days one and seven? You can do מלאכה melacha. So here you have a long רמב\"ן Ramban, רש\"י Rashi makes a comment, the רמב\"ן Ramban makes a long comment of what can and can't you do on חול המועד Chol HaMoed. And again, חול המועד Chol HaMoed is one of the most complex areas of הלכה halacha. Nobody studies it because no one wants to study it because it's really complicated. What can or can't you do? We, we play ignorant. So we just treat it like חול chol. The average, even observant, the average even scrupulously observant Jew, just treats חול המועד Chol HaMoed as חול chol. We write everything we want to write, we drive everywhere we want to drive, we do everything we want to do, because we just treat it as חול chol. Except for what you eat, but I'm saying in terms of the activities we do. But the truth is חול המועד Chol HaMoed has rules. You're not allowed to sew, can you shine your shoes, can you cut your nails? Can you do laundry? Can you All these different questions of things, can you can you shop? Can you work? Can you engage in a business transaction? So, there are a lot of different categories when it comes to חול המועד Chol HaMoed. It's called מעשה אומן maiseh uman. There is מלאכה melacha which every untrained person can do, and there's מלאכה melacha, there's creative labor with only a craftsman could do, it's a specialty. There's דבר האבד davar ha'aved, there's something which if I don't do it now, it will be lost. Let's say, I want to purchase a certain stock. I want to invest in a stock where if I don't take advantage of the opportunity now, or there's a sale, or if I don't buy it now, or I have a business opportunity where if I don't close the deal now, it will be lost. So דבר האבד davar ha'aved, something which stands to be lost. הפסד מרובה Hefsed merubah if I'm going to lose a lot of money. There's all kinds of rules of חול המועד Chol HaMoed. The prohibition of מלאכה melacha on חול המועד Chol HaMoed, is that דאורייתא d'oraisa or דרבנן d'rabanan? Is it biblical or rabbinic? So it's a whole discussion and I refer you to the long רמב\"ן Ramban here, who derives a lot of this from this question where here you see the Torah says day one is כל מלאכת עבדה לא תעשו kol melaches avodah lo sa'asu. Day seven is כל מלאכת עבדה לא תעשו kol melaches avodah lo sa'asu. What about the days in between? What's the status of the days in between? Okay. So far we haven't gotten to anything I want to talk about yet. פסוק ט' Pasuk Tes. So you have the pay, the פתוחה pesucha, you have a little break, you go on to the next section. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לכם וקצרתם את קצירה והבאתם את עמר ראשית קצירכם אל הכהן daber el bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem ki savo'u el ha'aretz asher ani nosein lachem u'ktzartem es ktzirah, v'haveisem es omer reishis ktzirchem el ha'kohen. So God spoke to Moses saying, \"Tell the Jewish people that when you enter the land that I will give you,\" what land is that? ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. when you enter the land of ישראל Israel, and you will harvest, you're going to cut down your produce, you're going to reap your harvest, bring an עמר omer from your first harvest to the כהן kohen. What's an עמר omer? An עמר omer is a measure. We talk about the עמר omer, if I said if I stop someone and wake them in the middle of the night and say, \"What's the עמר omer?\" Say, \"Oh, that's that's the period between פסח Pesach and שבועות Shavuos where we count and we lost רבי עקיבא Rebbe Akiva's students.\" No, the translation of the word עמר omer is, an עמר omer is a measurement. It's a dry measure, 43.2 average eggs. The volume of 43.2 average eggs is the value of an, is the measurement of an עמר omer. It's the amount of flour that you have to bring and it's the name that the offering is known by. It's an עמר omer offering, um, which we'll talk about what that does in a moment, but that's what the Torah...
