Originally published May 16, 2024
Our weekly Torah portion, Emor, opens with a set of instructions to the priests regarding how to prevent becoming impure through physical contact with a dead body. If you’ve been in a traditional Jewish funeral home, you may have seen a separate space for funeral attendees and mourners who are kohanim, of the priestly class – a set apart room in which they can see and hear the funeral, without being in the same space as the dead. The first verse of our Torah portion repeats three times a variation of the word Emor, from the Hebrew root, “to say.”
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֱמֹ֥ר אֶל־הַכֹּהֲ
יהוה said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin…(Leviticus 21:1)
Why this repetition? Rashi, the medieval French commentator, questions the redundancy of the latter two uses of the verb, and explains that this verb is repeated in order to teach that it is not only the priests themselves who must be mindful about the impurities from contact with the dead, but also their children, the next generation. Part of the priestly responsibility is to ensure that their children are careful, to preserve these rites for the future.
The topic of our young people and the next generation of the Jewish community has always been a spicy one. For decades, Jewish thinkers, rabbis, and demographers have expressed worries about “Jewish continuity.” At this time in particular, as our attention is turned to university campuses throughout North America and around the world. Our Jewish student leaders, the next generation of our community, have acted with stunning grace, perseverance, and inner strength, in response to their campuses turning into hostile battlegrounds, and competing demands from the broader Jewish community. The kids are alright!
This week, as you may have already seen, an encampment was set up at the University of Waterloo. I spoke with Jessie Greenspan, Hillel Director at Waterloo and Laurier shortly after, and she reports that while most of Hillel’s students have left campus for the summer holiday, those that do remain feel uncomfortable and unsafe. Hillel’s Instagram notes that, “Since Monday, the encampment has featured hateful rhetoric and slogans, contributing to a climate where Jewish students, staff and faculty often feel fearful and unwelcome on campus.” I asked Jessie how we as a community can support the students right now, and the number one request she had for us was to leave the protestors alone. Please do not engage with them, or give any more oxygen to their hate. If you are connected to the campus community as faculty, staff, or alumni, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me – I’m always glad to talk, and I can connect directly with Jessie if it’s helpful.
We have a responsibility to our next generation – to give them space to lead, to listen to their stories and to their experiences, and to support them in creating campus spaces where they feel safe to learn, study, and work.
