פָּרָשַׁת אֱמֹר

Parshat Emor tells of holiness in those who serve Hashem, in the offerings they bring, and in the times of the year. It opens with the kohanim (priests): a kohen does not become tamei (ritually impure) for the dead except for his closest relatives, does not marry a divorced woman, and is treated as holy by the people; the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) does not become tamei even for his father or mother, and marries only a virgin. A kohen with a physical blemish does not serve at the altar, though he still eats from the offerings, and a tamei kohen eats the kodashim (holy offerings) only after he immerses and the sun sets (haarev hashemesh). The offerings must be tamim (without blemish); a newborn animal waits until the eighth day, a mother and its young are not slaughtered on one day, and Bnei Yisrael (the children of Yisrael) must not profane Hashem's name but sanctify it.

Then the moadim (appointed festivals) of Hashem through the year: Shabbat; Pesach and the seven days of matzah; the Omer and the count of seven weeks to Shavuot; Rosh Hashanah, the day of the shofar; Yom Kippur, the day of fasting and atonement; and Sukkot, with the four species, the sukkah, and the eighth day, Shemini Atzeret. Next come the pure olive oil for the Menorah's continual light and the twelve loaves of the lechem hapanim (the bread in the Mishkan), set on the Shulchan every Shabbat. The parsha ends with the man who cursed using Hashem's name and was stoned, and the laws of one who kills or injures another — one law for the convert and the citizen alike.

Vayikra 22:26–23:44 is read on the first day of Sukkot (outside Israel, also on the second day) and on the second day of Pesach (outside Israel, the second Yom Tov day).