Dear friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parashiot summary, followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parashiot in a Nutshell ”

G-d warns against unauthorized entry “into the holy.” Only one person, the Kohen Gadol (“high priest”), may, but once a year, on Yom Kippur, enter the innermost chamber in the Sanctuary to offer the sacred ketoret to G-d.

Another feature of the Day of Atonement service is the casting of lots over two goats to determine which should be offered to G-d and which should be dispatched to carry off the sins of Israel to the wilderness.

The Torah warns against bringing sacrifices anywhere but in the Holy Temple, forbids the consumption of blood, and details the laws prohibiting incest and other deviant sexual relations.

The Parshah of Kedoshim begins with the statement: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your G-d, am holy” followed by dozens of mitzvot (commandments) through which the Jew sanctifies him or herself and relates to the holiness of G-d. These include: the prohibition against idolatry, the mitzvah of charity, Shabbat, sexual morality, honesty in business, honor and awe of one’s parents, prohibition against taking revenge and holding a grudge against another Jew; and also the ultimate principle of Torah is mentioned, which is:

— Love your fellow as yourself.

” Dvar Torah ”

Parashat Kedoshim, the second Parsha of this week’s double Parashiot, begins with the words: Hashem spoke to Moshe saying: Speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them, “Kedoshim tihyu ki kadosh ani Hashem Elokeychem” — “You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your G-d, am holy”! The question that immediately comes to mind is, what exactly does it mean to be “Holy”?! The Oxford dictionary defines holiness as being “an act of  dedication or devotion to serve G-d”! To other religions, Christianity in particular, the ultimate holiness is achieved, when you entirely dedicate your life to G-d. According to them, to achieve the highest level of sanctity, one should lock himself up in a monastery on the top of a mountain and serve G-d the entire day. One should not get married and be indulged in sexual activities. But this is not what the Torah means by being “holy”. So, what does it mean to be holy according to jewish religion?!

Well, there are many different interpretations according our sages.  Even among our early commentators there has been disagreements about the exact meaning of the phrase “You shall be holy”. Rashi, for example, interprets the mitzvah as one of self-control. He says that you can become holy if you can refrain from engaging in forbidden sins, mainly, forbidden relationships. The word “Kadosh” literally means, “separate”. Thus, the meaning of “You shall be Kedoshim” is “You shall be separated – from forbidden relationships.”

Ramban on the other hand, disagrees with Rashi, which is not so unusual. He says that “You shall be holy” is not just about having self-control over forbidden sins. Rather “to be holy” means to have self-control over activities which are permissible to you too. For example, we are allowed to eat, but to be holy, we should not be a glutton. We should put a limit on what we can eat and how much we should eat. We are allowed to drink wine, but to be holy, we need to drink to moderation. We are allowed to have relationship with our wives, but we should not do it voraciously. Holiness can be achieved by restraining oneself somewhat from even those physical pleasures that the Torah permits.

But the beauty of our religion is that, there is no definite right or wrong answer to Torah’s questions. We would just continue to read the commentaries until we find the one which sooths our heart the most. Accordingly, I came across an interpretation given by “Chatam Sofer”, one of the leading Orthodox Rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century, which really touched my heart. He says that the answer to how to be holy is given in the pasuk itself. The Pasuk says: “You shall be holy, because I, Hashem your G-d, am holy”. So, in order to reach the ultimate level of holiness, we have to act like G-d. But, we don’t know much about G-d’s characteristics, except his 13 attributes of mercy mentioned in the Torah which says: “G-d is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in kindness and truth…” So in order to reach the highest level of holiness, we have to be compassionate towards our fellow Jew and act kindly towards him, just like Hashem is toward us! That’s why the rest of the Parsha is mainly about how to act compassionately towards your fellow Jew. It talks about how we should care and respect our parents. It talks about not to take advantage of the “blindness,” handicaps and mistakes of others. It talks about our obligation to give to the poor. It talks about not to take revenge and not to hold a grudge. And above all, to love your fellow Jew like yourself.

Yes my friends, according to Chatam Sofer, “holiness” is not measured by the level of your observance, but rather, it’s measured by the level of your compassion towards your fellow human beings! That’s why, in order to be a holy Jew, we can not isolate ourselves like the monks and live on top of a mountain. To be holy, G-d wants us to live in the midst of our people in order to show that we do care about them. In order to be holy, one must get married and one must raise children, and one must belong to a community. One must show that he cares about his family, his parents, his community and his fellow Jew. Nobody can reach the ultimate level of holiness all by himself. You can not separate yourself from the rest of your people and think you can become a very holy person. Ultimate holiness is achieved when you can show that you care about others, and you can get along with everyone else. And thats what holiness is all about: “Love, respect and compassion towards your fellow Jew….”

Unlike the gentiles, where they search for holiness by looking at the relationship between man and G-d, we find holiness by looking at the relationship between man and man. So, make sure that you have respect for everyone. You’ll never know……. anyone can be a very “holy” person!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin