By Rabbi David Polsky
Parashat Emor speaks about the Jewish holidays. Before delineating them, the Torah states: “These are the festivals of God that you will proclaim to be holy times; they are My festivals” (Leviticus 23:2). The verse appears to repeat the idea that they are God’s festivals at the end of the verse. What is the need for such repetition? According to the medieval biblical commentator Seforno, the latter two thirds of the verse come to teach us an important lesson about how to observe the Jewish holidays. If we “proclaim” these days “to be holy times” by using these days to worship God, “they are My festivals.” If, on the other hand, we approach them as merely days to take off from work and eat, they are not God’s festivals but ours. Only letting God into these appointed times makes them “My festivals.”