Parsha Pick-Me-Up Yitzchak Sprung

Our verse functions as a sort of warning: don’t turn to false gods, since, in the end, you may come to think that they are real.

Notably, this is not the usual uniform of the High Priest, clothed generally in gold, jewels, and wool. Rashi explains that the gold, reminiscent as it was of the sin of the golden calf, would have been problematic.

Some stupendous humility may be called for in such a case. Perhaps the teacher of all of the priests is not a priest. Then, that teacher will never be able to declare tzara’at, though his students could. A surprising lesson is contained here.
Listen to the Parsha Pick-Me-Up to learn more.

"If a man does well, they say to him, you preceded the angels; if he does not, they say to him: (in creation) the fly preceded you, the gnat preceded you, the snail preceded you." - Reish Lakish
But what does this have to do with the laws of Kashrut and ritual purity?

"I am torn within, I cry without end. I do not sleep.... Maybe Hashem has finally decided that we are no longer His chosen people?"
Words and worries from the past and present. As always, the parsha comes to speak to our moment.

Sources:
Rabbi Yuval Sherlow, Shu’’t HaHitnatkut p. 139
Lev. 9:23 with Rashi
Jer. chap. 2 with Rashi.

Do we need to earn our place in this world? We find ourselves here, and no one asked us whether we were interested. Yet, once we are here, God makes demands of us.
Our parasha contains the beginning of a meditation on this problem.
Sources: Lev. 6:10, Malachi 1:10, Tosefta Demai 2:8.