Parshat Emor – Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald

At the heart of our parsha, parshat Emor, is "parshat HaMo'adim" (times, seasons) which elaborates on the holidays. "And G-d said to Moshe, speak to Bnei Israel and say to them, these are G-d's times which you will call holy times, these are My times." (Vayikra 23:1) The first "time" mentioned is Shabbat. The command regarding the Mo'adim appears in part in the book of Shemot (23:14 and 34:18) and again in the books of Bamidbar and Devarim.
The Sages (in Sifrei Devarim Re'eh 127) enlighten us as to the purpose of the repetition of parshat HaMo'adim: "Parshat HaMo'adim is mentioned in three places: in Torat Cohanim (Vayikra) for the purpose of (telling) their order. In Chumash HaPekudim (Bamidbar, ch. 28-29) for the purpose of the sacrifices (which are detailed for the holidays, as well as for every day, Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh). And in Mishneh Torah (Devarim ch. 16) because of the Ibur (adding a second month of Adar when necessary for the holidays to come out in their proper seasons)." So our parsha "comes to set the order of the festivals over the cycle of the year." (Rabbi S.R. Hirsh) Its main innovation is the order of the "times" over the year and showing them as one cyclical whole, and this includes the Shabbat. Additionally, it adds the times and laws of the festivals of Shavuot and Succot, and includes, for the first time in parshat HaMo'adim, Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.
What can we learn from this? And "what is the reason for Shabbat (to appear) among the Mo'adim?" (Rashi)
We can see that at the foundation of Torat HaMo'adim there is a fundamental, strategic concept which is one of the secrets of the eternal spiritual existence of Am Israel.
Am Israel and its Torah are different from all other nations and their beliefs. At the foundation of our Torah and our faith stands the goal of connecting between the worlds, and the axiom that the Torah's place is in the practical world, and that it is not an escape from life. However, the Torah and the ruach (spirit) come from a high world of holiness and lofty values, and they are fundamentally different from practical life which functions in a world of basic needs and interests. The polarity between these worlds creates tension and friction as each tries to gain supremacy over the other. The Torah obligates us to integrate both worlds by means of the mitzvot – which contain both spiritual and practical, real-life elements. Nevertheless, we face a complicated challenge as a result of the contact with the practical world, a challenge which demands a strategy of systematic, periodic reinforcement of our spiritual world, and prevents the practical world from eroding it.
Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (The Kuzari 3,8) specifies four cycles which reinforce our spiritual strength and prevent it from being worn down: the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cycles. The daily cycle includes three prayers which divide up the day, create a "time-out" from practical action and restore spirituality before the next "period": "The further (we get) from the time of the (last) prayer, the gloomier the soul becomes from the aggravations the world brings upon it…however, at the time of prayer, a man purifies his soul from everything that happened to it in the meantime and prepares himself for the future." (Of course there is also an obligation to set times for Torah study every day.) In the weekly cycle is the Shabbat: "Notwithstanding this order, a week cannot go by without the body and soul being damaged by the accumulation of unpurified residue which cannot possibly be cleansed or eradicated except by perseverance in serving G-d for a full day, in addition to giving rest to the body. This way the body restores on Shabbat what it lost over the six weekdays and prepares itself for the future." In the monthly cycle, the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh): "And the Chassid (pious one) again prepares himself for the monthly recovery on Rosh Chodesh which is 'the time of atonement for all their generations.' "( Mussaf prayer of Rosh Chodesh) In the yearly cycle, the Mo'adim: "And again, (he) will prepare himself for the three festivals." The climax of the cycle of the Mo'adim is Yom Kippur: On this day he will be purified from all the transgression that he has sinned in the past, and will make up all that he has been deficient in on Shabbatot and New Moons…"
The cyclical arrangement of time (Mo'adim) generates mitzvot "that the hour necessitates" and creates a comprehensive strategic system for spiritual empowerment and strengthening in the world of action. But this spiritual strengthening doesn't only preserve the spirit; it also strengthens, by means of that spirit, the pure motivation for the development of the practical world. Maybe this explains the words of the Sages (Talmud Yerushalmi, Shabbat 15,3): "The Shabbatot and festivals weren't given except for (Israel) to occupy themselves in Divrei Torah." Not just in the sense of actual learning, but also in that of keeping the Torah and the spirit according to the essence of the Mo'adim and the "break" from the secular world.
Even the secular Zionist "Ahad Ha'am" understood this: "You don't have to be Zionist or religious to recognize the value of the Shabbat…whoever feels in his heart a true connection to the life of the nation over all the generations, even if he does not believe in the World to Come or the State of the Jews, he cannot possibly imagine a situation of Am Israel without 'The Queen, Shabbat.' It can be said, without any exaggeration, that more than Israel kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat kept them. And without her (the Shabbat), who returned their 'souls' to them and renewed the life of their spirits every week, the tribulations of the weekdays would have pulled them further and further down, until they would have reached the bottom level of materialism and ethical and intellectual lowliness. Therefore there is certainly no need to be a Zionist in order to feel the glory of the historic holiness…of this "excellent gift." ("Hashalach" Sivan תרנ"ח -1898)