Shabbat Parashat Emor - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Emor - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  From your settled places you shall bring bread of elevation, two loaves made of two

  tenth-ephahs, they shall be fine flour, they shall be baked leavened, first fruits to God.

  [Vayikra 23:17]

There are many questions in this verse, such as, what are "your settled places", what is

"bread of elevation", why are they leavened, and how does this relate to "first fruits"?

Rashi cites Onkelos and Torat Kohanim that "your settled places" refers to settlements

inside the land of Israel, not to those outside the land, and most other commentators go

along with this interpretation. Onkelos translates the beginning of the verse as, "Raise

offering loaves from your settlements" which seems to indicate that the grain should be

grown in Israel as well as the loaves made there. The Gemora [Menachot 83b] confirms

this, and also that the loaves should be brought from the new crop, but if they are brought

from the old, it is still valid.

We see in many places that Shavuot, the time of bringing this offering, is directly tied to

Pesach. The date of Shavuot is not given in the Torah, only the fact that it is 50 days after

Pesach, noted by the counting of the Omer. One of the names of the Shavuot holiday is

Atzeret, meaning the conclusion of Pesach, just as Shemini Atzeret closes out Sukkot.

Given this and the fact that both the omer and two loaves permit use of the new crop, they

are compared. The omer is the first cutting of the new crop of barley, the two loaves are the

first cutting of wheat. But the word bikkurim usually means first fruits, referring to tree fruit.

Why are these grain offerings called first fruit? Torah Temimah explains that these grains

are here "likened to bikkurim" to teach that the grain offerings can come alone, even in the

absence of the lambs they are connected to, and in fact are the primary offering for this

holiday, and that just as first fruits are eaten (rather than burned), so too these are eaten.

Ramban explains why the two loaves are baked leavened, that they are a thanksgiving

offering to God for having given us the harvest, and thanksgiving offerings come with leaven.

Why are the loaves called "bread of elevation" or "bread of raising"? Rashi says it is because

they are lifted for the sake of God, which seems to be tied to the idea of thanksgiving. Rav

Hirsch notes a progression from the omer of barley to the two loaves of leavened bread,

which he says is animal food to people food, representing the people raising up from bondage

to freedom, from Egypt to the land of Israel. Thus Shavuot, which occurred in the desert on the

way to Canaan and freedom, and the time of the giving of the Torah, represents the crown

of that progression of the people.