Emor (“Hashem said to Moses: say to the Kohanim the sons of Aaron”)

Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23

Here the anointed high priest is faced with disallowed sexual behavior of his daughter who then is to be punished by burning.  Behind her are damaged people not allowed to participate in certain rituals – the hunchback, the dwarf, a man with injured testicles.  Some say that those who are so disadvantaged do not need certain rituals for their very beings are challenged making them already more aware.

Also in this parsha are the laws regarding the festival days including Shabbos here seen with a challa and lights in the sky and the shofar for Rosh Hashonah, and Yom Kippur, matzo for Passover and on the ground 49 omar for the days before Shavuos and the lulov and esrog for Succos.  The grapes and stars are in the design of the “etz chaim”  – the tree of life of the Kabbalah.