Emor
Reflection by Yael Shy, Or HaLev Teacher
What if our `defects` are doorways to our greatest gifts?
"What if the thing about yourself that you hate the most, that you think is the most defective, was actually your greatest gift, your greatest offering in this life?
In Parshat Emor, this week's Parsha, we hear about the defects that disqualify high priests from serving in the temple. At first you might have a really horrible response to what you're reading. It's a list of defects that require the person not to go near the Holy of Holies, not to be a high priest.
But perhaps the defects are not things that just are, they're ways that we see ourselves. When we see ourselves as defective, we are not able to offer what is ours to offer.
We're not able to approach the Holy of Holies.
So rather than thinking that we're defective or wishing we could rid ourselves of certain parts, what if our anger, our anxiety, our neediness, our loneliness, what if each one of these was a doorway to our greatest gift in the world, and ways that we can then be connected to other people, to serve other people, to open our hearts to other people, and to feel our connection with the divine?"