Emor (revised and updated April 2026) Parashat Emor concludes with one of the only narrative passages in all of Chumash Vayikra - the story of the man who blasphemes. Although the account is brief, it must be of critical importance, for otherwise, why interrupt the halachic flow of Vayikra, a Chumash suspended in time with almost no dateable events, to tell us about a single foul-mouthed boor?
Who is it who tells Avraham, “Lech Lecha”? I don’t mean that as it might seem – after all, the Torah tells us: “And Hashem said to Avraham, “Go, you…” Rather, what I mean is this name, Shad-dai (one of the seven holy names; thus I don’t write it completely even in English), regarding which Hashem later said to Moshe, “I was revealed to Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov as E-l Shad-dai, but My name, Hashem, I was not known to them”. What aspect of Hashem’s ever-unfolding-to-us Being was revealed to Avraham through that Name? And: Why is understanding this divine name so important to understanding Avraham’s spiritual consciousness and mission? To be sure, our parashah is peppered with a variety of divine names. But our commentators tell us that it is precisely as/with the Name, Shad-dai, that Hashem makes a covenant with Avraham. So, let’s examine the critical verse: Toward the end of our parashah, after all the episodes which take Avraham to Egypt, to Dan in t...