Bar & Bat Mitzvah · Parent Speech Guide · Leviticus

The Parent Speech for Parashat Emor

If your child is reading Emor, the speech you give that morning shouldn't be a book report on the portion — it should be about them, with the parsha giving your words weight. Emor hands a parent three honest ways in: words shape the world, sanctifying time, held to a higher standard.

What happens in Parashat Emor

Standards for the priests, the calendar of sacred festivals, and the weight of words — emor means 'say.'

1. Words shape the world

Emor — say — the parsha opens and closes on speech, and tradition piles meaning onto how leaders must speak.

The story to findHow does your child speak — the honesty, encouragement, or wit that people remember?

2. Sanctifying time

The full festival calendar is laid out here — Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, the Days of Awe, Sukkot. Judaism builds cathedrals out of time.

The story to findWhich Jewish moments does your child love most — the holidays or rituals they genuinely look forward to?

3. Held to a higher standard

The priests are held to stricter standards because leadership is visible — privilege comes wrapped in responsibility.

The story to findWhere has your child accepted a higher standard — as captain, older sibling, leader, or example?

How a real parent speech comes together

The speeches that make a room go quiet aren't essays about the parsha — they're two or three true stories about your kid, with one Torah moment placed where it lands hardest. Pick the single theme above that made you think of a specific dinner-table moment, answer its question honestly, and resist the urge to attach a moral to every story. End with a blessing in your own words — that's the part everyone remembers.

Nachas writes it with you.

A ten-minute interview about your child, and you get a speech plan that pairs their real stories with Emor — then three complete drafts in different voices, for every speaker in the family.

Start with Emor — see your speech plan

The interview and speech plan are free. No signup.