Picture it: you're Moses.
You are standing in front of all these people,
the Israelites, hundreds and thousands
and what probably feels
like zillions of people.
Your job – and it is no small one –
is to give the Israelites their laws,
what the Torah tells them to do,
how to live as Jews in the world.
And, see, you can't text it, or tweet it,
or blog about it.
You can't make a Youtube video of it,
though, set to music,
that would be kind of awesome.
So, nu, what are you left with?
How are you going to communicate
all these complicated rules
and laws and guidelines
to the zillions of people before you?
"Ahem," God taps you on the shoulder.
"Moses! Emor! Speak."
Well, you heard what God said.
Seems you gotta clear your throat
'cause you have a whole lot of talking to do
Suddenly, though,
maybe you're kind of excited.
See, it's like, the Israelites,
they're just forming this new community,
this new way of life.
And your job right now is to tell them
about all the holidays they get to celebrate!
Admit it, there is something
way cool about that.
It may be rules,
but it's rules that are more interesting
than, say, "Income Taxes for Dummies."
It's more like,
"Look! Here are all the super-cool festivals
you get to celebrate!
Mark your calendars, your year
is about to get a whole lot more interesting."
For example, you get to tell the people
about Passover.
For seven days,
they'll eat only unleavened bread,
AKA matzah.
For seven days they'll do no work. No work!
Also, we now know,
Passover can mean macaroons!
But that's kind of cheating,
since at the time of this speech,
they probably weren't invented yet.
Anyway, another one.
Sukkot, the Festival of Huts.
For seven days,
you will live in a leaf-covered booth.
You – once again – must not do any work!
And you should rejoice before God –
get this, guys – with a bouquet
of palm branches, myrtle branches,
willow leaves, and a citrus fruit.
You shake it around
in what almost looks like a dance,
as a part of celebrating this holiday,
this Sukkot.
The booths are to remind you and your kids
and your kids' kids and your kids' kids' kids
that the Israelites lived in booths
when God brought them out of slavery
in the land of Egypt.
And so on and so on.
Moses is given a number of holidays
to describe to the Israelites.
And picture this: you're Moses,
and you're talking and the people
are actually getting excited
about these holidays!
Of course, he doesn't get off that easy.
The responsibility for reciting
an entire code of law
to what seems like a bazillion people
is a big and a serious one,
and it's not all fun and holidays.
Like, picture you're Moses
and you have to stand in front of the people
and go over all the laws for the high priests –
the kohanim – in the Temple.
And there are a LOT of them, too.
A priest can't come in contact with the dead,
he can't marry a divorcee,
and he has to keep his hair cut uber-short.
Or, picture having to tell the people about that capital punishment
that is to be applied to a blasphemer,
someone who takes God's name in vain.
Yikes. Pretty stressful, high-stakes stuff.
So, really, Emor may seem
like it's just about a whole lotta talking,
but it's not lipservice.
It's about Moses talking about festivals
and how they work,
about punishment and reward,
and about building community.
Your zillions of Israelite listeners
probably applauded
when you were done speaking,
because they knew that even though
it seemed a bit overwhelming,
they had the exciting project
of becoming the Jewish people
ahead of them, and that's a life adventure
you kind of really wouldn't
want to miss out on.
Producer: Sarah Lefton
Animation Director: Nick Fox-Gieg
Animation: Liesje Kraai
Editorial Director: Matthue Roth
Theme Music: Tim Cosgrove
Written and Narrated by Temim Fruchter
Sound Recording: Dugans