Emor D'var Torah: Delivered by Stuart Kaufman, May 2nd, 2026

Shabbat Shalom. We have come a long way in the Torah year since last October

and the powerful narrative of the journeys of Bnei Yisrael through Egypt and the

Red Sea and past Mount Sinai into the desert. We have officially passed the half-

way point in the Torah scroll, but the drama now seems to come to a long halt. It

stalls in the book of Vayikra and in parshiyot like today’s Emor. And I have to confess that for most of life, when we arrived at Emor and the instruction manual

for Kohanim and maintaining their purity or for intentional gatherings for temple

sacrifices, the treatment of disabilities and blasphemers, my mind would start to

wander. For decades, this parshiyah was hard to engage with, but very recently I

finally got it. At its core, the book of VaYikrah is more than about the Kohanim and

burnt offerings, it is about us and how we relate to each other to sanctify HaShem’s

name, for Kiddush hashem. So how did I find the connection and uncovered the

meaning? I found it in a very unexpected place.

In that vein, let me first pose a question: Which country for the last nine

consecutive years has been cited by its citizens as the world’s happiest country? As a hint, it is not the United States, which ranked 47th in the world. It is Finland, and

today a Finnish and Jewish history lesson will offer a powerful connection to our

Torah portion.

But first a few words of background about Finland, which sits on the Baltic sea with

the other Scandinavian countries to the west and Russia and Leningrad to the east.

Until 1700s, Finland was a Lutheran Swedish territory with no Jewish presence.

Through territorial treaties, Finland became a Russian possession and was

gradually settled by Jewish traders and former Jewish Russian soldiers. Finland

finally won independence from Russia in 1918 and the land settlements of WW1,

but the two countries remained adversaries following a difficult civil war period.

By then there were 2000 Jews in a country of 3 million who had entered all facets

of life in Finland, including the professions and the army. Jews were granted full

citizenship and the right to practice their religion and to be part of the Finnish

community. And major cities in Finland had thriving synagogues. It is fair to say

that, while Jews may not have been embraced in all sectors of Finnish society, they

were accepted as full citizens of Finland.

The euphoria of the new republic was short lived, and lasted less than 20 years,

and took a dark turn in 1939 when Stalin decided to attack and regain Finland and

sent hundreds of thousand of troops over the border. The Finns, who were skilled

winter warriors and guerrilla fighters and were practically invisible in white winter

uniforms, famously defeated and pushed back the much larger Soviet army in the

first Winter War. That war continued back and forth until a truce that allowed Russia to hold the eastern section of Finland. Finland remained determined to regain its territory and relaunched an attack with an army that included 300 Jews who served faithfully in the Finnish army under Marshall Karl Mannerheim. But Finland was broke, and had limited amounts of food or ammunition and needed help, and no Allied country, including either the US or Britain, was willing to commit resources to Finland’s struggle against Russia. So who should step in in 1941 to offer assistance to Finland? Not the US or England: Nazi Germany.

In 1941, the Nazi plan to conquer Russia required a land route to besiege

Leningrad. German SS leader Heinrich Himmler offered Nazi assistance, food and

resources to Finland if Finland would allow the Nazi army to march through Finland

on the way to Leningrad. The Finns accepted the offer and saw a way to march as

a co- belligerent with Germany against a common enemy to reclaim Finnish

territory. Himmler had one request: Give me your Jews so I can take care of your

Jewish problem. Mannerheim’s response was an emphatic, ‘we have no Jewish

problem’; Jews serve bravely in the Finnish army, and as long as Jews are in my

army, I will protect all of them’. Himmler backed off, and Finland remained one of

the few countries that protected its Jews and stood up to the Germans during the

war. So in 1942 the German and Finnish armies marched in parallel towards

Russia 1 mile apart. During the march, Jewish soldiers conducted Shabbat

services in portable field tents and were witnessed by Nazi soldiers. Jewish Finns

served in the medical and nursing corps and treated hundreds of wounded Nazi

soldiers. Three Jews were even offered the German Iron Cross for their bravery, an

honor they emphatically declined without incident. To underscore his support for his Jewish soldiers during the war, General Mannerheim attended a service at the

Helsinki synagogue in 1943 to honor the Jewish war dead. (Pictures).

In time, Finland regained its eastern territory while Germany proceeded to lay siege

to Leningrad. The siege lasted well over one year but was unsuccessful and a

military disaster.The Nazis eventually retreated and, with changing alliances,

Finland reached a peace agreement with Russia in 1944 and promptly declared

war on Germany and chased the Germans out of Finland. Some of the disputed

territory was awarded to Finland in the post-war treaties, and even Stalin felt that

the Finns were too much trouble to incorporate in the Soviet sphere and largely left

them alone.

In 1948, Finnish Jewish war veterans traveled to Palestine to fight in the 1948 war

of Independence. During their interviews, they were asked in Yiddish (neither

Finns nor Israels had a common language other than Yiddish) “Vos hat du

getocht?” What were you thinking fighting side by side with a country that had

murdered millions of Jews?” One response was from Max Jacobsen, who served

as the first Finnish ambassador to the United Nations. He had two answers: 1. We

had some idea of what was going on, but we were Finns first; Finland protected us

and granted us full citizenship. We felt that if our country required us to join their

struggle, we would follow the law and expectations of the country that gave us a

home, a kind of Dina d’Malchuta Dina (we follow the law and customs of the

country that has adopted us) 2. We wanted to show our country and Finnish

neighbors that we (who were all descended from Russians) were willing to give our

lives for Finland against Russia. We wanted to earn their respect and tolerance and

acceptance and thus allow the Jewish community to survive.

When Finns are interviewed today about what they are the most happy about,

(including the approximately 2000 remaining Jews in a country of 5 million) their

answer is not the beautiful outdoors or social welfare state or the saunas or world-

class orchestra conductors. Their first answer is the importance of “belonging to a

community”. And that my friends brings us full circle to the message of Parshiyat

Emor that I finally got. We are a communal religion. Our prayers are collective, not

singular. The first words of our prayers are in the plural: think of aleinu, ashamnu,

anachnu, avinu. We carry out the mitzvoth from Emor, the intentional gatherings in

time and space, in each other’s presence. And like the Jewish Finns in WW2, with

the continuity of community, we survive as a people and might even have to make

difficult choices for the sake of community and continuity. While it is fine to cultivate our own personal relationship with HaShem, the message of Emor is that it is not enough.The sanctification of HaShem’s name and our continuity comes in the good that we can do together for and with each other, as a community, in each other’s presence.

Shabbat Shalom