Parshas Emor

This week's sidra is Parshas Emor, which literally means "speak", and comes from the first verse which reads "And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: Let none [of you] defile himself for a dead person among his people." This begins the enumeration of a series of laws regarding the maintaining of the purity of the kohanim, the priests, specifically with regard to mourning practices, permitted and forbidden marriages, and the requirement that no physically deformed kohain (i.e. disproportional limbs, cleft-lip, deaf, blind, etc.) may serve in the Temple. The parsha also includes a recap of the three major pilgrimage festivals: Pesach, Shavuot (coming up in just a few weeks), and Rosh Hashana-Yom Kippur-Succoth.
Among the commandments given regarding the kohanim in this sidra, they are split into two broad categories: commandments that Moshe should give to the kohanim that they should teach their children (in other words, that they must keep for themselves), and those that Moshe should give to the general community that they should impose upon the kohanim, even by force if necessary. Specifically, Hashem made the kohanim responsible for keeping the morning practices and the laws of permitted/forbidden marriages, while the Beit Din (the High Court) had the responsibility to ensure that only kosher kohanim (those without any physical blemish) served in the Temple. Since the destruction of the Temple these laws entrusted to the High Court no longer factor in the life of a kohan, however, still to this day a kohan may not enter a cemetary and may not marry, for example, a divorcee. Therefore, we see that those laws entrusted to the kohanim to keep for themselves, still hold in effect today, while those given the High Court no longer do.
In general, these two categories of laws for the kohanim, correspond to two aspects of the the kohan: (1) The essential and simple holiness (or separateness) of the kohan that he takes as an inheritance from his father and which he will keep for himself and his children; and (2) the kohan's duty to serve in the Temple, which depends both on the existence of the Temple, and the guidance of the rest of the nation of Israel. Now we can understand why the laws given to the kohanim themselves (re: mourning and marriage) still hold in effect today. Since these laws relate to the essential being of the kohan (as opposed to the service of the kohan) he can continue to keep them, even when the Temple does not stand. The second aspect of the kohan, however, that of his service in the Temple, depends on external factors, even to the point that it can seemingly become obsolete.
On a personal level we can also take instruction from this portion in the Torah. The Rebbe teaches that each person has a personal temple inside of him in which he must serve as the High Priest. Therefore, in each person's soul he also posses these two aspects: (1) as essential aspect that cannot be nullified, and (2) an external, or superficial, aspect which depends on circumstances. Even if his or her personal Temple lays in ruins, we must all know that essentially we still retain our unique, G-d given holiness and that we always have the power to move from strength to strength despite any obstacles that may appear to stand in our way. I would like to give us all a blessing that we should always be aware of this inner strength we have and that we should continue to grow and increase in tzedakah and good deeds, as we move towards a more perfect world.