This is an eternal statute

(Leviticus23:14)

Iyar 11, 5778/April 26, 2018

This week's Torah reading, (read here in the land of Israel), Emor, begins by enumerating Torah commandments concerning the kohanim (Temple priests). This, of course, is in keeping with the rest of the book of Leviticus, which is wholly concerned with the conduct of the kohanim in the performance of the Temple offerings and daily Tamid service, and with the 'extra' assignment with which the kohanim were entrusted - the spiritual care with which they tended to non-priestly Israelites who had been stricken with different manifestations of ritual impurity.

But the commandments with which parashat Emor opens are different than the others. These commandments are concerned with how the kohanim will conduct themselves when a family member dies, the dos and don'ts of mourning and of maintaining their ritual purity by not making contact with the dead. Torah then goes on to instruct the kohanim whom they are eligible to marry: "They shall not marry a woman who is a harlot or who is desecrated, and they shall not marry a woman who is divorced from her husband for he [the kohen] is holy to his G-d." (Leviticus 21:7) From mourning to marriage is an abrupt transition, to say the least, but what both these sets of commandments share is a concern for the conduct of the kohanim at the most intimate moments of their personal lives, be they moments of great loss or moments of great joy. Likewise, these commandments are not concerned with the performance of the Divine service in the Holy Temple, but, on the contrary, with what takes place outside of the Holy Temple and do not revolve around the duties of the kohanimwithin the Temple. These are commandments whose observance are not contingent upon the Holy Temple being built or the Divine service being performed. These are life commandments.

Parashat Emor then pivots back to the business of performing the offerings in the Holy Temple and the qualifications (and disqualifications) required of the kohanim. The everlasting nature of each of these commandments, as well as all Torah commandments concerning the collective and personal status of the kohanim, are stated forthright by Torah in many places: "This shall be an eternal statute for your generations." (ibid 24:3)

Ever since the Holy Temple was destroyed nearly two thousand years ago by Roman invaders, the kohanim, the sons of Aharon, have not been able to fulfill their Temple based duties. Without the Holy Temple they are not required to perform offerings or other aspects of their Temple responsibilities. But other commandments, such as the ones which open the Torah reading of Emor, which are not directly related to or contingent upon the Temple service, are still in force, just as the verses state: "eternal statutes." Remarkably, the descendants of Aharon, the priestly class of Israel, meticulously observe these commandments to this day. The Torah restrictions applied to mourning and marriage which open parashat Emor are kept today by every conscientious kohen. In this manner, and by virtue of zealously maintained family lineage, the kohanim of today's generation, as with every generation that preceded them, are genealogically and halachically fit and ready to return to active Temple duty the moment the Divine service is renewed and the Holy Temple rebuilt.

This is a remarkable testimony to the profound dedication, faith and determination of the bloodline of Aharon, thousands of generations old, to return to their divinely entrusted responsibility to act as conduits and enablers for the entire nation of Israel, when history and the prophetic promise of redemption allows it.

In recent years, scientifically conducted DNA studies have uncovered incontrovertible evidence of the singular genetic profile which the descendants of Aharon today, wherever they be found, each share with a single common father who lived more than three thousand years ago. That, in itself, is extraordinary. But DNA alone does not make a kohen a kohen. Adhering to Torah commandments, maintaining millennial old traditions, holding in honor the responsibilities that are currently beyond your ability to fulfill and fulfilling the responsibilities that are within your grasp, such as those enumerated in this week's parasha, or the daily performance of the priestly blessing (birkat kohanim) which kohanim fulfill here in the land of Israel, are what define the kohanim.

There is historical evidence that for hundreds of year after the destruction of the Holy Temple, kohanim, dispersed in exile, maintained a running account of the schedule by which kohanim knew when they were expected to do their yearly stint of service in the Holy Temple. This way they could always be prepared, at the drop of a hat, to appear at the Temple gates ready to resume their priestly responsibilities. Today, young kohanim, whose ancestors for thousands of years could only dream of returning to Temple service, yet devotedly maintained their integrity as kohanim, are studying the intricacies of the performance of all their Temple-based responsibilities, filled with the faith and determination that the Holy Temple will be rebuilt in our day, and they will be ready in a heart-beat, to resume their Divinely endowed responsibility to G-d, to Israel, and to the world: "And you shall be called the kohanim of HaShem; 'servants of our G-d' shall be said of you; the possessions of the nations you shall eat, and with their glory you shall succeed them." (Isaiah 61:1)

-The Temple Institute