Rabbi Joseph Dana hosts classes every Friday morning at 6:45 AM at West Deal Shul.

In this class on Parashat Emor, Rabbi Dana surveys the parasha's broad topics — laws of the kohanim, korbanot, and the Jewish holidays — before focusing on a striking question raised by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in Darash Moshe: why are the laws of leket and peah, gifts for the poor, inserted in the middle of the Torah's listing of the holidays? Rabbi Feinstein establishes that Shabbat and the holidays represent two intertwined pillars of Jewish faith — Shabbat testifies that Hashem created the world, while the holidays testify that Hashem actively runs and guides the world — and that these beliefs are inseparable, each incomplete without the other. From this foundation, Rabbi Dana explains that tzedakah is placed among the holidays because giving charity is the direct expression of the belief that Hashem is the true provider of all parnasah, making charity not a sacrifice of one's own wealth but a return of what God has already given. Rashi and Chazal further connect this theme by teaching that one who properly gives matanot aniyim is credited as though he built the Beit HaMikdash and offered korbanot, rooted in Yeshaya's prophecy that the Jewish people will return to Zion through tzedakah. The class concludes with the practical message that internalizing Hashem's role as provider — expressed through joyful and faithful giving — is both an act of deep emunah and a step toward the ultimate redemption.

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(0:00) Parashat Emor Overview

(1:14) Rav Moshe Feinstein: Darash Moshe

(2:46) Why Is Tzedakah Mid-Holidays?

(3:28) Shabbat Listed Among Holidays

(4:44) Shabbat = Belief in Creation

(5:33) Holidays = Hashem Runs the World

(6:52) Half-Belief Is No Belief

(8:38) Tzedakah and Emunah Are Linked

(10:58) The Store Rental Analogy

(13:13) Bitachon and Parnasah

(17:44) Rashi: Leket Among the Holidays

(20:16) Tzedakah = Building the Mikdash

(21:53) Veshavehah Besedakah

(23:18) Tzedakah as a Korban

(24:00) Summary and Conclusion

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