From the moment we began reading about the building of the Mishkan, we have been immersed in a pursuit of orderliness. That is the primary fascination of the Priestly strand of the Torah, and it continues to dominate this week’s Torah portion, Emor. Our portion can be divided into three units. The first two are laws governing the priesthood–where maintaining order is critical–and the organization of sacred time, the calendar of festivals. Then, at the end of the parshah, we get miscellaneous laws, most notably how to deal with blasphemy. Even the seemingly haphazard collection in this last section is about maintaining order, for any blasphemous utterance of God’s name threatens the delicate balance between heaven and earth.
