Rabbi Dovid Markel
This week’s Parshas Emor opens with the words, “And the Lord said to Moshe: Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aharon, and say to them: Let none [of you] defile himself for a dead person among his people.”
While the literal intent of this verse deals with the ritual laws of purity that the priest must be careful with, the Rebbe derives a totally different message.
To the Rebbe, literally every word of the Torah carries a meaning. Since the name of the parsha, “Emor,” is translated as “Speak,” the Rebbe understands that the message of theparsha is that one must speak.
When a person talks about something, they reveal that which was before hidden. When someone-G-d forbid-speaks evil of their fellow, they reveal the evilness that was before nullified in the person’s goodness.
The same too is when a person speaks well of their fellow. When they do so they bring to fruition all the hidden goodness that is embedded in their person. Though the person may regularly only express negativity, it is important to find some goodness and to speak about it, as doing so actually transforms the individual into a good person.
Besides for the lesson about this awesome power that we possess to reveal goodness in our fellow, there is another paradigm shift in this idea as well. This awareness also transforms our way of viewing every word of the Torah in that nothing is superfluous and each word carries an important lesson and meaning for our everyday lives.
