We make the calendar – Emor
This week’s reading enumerates the festivals of the year, setting out the details of how to observe each one. We hear about Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, about Pesach, Shavu’ot and Sukkot – and about Shabbat.
But there is a difference between Shabbat and the other days. It is not only that Shabbat comes weekly whilst the others fall once a year, but Shabbat is fixed by God and comes automatically every seven days, whereas the festivals depend on our own involvement.
In ancient times the festivals depended on the Sanhedrin, after hearing witnesses, proclaiming the new moon. Once you knew it was Rosh Chodesh you could calculate, say, the 15th of Nisan as Pesach. Human involvement and participation were indispensable in establishing the festivals.
This is a major illustration of the principle that man and God need each other and are partners in running the universe.
Sometimes something seems to have gone wrong in the world. We tend to blame God. “Why doesn’t God do something about it?” is our cry. We are right, but not completely so. Our contribution is needed too, not only God’s. Maybe we humans should have done more to cleanse and beautify the world, to eradicate evil and foster righteousness. If we left everything to God, it would be an abdication.
Of course, if we left nothing to God, it would also be foolish, an act of arrogance and conceit. Judaism believes that God and man are partners, and both have to pull their weight.
