The Relative Nearest Him

Parashat Emor begins with a problematic passage. Through Moses, God gives instructions to the priesthood prohibiting them from becoming ritually impure through corpse contamination. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and the Torah gives a list of close relatives by which a priest may allow himself to become ritually impure. This could be through either attending to the body of the deceased or merely attending their funeral, either of which would bring with it ritual contamination:

And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).” (Leviticus 21:1–3)

In this passage we learn that a priest may attend to the body of six different family members: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his unmarried sister. However, this list seems incomplete. What about his wife? Is the Torah so insensitive that it does not allow a priest to attend the funeral of his own wife? Even though she is not literally related to him as the others in this list are, shouldn’t the Torah make an exception for his beloved wife?

The Four Prohibitions

After detailing the instructions for the Yom Kippur service, the parashot of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim then hit a series of seemingly unrelated topics concerning a number of different things. For the contemporary reader, particularly to those of us from among the nations, these strange regulations seem completely out of the realm our modern lives. Outside of the obvious ethical principles of forbidden sexual relationships, what possible relevance do these seemingly antiquated ritual concerns have for us today?

In the days of the Apostles, something happened that had really never happened before, especially on the scale that the Apostles began to see. Because of the message of Yeshua going forth to the nations, particularly due to the ministry of the Apostle Paul, Gentiles began flocking to Judaism by the droves. Although this was a Yeshua-centric form of Judaism, nonetheless, it was an expression of Judaism that still found its identity in the Torah, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and in the local synagogues. It was expressly Jewish. Now, however, a great number of Gentiles had begun attaching themselves to the God of Israel through faith in the Jewish Messiah. Prior to this point of time, Gentiles who came near to the God of Israel were expected to undergo a formal conversion to become Jewish in order to complete their journey of faith. After all, how does a person explain that their religion is Jewish if they are not?

In Acts 15, the Apostles wrestled through this identity crisis for Gentile disciples of Yeshua. Did these Gentiles need to fully convert and become Jewish in order to be a part of this Jewish religion or not? They definitely could not remain like they were, because the pagan practices of their previous lives would surely lure them away from the new life they had found in Messiah.