Emor - 5774

Parshat Emor outlines the “fixed times” of the year – the sacred festivals of the Jewish people.  It tells us to count the seven weeks of seven days between Pesach and Shavuot.  This is the Counting of the Omer, the season in which we currently find ourselves.

The counting concludes with “an offering of new grain to YHVH” (Leviticus 23:16).  God is, after all, the source of the bounty.  Then, seven verses later, we are taught that “when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger:  I YHVH am your God” (Leviticus 23:22).

A share of our produce goes to God; another share goes to the poor and the stranger.

A widow once told me that her husband’s motto had been “never take everything.”  In grocery stores, he always left a box or two of an item behind because the next customer might need it more than he.  It’s a virtue that’s basic and profound, but seemingly forgotten: leave something for someone else.

American restaurants serve portions that would feed a family elsewhere.  We tear up the earth to extract oil and metal, and tear down the rainforest to graze cattle.  We speak so loudly on our cell phones that others can’t converse.  We don’t let other drivers merge into our lane.  We expect others’ schedules to conform to our own, and curse them when they don’t.

Whether it’s a product at a store, the earth’s resources, space on the bus or someone else’s time, be considerate enough not to drain all the stock.  Instead, leave enough for others to have a share, and for the supply to be replenished.  In the words of Bernard Etzine, “never take everything.”