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Parshat Emor enumerates the various holidays that fall throughout the Jewish calendar year, as it says, “These are My fixed times, the fixed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions” (Vayikra 23:2). There is a great power God gave to the Jewish people by enabling us to be the ones to proclaim the holidays as sacred occasions.
How? According to Rav Soloveitchik, “Prior to the establishment of a fixed calendar, the days of the festivals were set through the declaration of the start of each new month by Beit Din… the Beit Din are the final arbiters in the matter, even if you inadvertently err, even if you deliberately err, even if you are misled. The Holy One, Blessed be He, removes His signet ring and gives it to the Congregation of Israel, and He becomes subject to the decision of the earthly court. The glorification of man reaches its pinnacle. The role of man in the endowment of holiness is a central theme in halakha… A Torah scroll is invested with holiness by man. A sacrifice is consecrated by man’s designation. Whether sanctity is vested in physical matter or in time, we find few instances where man is not the active participant in the establishment of holiness.” (Chumash Mesoret HaRav, Parshat Emor 23:2)
The idea that God entrusts human beings with the power to sanctify time — to declare when holiness enters the world — is both staggering and deeply empowering. Holiness is not something that simply arrives from above; it is something we help call into being. God gives us the potential, but it is our declaration, our intention, our action that actualizes it.
This isn’t just a legal mechanism; it’s a spiritual responsibility. The world doesn’t become holy on its own — it becomes holy when we choose to see it that way, to treat it that way, to elevate it. A moment in time becomes a moed, a sacred occasion, because we said so — and God listens. Not passively, but covenantally. He binds Himself to our choices, even when they’re imperfect. That is an extraordinary act of trust and a profound expression of the faith God has in His people.
It’s easy to imagine holiness as something beyond us — rare, fragile, out of reach. But Parshat Emor tells us the opposite. Holiness is close. It’s waiting to be activated. And God has handed us the key.
So the question is no longer just when the holidays fall. The deeper question is: What will we choose to make holy? A moment, a day, a word, a relationship — all of it remains ordinary until we step in and say, this matters. This is sacred. This is where God belongs.
Holiness is not found. It’s made. And we were given the power to make it.
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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