Humans have a very important role to play in God's world. The Almighty created a world in which He is obfuscated. It is possible to live a whole life without acknowledging the one, singular reality of existence: God. The world was designed with the capacity for that reality being ignored. But we are here to change that. Our national mission is to sanctify the name of God - to publicize His existence and Dominion. That is the mission that Abraham embarked upon and that is what we have been dedicated towards ever since. This requirement - to sanctify the Name of God and not to, Heaven forbid, desecrate it - is featured in our Parsha and is a central element of our religion. But how exactly do we sanctify God's name? What can we do practically to publicize the name of God, to change the trajectory of the world? In this parsha, and in this this very fascinating (if lengthy) Parsha podcast, we discover some very interesting and powerful answers.

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The hardest part of reaching space is the first moment of liftoff, getting the first inch off the ground. The second inch is still hard, but a little bit easier. The first bit of liftoff serves as momentum for the second inch. In our pursuit of spiritual and personal greatness, we are trying to achieve stratospheric heights. We're trying to depart from the atmosphere of pettiness, and achieve something grand, something majestic, something otherworldly. The first step is the most important. Importantly, this same principle works in the opposite direction. Just as positive momentum facilitates achievement and height, the danger of negative momentum cannot be underestimated. The Torah tells a tragic and dramatic story about a man with a checkered pedigree and a tumultuous backstory who committed a grievous crime for which he was executed. When we take a careful look at what happened, we see the sheer power of momentum.

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Parshas Emor contains a staggering 56 mitzvos, nearly all of them relating to either to the Kohanim, the priests, or to the Festivals, and the parsha ends with a very unusual episode that happened at Sinai.

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Yom Kippur is a different day than every other day of the year. It is the holiest day, the day of atonement, a day of fasting and prayer and repentance. When the Temple was extant, the Nations' attention was oriented around the high priest's services in God's holy Temple. This was the one time a year that the high priest walked into the Holy of Holies. Of the many different services performed by the high priest on this day was a most peculiar one: Two identical goats were given very different fates, determined by a lottery: One was offered as a sacrifice to God on the altar in the Temple, and one was to serve as a scapegoat, bearing the sins of the nation. The scapegoat was sent away to the desert, to the wilderness, to Azazel, where it was chucked off a cliff side, thereby expiating the nation's sins. What is the message behind the process of the identical goats? What is the message behind the scapegoat? in this fantastic Parsha podcast, we learned the secret of the goats with a brand new twist.

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This Parsha podcast is dedicated in the merit of a speedy recovery of Yosef Shraga Halevi Ben Esther. May he have a Refuah Sheleima.

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The first verse of our Parsha revisits a tragic event from the past. The Torah tells us that after the death of Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu, Moshe was instructed to command Aaron about the prohibition against entering the Holy of Holies unauthorized. What is the significance of the tragic demise of Aaron's two sons to the the instruction governing when and how Aaron may enter the Holy of Holies? This question is addressed by the commentators, and in this very special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we go deep and deeper in pondering the subject and it's vast and powerful consequences.

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The more important someone is the greater the impact of their actions. The maneuver of a general changes the course of a campaign; a mistake of the general can imperil the entire army; a brilliant stroke of the general can achieve unexpected victory. A simple foot soldier has a much smaller impact. Adam was created in the image of Elokim. His capacity to impact is enormous. In the third installment of our study of the magisterial work, Nefesh HaChaim, we learn about the frightening and astounding consequences of the outsized leverage bestowed upon Adam and those who spiritually resemble Adam.

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This week's double-parsha contains a smorgasbord of mitzvos. The three chapters of Parshas Acharei cover three general categories. First we read about the Yom Kippur sacrifices and procedures; then we learn about the prohibitions against the consumption of blood among other ritualistic and sacrificial laws, and the final chapter is oriented around the many prohibited sexual relationships. Parshas Kedoshim has the highest mitzvah density of any parsha: In its 64 verses, we learn 51 separate mitzvos covering many different areas of Jewish practice, including arguably the most famous mitzvah in the whole Torah.

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The subject of purity and impurity is not the most exciting one. The hallmark of these subjects is their intricacies and complexities, but our parsha has nothing but the laws of purity and impurity. It talks about impurity spawned by childbirth; the impurity of tzaraas of the body, of the garments, and of the home; along with several other types of impurities. Why does humanity have a tendency to become impure, whereas animals don't have that same variability? What is the essence of impurity? How does impurity get remediated? In this very interesting Parsha podcast, we share a fascinating perspective on the makeup of man and how man's unique creation leads to man's near-infinite variability. We also learn a valuable perspective on how we can achieve fantastic things and curb our most frightening and damaging impulses.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Yehuda Goldmann, Martin Yehuda ben Yosef. May his soul be elevated in Heaven.

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