A Thought on Parshas Emor

"...emor el HaKohanim..." "...tell the Kohanim..." (21:1) Our parsha details the variables which distinguish the three major "classes" of Jewish people, namely, the Kohanim, the Leviim, and the Yisraelim. Different laws regulate and govern their responsibilities, their privileges, and even criteria regarding their appearance and their attire. They have specific standards for personal sanctity, purity and ritual service. This week, ibn Shu'aib explores some deeper dimensions in understanding the Torah. He begins with the familiar verses in Tehillim, "Bais Yisroel barchu es HaShem! Bais Aharon barchu es HaShem! Bais HaLevi barchu es HaShem! Yerai HaShem barchu es HaShem!" - Oh House of Israel, praise G-d; House of Aharon, House of Levi, G-d Fearing Ones, praise G-d!" (135:19-20).That psalm divides the Jewish people into four, not three, segments. Strangely, elsewhere in Tehillim Dovid HaMelech uses three divisions. In Psalm 115:9-11, he proclaims, "Yisroel b'tach b'HaShem, Bais Aharon bitchu b'HaShem, Yerai HaShem bitchu b'HaShem" - Israel, House of Aharon, G-d Fearing Ones, trust in HaShem. In 115:12-13, he sings, Yivarech es Bais Yisroel, yivarech es Bais Aharon, yivarech yerai HaShem - He will bless the House of Israel, the House of Aharon, the ones who fear Him. In 118:2-4, Dovid exults, yomar na Yisroel, yomru na Bais Aharon, yomru na yerai HaShem - Let Israel say, let the House of Aharon say, let the ones who fear G-d say... Who are the three? Who are the four? Why are there three, or four? What do they allude to? ibn Shu'aib peers into Kabbalistic revelations now. He introduces the principle that "the Patriarchs themselves, they are the Chariot" (HaAvos hen hen haMerkava). The Kabbalistic concept here is that there is a spiritual entity known as the Chariot of HaShem. A chariot carries and contains an eminent passenger. At a mystical level, HaShem "rides" the heavens in a "chariot." As manifest on earth, His Presence is also "carried" by His chariot. In this mundane existence on earth, the chariot is actually the great ones, our lofty forefathers, who carry His Presence through their deeds, teachings and accomplishments. Which of those forefathers became the primal chariot, the bearers of the Divine one earth? Our tradition has is that the right side of the Chariot was the mission of Avraham, who embodied G-d's kindness as a mortal life principle. Opposite this was Yitzchak, who embodied justice, which also heralded the presence of exiles and adversity for our people. At the binding of Yitzchak, the Akeida, the Divine justice became tempered so that on earth, our adversaries and captors would also be bound and limited by a just Divine decree, so that we could withstand persecution. This was a "spinning" of justice, so that justice ultimately prevailed on our people's behalf, rather than serving only as a punitive potential in binding us in front of our oppressors. Yakov, whose vision of a sulam showed the constant connectedness between this world and the higher realm, connects the powers of justice and kindness, to facilitate that merging or blending of chesed and din in our service of HaShem. A three sided vehicle can certainly exist, and can function. Think of a tricycle or those motor vehicles once used by traffic officers. However, there is a reality about Yakov: he was born a twin. He also demonstrated throughout his life that he had the capacity to dwell in two tents, namely, he could function as a pure and holy person, yet as a robust and powerful person very much capable of thriving in the mundane. It is because of this duality of Yakov that the Chariot was really imbued with a fourth, if latent, facet. This is hinted at in the fact that Yakov's name is generally written with no vowel, only consonants, yet there is a hidden vowel (vav) when we pronounce those other letters, and in fact, there are five places where his name is written with that vav. The additional feature, the "twinning" of Yakov, adds a fourth side or facet to the Chariot. This fourth facet is the role and mission eventually filled by Dovid HaMelech. Dovid HaMelech emerged as the completion of the Chariot, embodying some of Yakov's twin-ness (for example, like Esav, he was also ruddy, and at ease in the wilderness), and his role is to give voice to man's ascent, the potential to occupy and climb the spiritual ladder which is the domain of the malachim. Yakov modeled how man can bring Heaven closer to earth. Dovid models how man can bring himself closer to Heaven. As a parallel to this revelation, ibn Shu'aib observes how the four-letter name of HaShem is made up of three letters. There is a yud and a vov, but there are two haes. The first hae depicts the infinite Higher Wisdom of the Divine. The last hae alludes to the manifestation of that Wisdom in the world below. So, HaShem's name is depicted as four-within-three letters. The Chariot is three-manifest-as-four powers. Throughout Tehillim, Dovid depicts the role-missions of Jewish people as three discrete entities - Yisroel, Levi, Kohen. However, he also at times binds them in their ideal permutation, Yerai HaShem, which is a fourth entity. ibn Shu'aib insists that whereas the three primary roles are fixed: one cannot opt in or opt out of being a Kohen, or a Levi, or a Yisroel; anyone of us can opt in to enter the fourth role, the Dovidesque role, of Yarei HaShem. When we take on that role, embodying and enacting the holy and the sacred in our mortal life, we complete the mission of the Merkava. And, that's all, folks. That is everything. Good Shabbos. D Fox