Weekly Message

30 April 2026

This week’s parashah, Emor, teaches about the zevah todah, the sacrificial offering of gratitude, which was shared with God at times of celebration. The Torah says: “It shall be eaten on that very day [the day on which we offer it]. You shall not leave any of it to tomorrow. I am YHWH.”

Why is the commandment to eat that sacrificial offering on the same day followed by the declaration “I am YHWH”?

To be grateful, in the deepest sense, is to feel the fullness of the moment. It is to be present here and now without dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Such moments of deep presence are also moments of spiritual openness and insight, when we encounter the divine. The divine name YHWH (which comes from the Hebrew root “to be”) can be understood to mean “the ever-present One, the One who is right now.” At times when we are truly present, we meet the One who is as well.

Shabbat, our day of wholeness, is a time, not to become, but just to be. In doing so, we come into the presence of the One whose name is “Being.”