SEDRA : Emor Hertz Chumash p. 513 Leviticus Chapter 21

This week's Sedra is generously sponsored by Peter Cohen OAM and his son David Cohen.

SYNOPSIS:

G-d speaks to Moses to instruct the Kohanim to preserve their Holy status and the special regulations and precautions they must take to maintain their purity and perfection. Chief among these regulations is to avoid contact or involvement with death and its attendant circumstances. These regulations also constitute an important source in general for Jewish practise in death and mourning.
The Kohen may not defile himself to bury the dead among his people. He was forbidden to attend the funeral of any but his nearest relatives (father, mother, brother, (unmarried) sister son, daughter or spouse). Contact with a dead body or being under the same roof as a dead body rendered him unfit to perform his priestly duties, these regulations also preclude a Kohen from marrying a divorcee or convert.The rules governing the Kohen Gadol - High Priest - were even more restrictive. He was not to attend any funeral whatsoever, not even his closest kin, and in addition to the rule for other Kohanim could marry only a virgin. Kohanim with physical defects were disqualified from Service in the Sanctuary but were still entitled to their share in the sacrifices and certain other priestly benefits. Sacrifices were to be free of any blemish and animals younger than eight days were not permitted to be used. Slaughtering an animal and its young on the same day is not permitted.
The principles of Sanctifying G-d's Name and refraining from behaviour which bring G-d Israel or Torah into disrepute are enunciated. The Sedra then introduces a section outlining the Festivals, their dates and the practises in their observance. This forms part of the regular Torah reading on Pesach and Sukkot (the readings on Shavuot relate to the theme of Revelation and the giving of the Torah). During the year certain days were proclaimed as a "Holy Convocation". On these days people were called together to the Sanctuary for communal worship and all Melakha activities were not permitted. Firstly, mention is made of the Shabbat, every seventh day of the week.
The first and last days of Pesach, the Feast of Matzot, are to be observed from the 15th to 21st of the Month of Nisan. Once the Israelites took possession of their land they were to present a sheaf - OMER - of the first of the barley harvest on the 16th of the month.
Shavuot is observed on the 50th day of the continuous counting from the beginning of the bringing and counting of the Omer on the 6th Sivan. On Shavuot an offering of two loaves made from the new wheat harvest was brought to the altar.
Then follows Rosh Hashannah, New Year (counting from the date of creation) called Yom Teruah, the day of blowing the Shofar occurring on 1st Tishrei.
Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement is on the 10th Tishrei observed by fasting, prayer and repentance of sins.
Succot, Tabernacles, is on the 15th Tishrei till the 21st. This is a time of great rejoicing and the Lulav, Etrog, Hadas and Arava are taken as a symbol of thanksgiving. During the Festival Jews dwell in the Succah, recalling G-d's protection of the Israelites in their wanderings in the wilderness.
The 22nd Tishrei is Shemini Atzeret, observed as a solemn day of rest. The people are reminded to provide pure olive oil for the Eternal Lamp - Menorah - in the Sanctuary. Reference is made to the Showbread - 12 loaves of fine flour set in two rows symbol of G-d the provider of sustenance to all. The incident of the blasphemer and his death sentence concludes the Sedra.

HAPHTORAH HERTZ CHUMASH P.528 Ezekiel Chap. 44 : 15

The haphtorah describes the vision of the prophet Ezekiel (who lived after the destruction of the first Temple) of the New Jerusalem and its Reconstructed Temple. The prophet describes the role of the Kohanim in the new Temple which is the link between the Sedra and the Haphtorah.

TELL ME RABBI ..... CHOIR (Heb. Makhelah)

Choral singing is probably based on the phrase in Psalm 68, "Bless ye G-d in full assemblies." In Temple worship the Levite choir consisted of a minimum of twelve adult male singers, from the age of thirty after having been trained for five years. After the destruction of the Second Temple in C.E. 70 the Levite choir ceased to function. Both vocal and instrumental music were banned as a sign of national mourning. Maimonides however, permitted the choir to sing at synagogue services and at all religious feasts a capella since instrumental music has continued to be forbidden.
In the early centuries "Tomekhim" (supporters) assisted the "Precentor" (Cantor) as promoters and musical assistants. As time when on, the "bass" and the "singer" in the Ashkenazic synagogue served as "Unterhalter" (supporters) to the precentor and supplied harmonic accompaniment in an improvisatory manner.
This "Hazzan-Bass-Singer" arrangement lasted as late as the early nineteenth century. In Adrianople (Edirne), Turkey, a choral group called the Maftirim Choir flourished from the seventeenth century on. It sang "piyyutim" (religious poetry) every Sabbath morning at dawn and was known for nurturing a great number of cantors and assistant singers ("maftirim" or "mezammrim").
Hazzanim such as Isaac B. Solomon Algazi (1882-1964) often sang as choristers in the Maftirim Choir, a circumstance that also made Adrianople a center for hymn writing. Other flourishing singing societies were the Shomerim Laboker (Watchmen of the Morning), in Italy, and Mezamre Barukh She'amar (Singers of Barakh She'amar), in Prague.
With the encouragement of the Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Venice, Leone da Modena, Solomon Rossi (c. 1570 - c. 1630) organised a choir that sang arrangements of psalms in three to eight voices. Although Israel Lovy (1773-1832) is credited with being the first to institute four-part choir singing, it was Salomon Sulzer (1804-1890) of Vienna whose choir practices and a musical service met with real success.
"Once, and once only, has it happened to us, as it were, to catch a glimpse and overhear what a Jewish art might become ..... Rarely has it happened to us to be attacked by so lively an emotion ... (Franz Liszt). Among those who followed Sulzer were Louis Lewandowski, in Berlin; Samuel Naumbourg, in Paris; Hirsch Weintraub, in Konigsberg; Israel Lazarus Mombach, in London; Eliezer Mordecai Gerovitsch, in Rostov; David Nowakowsky, in Odessa; and Boruch Schorr, in Lemberg (Lvov).
In the United States four-part choir singing was introduced by Jacob Samuel Maragowsky and Abraham Frachtenberg. In the early twentieth century this practice was perpetuated by Herman Wohl, Jacob Margulies, and Meyer Machtenberg and in Poland by David Eisenstadt, Yitzhak Schlossberg, and Avraham Zvi Davidovitz. Since the middle of the twentieth century there has been a decline in the use of professional choirs.
The lengthened service required for choral singing rather than passive listening has become the vogue. Interest in synagogue musicianship as a vocation or avocation has decreased. Nonetheless, numerous synagogues throughout the world still engage volunteer choir singers for the High Holy Days.