Tuesday Torah Class - Parshat Emor 5/13/25

(16) יהוה spoke further to Moses: (17) Speak to Aaron and say: No man of your offspring throughout the ages who has a defect shall be qualified to offer the food of his God. (18) No one at all who has a defect shall be qualified: no man who is blind, or lame, or has a limb too short or too long; (19) no man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; (20) or who is a hunchback, or a dwarf, or who has a growth in his eye, or who has a boil-scar, or scurvy, or crushed testes. (21) No man among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall be qualified to offer יהוה’s offering by fire; having a defect, he shall not be qualified to offer the food of his God. (22) He may eat of the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy; (23) but he shall not enter behind the curtain or come near the altar, for he has a defect. He shall not profane these places sacred to Me, for I יהוה have sanctified them. (24) Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

MISHNA: A priest who has blemishes on his hands may not lift his hands Rabbi Yehuda says: Even one whose hands were colored with satis, a blue dye, may not lift his hands because the congregation will look at him. GEMARA: It is taught in a baraita: The blemishes that the Sages said disqualify are on his face, hands, and feet [but not defects that are invisible].

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: If his hands are spotted, he may not lift his hands. This is also taught in a baraita: hands are spotted, he may not lift his hands. His hands are curved or bent, he may not lift his hands.

Rav Asi said: A priest from Haifa or Beit She’an may not lift his hands. This is also taught : One may not allow the people of Beit She’an, nor the people of Beit Haifa, nor the people of Tivonin to pass before the ark because they pronounce alef as ayin and ayin as alef.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Shimon, son of Rabbi, If you were a Levite, you would be disqualified from the platform because your voice is thick.

Rabbi Shimon went and told his father,

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Go and say to him: When you study and reach the verse: “And I will wait upon [veḥikkiti] the Lord” (Isaiah 8:17), will you not be a maligner and a blasphemer? [Rabbi Ḥiyya was from Babylonia, was unable to differentiate between the letters ḥet and heh, and would therefore pronounce veḥikkiti as vehikkiti, which means: And I will strike.]

Rav Huna said: A priest whose eyes run with tears may not lift his hands.

But wasn’t there a certain priest with this condition in the neighborhood of Rav Huna, and he would spread his hands?

That priest was familiar in his town.

This is also taught in a baraita: One whose eyes run should not lift his hands but if he is a familiar in his town, he is permitted to do so.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands

Wasn’t there a certain priest who was blind in one eye in the neighborhood of Rabbi Yoḥanan, and he would lift his hands?

That priest was familiar in his town.

This is also taught in a baraita: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands but if he is familiar in his town, he is permitted.

Rabbi Yehuda said: One whose hands are colored should not lift his hands

It was taught in a baraita: If most of the townspeople are engaged in this occupation, [dyeing] he is permitted.

(30) One who has an deformity on his face or his hands, for example albinism, deformed [fingers], or paralyzed [fingers] should not perform the priestly blessing ("bohakniot" means a type of white lesion, and Rashi explains it means spotted (like lentils) in Old French; "akumot" means crooked; "akushot" means bent to the sides. The Ran defines: "akumot" means that his hand is bent backwards, and "akushot" means he is unable to separate his fingers) because the congregation will stare at him. And this is also the rule for one who has an deformity on his feet, in a place where they ascend to the platform without socks. And so it is if he has spittle drooling down his beard, or if his eyes tear up. And similarly, one who is blind in one of his eye should not perform the priestly blessing. However, if he is "broken in" in his city, meaning that they are familiar with him and everyone recognizes that he has this deformity, he may perform the blessing, even if he is blind in both eyes. Anyone who has stayed in the city thirty days is called "broken in in his city," but only in his city — whereas if he goes temporarily to a different city and stays there thirty days, no. Even if he did not come to live in the city to become one of the city residents, but rather to become a schoolteacher or scribe or attendant, for a year or half a year, this is considered "broken in in his city thirty days."

(30) One who has an deformity on his face or his hands, for example albinism, deformed [fingers], or paralyzed [fingers] should not perform the priestly blessing ("bohakniot" means a type of white lesion, and Rashi explains it means spotted (like lentils) in Old French; "akumot" means crooked; "akushot" means bent to the sides. The Ran defines: "akumot" means that his hand is bent backwards, and "akushot" means he is unable to separate his fingers) because the congregation will stare at him. And this is also the rule for one who has an deformity on his feet, in a place where they ascend to the platform without socks. And so it is if he has spittle drooling down his beard, or if his eyes tear up. And similarly, one who is blind in one of his eye should not perform the priestly blessing. However, if he is "broken in" in his city, meaning that they are familiar with him and everyone recognizes that he has this deformity, he may perform the blessing, even if he is blind in both eyes. Anyone who has stayed in the city thirty days is called "broken in in his city," but only in his city — whereas if he goes temporarily to a different city and stays there thirty days, no. Even if he did not come to live in the city to become one of the city residents, but rather to become a schoolteacher or scribe or attendant, for a year or half a year, this is considered "broken in in his city thirty days."

(31) If the custom of the place is for the kohanim to wrap the tallit around their faces, even if there are many deformities on his face and hands, he may perform the priestly blessing. Ram"a: This is only if his hands are inside the tallit, but if they are outside, the tallit does not help for his [deformed] hands.

(32) If his hands are the color of [istis] or [puah] (which are types of colors), he should not perform the blessing because the congregation will stare at them. But if this is the occupation of most of the city, he may perform the blessing. (And similarly, if he is "broken in in his city" he may perform the blessing.