Parashat Emor: Scavenger Hunt
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Devash: Hadar’s Weekly Parashah Magazine for Children and Families

Parashah Scavenger Hunt שְׁאֵלוֹת הַשָּׁבוּעַ

Welcome to Devash's Parashah Scavenger Hunt for Parashat Emor!
  1. A כֹּהֵן (kohen, priest) is only allowed to be involved in the burial of very close relatives. Which ones does the Torah mention? Look for the answer in Aliyah #1 (Vayikra 21:1-15)
  2. What is the word used to describe someone who is not a kohen? Look for the answer in Aliyah #2 (Vayikra 21:16-22:16)
  3. What is the earliest day of its life that a lamb can be offered as a קָרְבָּן (korban, sacrifice)? Look for the answer in Aliyah #3 (Vayikra 22:17-33)
  4. After seven weeks of counting, how many animals are brought as sacrifices on the 50th day? Look for the answer in Aliyah #4 (Vayikra 23:1-22)
  5. What instructions does the Torah give for what to do, and not do, on יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים (Yom Ha-Kippurim)? Look for the answer in Aliyah #5 (Vayikra 23:23-32)
  6. Why does the Torah say we should live in סֻכּוֹת (sukkot) for a week each year? Look for the answer in Aliyah #6 (Vayikra 23:33-44)
  7. How many חַלּוֹת (hallot, loaves of bread) had to be baked each week in the mishkan? Look for the answer in Aliyah #7 (Vayikra 24:1-23)
  8. According to the Torah, whom can the כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל (kohen gadol, High Priest) help bury?
  9. Which of the words that we use today for the four species we wave on Sukkot—לוּלָב (lulav), אֶתְרוֹג (etrog), הָדָס (hadas), and עֲרָבָה (aravah)—does the Torah use to describe them?
  10. Which days are referred to as a שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) in our parashah? What’s called שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbat shabbaton)? What’s called מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ (mikra kodesh, holy occasion)?
Scroll down to see the answers!
Answers: 
  1. Parents, kids, brother, unmarried sister (21:2-3); the kohen’s wife is not explicitly mentioned, but our Sages thought she was covered by the otherwise extra phrase כִּי אִם־לִשְׁאֵרוֹ הַקָּרֹב אֵלָיו (the relative who is very close to you)
  2. זָר (zar, stranger) (22:10,12,13)
  3. The eighth day (22:27)
  4. 13 (7 lambs + 1 bull + 2 rams as olot + 1 goat as a hattat + 2 lambs as shelamim) (23:18-19)
  5. וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת־ נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם… וְכָל־מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ (afflict yourself…and do not do any melakhah/work; 23:27-28)
  6. So that later generations will understand that God housed Benei Yisrael in sukkot when they left Egypt (23:42-43)
  7. 12 (24:5)
  8. No one, not even his parents (21:10-11)! But the Sifra, an early midrash on Sefer Vayikra, says that even though the kohen gadol does not bury any of his relatives, if someone needed to be buried and no one else was taking care of it, this is called a מֵת מִצְוָה (met mitzvah), and it’s such a big mitzvah to help that even the kohen gadol could do it.
  9. Only aravah, in the phrase עַרְבֵי־נָחַל (arvei nahal, 23:40); all the others have totally different names!
  10. Shabbaton: Three total—יוֹם זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה(the day of memory with shofar), the first day of the seventh month (what we know as Rosh Hashanah, 23:24); days one and eight starting from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the beginning of חַג יהוה (the holiday of God, days we know as Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, 23:39) Shabbat shabbaton: Two total—Shabbat (23:3); Yom Ha-Kippurim, the tenth day of the seventh month (23:32) Mikra kodesh: Seven total—Shabbat (23:3); the first and seventh days of חַג הַמַּצּוֹת (the matzah holiday, what we know as Pesah, 23:7-8); the day after seven weeks of counting (what we know as Shavuot, 23:21); the day of memory with shofar (Rosh Hashanah) (23:24); Yom Ha-Kippurim (23:27); days one and eight starting from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the beginning of חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת (Hag Ha-Sukkot, 23:34-36)