D’Var from Jasmine Hubara “Past, Present, and Future”

Shalom Y’all! It’s Jasmine Hubara, your Rel/Ed VP for the 2014-2015 year. I’m from COSY in Charleston, SC, my favorite service is Havdallah, and my favorite parsha is Emor (because it’s my bat mitzvah anniversary).

This week’s parsha is Emor, is pretty special. We read it not only in the weekly readings but also for the readings at Sukkot and Passover. It talks about many of the laws for the Kohens and declares that we must celebrate certain holidays, like Rosh Hashana and Shabbat.

When I was in services at my synagogue one week, I looked up at the curtains around the ark and found the word “emor.” which kind of took my by surprise. Why was it there? I mean, who would put it on a curtain? Emor doesn’t have any stories, like Bereshit or Noach. But when the curtain shifted, I saw that what I thought was “emor” was really a part of “memory.”

It seems so coincidental that we are reading Emor this weekend- we are truly putting the “Emor” in “memory.”

We as Jewish people are forced to remember, and we distinguish parts of the year in memory. During Passover, we remember that we were slaves in Israel. At Purim, we remember that we were saved. On Yom Hashoah, which we observed Monday, we remember the 6 million.

   We just spent the most amazing weekend together, and as we depart for the summer, we should remember who we are, what we have become, and what we will become: HaNegev USY, the best damn region in the USA (and Canada, eh!). 

Shalom Out!