Saranac Synagogue News: Shabbos Emor (May 2, 2026 /14-15 Iyar, 5786)
David K
Shalom Aleichem!
B"H we made our numbers this week and iy"H we WILL be having services!
This Shabbos we have a short time window for minyan. Let’s start on time!
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FRIDAY:
Candle lighting: 7:58 PM Sunset: 8:16 PM.
Count Omer 30.
SATURDAY:
Services begin: 10 AM. Please be on time! Let’s have a minyan through all the tefillos .
Zeman Shema: 9:40 AM Say Shema on time before services.
Zeman Tefilah: 10:51 AM.
Mincha: Pirkei Avos - Chapter 4.
Chatzos: 1:12 PM. (To avoid fasting past Chatzos on Shabbos, We recommend coffee or a snack before davening.)
Sunset: 8:17 PM.
Shabbos ends: Shul tradition: 9:18 PM. 42 min.: 9 PM. 72 min.: 9:30 PM.
Count Omer 31.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This week’s drash: “Shattering Education Myths”
Lag B’Omer starts Monday night. There will be many festivities around town. Watch for separate email.
Cutting/trimming hair, and weddings permitted. Many people also drop restrictions on live music. and on purchases that merit “Shecheyanu,” e.g., new clothes.
(If you started the period’s restrictions in Iyar, then restrictions resume until 3 days before Shavuot.)
Everyone is invited to join us for kiddush, and we are grateful for our sponsors!
The Parshah in a Nutshell
Emor
Leviticus 21:1–24:23
The Torah section of Emor (“Speak”) begins with the special laws pertaining to the kohanim (“priests”), the kohen gadol (“high priest”), and the Temple service: A kohen may not become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, save on the occasion of the death of a close relative. A kohen may not marry a divorcee, or a woman with a promiscuous past; a kohen gadol can marry only a virgin. A kohen with a physical deformity cannot serve in the Holy Temple, nor can a deformed animal be brought as an offering.
A newborn calf, lamb or kid must be left with its mother for seven days before being eligible for an offering; one may not slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The second part of Emor lists the annual Callings of Holiness—the festivals of the Jewish calendar: the weekly Shabbat; the bringing of the Passover offering on 14 Nissan; the seven-day Passover festival beginning on 15 Nissan; the bringing of the Omer offering from the first barley harvest on the second day of Passover, and the commencement, on that day, of the 49-day Counting of the Omer, culminating in the festival of Shavuot on the fiftieth day; a “remembrance of shofar blowing” on 1 Tishrei; a solemn fast day on 10 Tishrei; the Sukkot festival—during which we are to dwell in huts for seven days and take the “Four Kinds”—beginning on 15 Tishrei; and the immediately following holiday of the “eighth day” of Sukkot (Shemini Atzeret).
Next the Torah discusses the lighting of the menorah in the Temple, and the showbread; (lechem hapanim) placed weekly on the table there.
Emor concludes with the incident of a man executed for blasphemy, and the penalties for murder (death) and for injuring one’s fellow or destroying his property (monetary compensation).
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The Saranac Synagogue • Congregation Achei Tmimim • 85 Saranac Ave • Buffalo, NY 14216
www.saranacsynagogue.org • www.facebook.com/saranacsynagogue