Voices of WRJ: Parashat Emor

by Nicole Villalpando For almost two years, I have had the pleasure of studying Parashat Emor with my son Ben, who will become a Bar Mitzvah tomorrow. There are a lot of things that are fascinating about this portion, including the guidelines for holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. But the part that has fascinated Ben the most has been what can disqualify a man—and yes, they were all men—from becoming a priest and whether he could be a priest. The parashah says, “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; no man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; 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.” Of course, he has been fixated on the phrase “crushed testes.” He is, after all, 13 years old. This portion has Ben wondering if he, himself, would be considered good enough for the priesthood or another modern lofty profession. He even made a leap between the rules for priesthood and the racial purity sought by the Nazis. Why, he wondered, did the Israelites need to be so picky about who could be a priest and who could not? In our sisterhoods, are we, too, looking for priests, when we, ourselves, are not qualified for the priesthood? When we are on the nominating committee are we looking for perfection rather than women who can grow into positions? Are we so strict with job descriptions that we don’t allow women to make jobs their own? In our membership, are we only attracting a certain kind of women rather than being inclusive to all women in our synagogue, whether they are Jewish or not, Millennials or Baby Boomers, married or single, parents or childless, gay or straight? Can we be welcoming to women in our community who are easy targets of discrimination: the mentally ill, the blind or deaf, those in wheelchairs or using canes, or even the eccentric? Often it’s easy, even comfortable to hang around women just like ourselves, to recruit women just like ourselves, but if the Israelites had only had a community of priests, who would be the farmers or the warriors, the shepherds or the builders? Who would be the artists, the teachers, the poets and the dreamers? A living, breathing sisterhood is one that is full of women not like ourselves. Women that invite lively discussions and creative programming. Women that make us a true community, not an exclusive society. It’s a caring place where we can see each other for who we are, not who we “should” be. May we create a sisterhood for all women. Cain yehi ratzon, May this be God’s will. Amen. Nicole Villalpando is WRJ Southwest District President, Congregation Beth Israel Judaica Shop Manager and Congregation Beth Israel Sisterhood Membership Vice President.