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Parshat Emor begins with the commandments given to Bnei Yisrael regarding the Shabbat and the Yomim Tovim. The parsha ends with the commandments to light the Ner Tamid, the eternal light on the menorah and the commandments about the Lechem Hapanim, the twelve loaves of bread that are to be placed on the Shulchan. But the laws of the Ner Tamid and the Lechem Hapanim have already been detailed in Sefer Shemot.  Why repeat them here and what is their relationship to Shabbat and the Yomim Tovim?

 Rav Yonatan Grossman, of Yeshivat Har Etzion approaches an answer by first looking at the distinction between Shabbat and the Yomim Tovim. Before each holiday, we read, "These are the set times of God, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate each at its appointed time". The holidays are referred to as "sacred occasions" meaning each holiday has its own designated time or celebration on the annual calendar. For example, Pesach is on the 14th day of Nissan at night, Shavuot is on the 50th day of the Omer, Rosh Hashana is on the first day of the seventh month, Yom Kippur on the 10th day and Sukkot on the 15th.  However, when the Torah teaches us about Shabbat, it does not use the same terminology. The pasuk does not use the term b'moado or b'zmano "in their time" or "in its time". Shabbat does not have a designated time. Rather it says, "On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Shabbat of complete rest, a sacred occasion." Shabbat occurs on a different day of the month each month and each year.  Its holiness is then disconnected from the solar or lunar calendars.  The holiness of the holidays is a commentary of God's involvement in history, his engagement with the real world.  The holiness of Shabbat, on the other hand, demonstrates God's position outside history, as the creator of the world and the originator of all history. 

Rav Grossman continues by examining the Ner Tamid and the Lechem Hapanim. The interesting thing about the oil for the menorah and the Lechem Hapanim is that both are said to occur "tamid" or regularly.  As we have discussed, there are two types of holiness in the mundane or outside world:  Shabbat which is independent of the real world and testifies to the fact that there is a force outside the real world that created that world and the holidays which are dependent on the real world and testify to God's presence in our every day existence.  But there is also a third type of holiness, one which is found only in the Mishcan and the Bet Hamikdash.  In God's house, holiness is tamid. It is always present.  By bringing the laws of the Menora and the Lechem Hapanim after the laws of Shabbat and the holidays, the Torah is distinguishing between holiness in man's world and holiness in God's world.  And the point is that Jews, as God's point people on earth have a responsibility to understand both types of holiness.

It is no coincidence that this parsha is read in the time of Sephirat Haomer, the counting of the Omer. God came into the lives of the Jewish people at the time of the exodus from Egypt and the holiday of Pesach is commemorated in response.  Until the giving of the Torah, the Jews experienced only the natural type of holiness found in Shabbat and the Yomim Tovim.  But with Matan Torah, God entered the lives of the Jewish people, Tamid, constantly and his Shechina came to rest first in the Mishcan and later in the Bet Hamikdash.  By counting 50 days from Pesach to Shavuot, we are counting towards the day when God's Shechina will once again be a part of our life, Tamid. 

In our own lives, we have seen the beginnings of this Geula.  With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 which is celebrated this week on Yom Ha'Azmaut, the Rabbanut has recognized the introduction of the Tamid aspect of God's holiness into our lives here in Eretz Yisroel.  The Kotel, Kever Rachel, the Mearat Hamachpela, Tzefat and all the Mekomot Hakedusha are now with us Tamid.  Our hope and prayer is that before long, the Tamid aspect of God's holiness will permeate all aspects of our lives, and that God's holiness and man's holiness will finally become one and the same.