Being Holy But Not "Holier Than Thou:

Today is three weeks and six days of counting the Omer, 27 days! Are you counting the days up towards Shavuot (Pentecost) too? Can you believe we are already 28 days in? Almost four full weeks of preparing our hearts for Shavuot; we are just past the halfway mark. We are also at the midpoint of the month of Iyar—how time flies!

Today is also Pesach Sheni (the Second Passover). It’s such a beautiful reminder of our Creator’s heart for "second chances"—He literally built a day into the calendar for those who missed the first feast because they were away or ritually unclean. If you feel like you’ve "missed the boat" on your spiritual goals this month, today is a wonderful reminder that His grace provides a way back.

I had great plans to create a Pesach Sheni Seder plate because I was quite weak on the first Passover, but the power was off for most of the day. When I tried making the chana flour matzah recipe from memory, it turned out too thin and then too thick—it looks more like pieces of a hard tack map (Australia, Antarctica  China and South America Japan!) than matzah. Frankly, I was plum tuckered out from dragging my cart with drinking water and groceries up the hill yesterday!”

Even my matzah got a bit 'puffed up' with pride! These three pieces—resembling Australia, Japan, and China—remind me that sometimes our best attempts turn into something entirely unexpected.

This Week's Readings: Parashat Emor

• Torah: Vayikra (Leviticus) 21:1–24:23
• Haftarah: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 44:15–31
• Brit Chadashah: 1 Corinthians 8

Today’s study from the Torah—Parashat Emor—takes its name from the Hebrew word that is the first word in this section, where Creator tells Moshe (Moses) repeatedly to speak to the people and give them instructions. This week's Torah portion actually contains the instructions for the very festivals we are celebrating right now! In Vayikra 23:15–16, we see the command that started our current journey:

"From the day after the day of rest... you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days..."

However, the main point that stands out to me in the combined readings is that of holiness. In Vayikra, very specific instructions are given about how the Cohanim are to keep themselves ritually clean. Once again, in Yechezk’el, we see specific instructions about who is to come into the Holy Place and how they are to stay ritually clean.

It is interesting that these extensive instructions came shortly after Aaron's two sons were incinerated after entering the Holy of Holies.

As I read the passages in Vayikra and Yechezk’el, it makes me think about how when the first computers were made, they were extremely sensitive to static electricity. You had to enter a clean room, remove your street shoes, and don a clean suit before going into the actual computer room. Even after we had desktop computers, special grounding mats were placed under office chairs.

Whether entering the Holy of Holies or a modern clean room, the requirement is the same: leaving the outside world behind to protect the purity of what lies within.

If you are following a daily reading plan, today’s Brit Chadashah (New Testament) focus is 1 Corinthians 8.This passage written to the Corinthians addresses being holy in a different way—looking at how people should conduct themselves so others seeing their actions would not be led astray.

It’s also a convicting chapter about how "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

This has me thinking of the chana matzah I tried making because, despite my best efforts, it still puffed up! It is so easy to get puffed up through pride when we get a bit of knowledge. How we use that knowledge is very important—do we critique others to puff ourselves up, or do we critique from a point of genuine care and concern?

There is an interesting mention of this type of "puffing up" through knowledge made by Rabbi Curt Landry in his podcast from the other day about the month of Iyar.

Rabbi Curt Landry has many excellent teachings on YouTube. He is very down-to-earth and offers practical useful resources.

Have a blessed day

~Su