Emor

Emor (אֱמֹר—Hebrew for "speak," the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 31st weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah describes purity rules for priests (כֹּהֲנִים, Kohanim), recounts the holy days, describes the preparations for the lights and bread in the sanctuary, and tells the story of a blasphemer and his punishment. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 21:1–24:23. It has the most verses (but not the most letters or words) of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus, and is made up of 6,106 Hebrew letters, 1,614 Hebrew words, 124 verses and 215 lines in a Torah Scroll. (Parashat Vayikra has the most letters and words of any weekly Torah portion in Leviticus.)

Jews generally read it in early May, or rarely in late April. Jews also read parts of the parashah, Leviticus 22:26–23:44, as the initial Torah readings for the second day of Passover and the first and second days of Sukkot.

Readings

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or עליות, aliyot.

First reading—Leviticus 21:1–15

In the first reading, God told Moses to tell the priests the priestly laws. None were to come in contact with a dead body except for that of his closest relatives: his parent, child, brother, or virgin sister. They were not to shave any part of their heads or the side-growth of their beards or gash their flesh.