Dear friends;
I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary, followed by a Dvar Torah;
” Parsha in a Nutshell “
The nation is commanded to be holy. Many prohibitions and positive commandments are taught:
Prohibitions: Idolatry; theft and robbery; denial of theft; false oaths; retention of someone’s property; delaying payment to an employee; hating or cursing a fellow Jew (especially one’s parents); gossip; placing physical and spiritual stumbling blocks; perversion of justice; inaction when others are in danger; embarrassing; revenge; bearing a grudge; cross-breeding; wearing a garment of wool and linen; harvesting a tree during its first three years; gluttony and intoxication; witchcraft; shaving the beard and sideburns; tattooing.
Positive: Awe for parents and respect for the elderly; leaving part of the harvest for the poor; loving others (especially a convert); awe for the Temple; respect for Torah scholars, the blind and the deaf. And also not to forget, Love your fellow as yourself.
“ Dvar Torah “
This week’s Parashat Kedoshim starts off with the following 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”! Simply, we’ve been commanded to be holy. But what exactly means to be Holy?!
Well, Rashi for example, interprets the mitzvah as one of self-control. He says, the previous chapter was about forbidden sexual relationships. So is the next chapter. Therefore, in order to be holy, you need to refrain from 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 unusual. He says that “You shall be holy” is not just about having self-control over forbidden relationships! Rather “to be holy” means to have self-control over activities which are permissible to you too. For example, we are allowed to eat kosher food, but to be holy, we should not be a glutton. We are allowed to drink wine, but to be holy, we need to drink to moderation. We are allowed to have sexual 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.
Chatam Sofer, a great scholar from the nineteenth century, has yet another view about holiness. 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 be holy, we also need to be compassionate and act kindly towards others, the same way that Hashem acts 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. Holiness, according to Chatam Sofer, is not achieved by improving your relationship with your G-d, but rather, it’s achieved by improving your relationship with your fellow human beings and caring for them.
But last but not least, we can’t go without hearing what does one of my favorite Rabbis, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, have to say about being Holy. He says to Be holy” means, to “Have the courage to be different.” The word Kadosh means something distinctive or set apart! We don’t behave like everyone else just because everyone else does. We don’t eat like everyone else. We don’t dress like everyone else. We don’t dance like everyone else. We don’t pray like everyone else. We don’t just live for today like everyone else. We don’t adapt to the society like everyone else. And that’s what holiness is all about; we shouldn’t follow the majority, if they don’t follow G-d’s wishes. To be holy means to bear witness to the presence of G-d in our lives, even if it makes us the odd one out. Not by accident does the word kadosh also have the meaning of marriage, kiddushin, because to marry means to be faithful to one another, as G-d pledges himself to be faithful to us, we should be faithful to him too.
Yes my friends, to be holy means to have the courage to be different. We live in a society where happiness is measured by the level of your power, wealth and enjoyment. We live in a society where morality and religion play very little part in people’s lives. We live in a society where the same sex marriage is the law and condemning it can be a felony. We live in a society where a crossdresser wins the courage award over a commited Army soldier who has constantly risked his life! Yes, it’s very easy to blend in and live like the rest. But we as Jews, have been given a greater responsibility. We are commanded to be holy–Kadosh–separate! We are here to follow G-d; not the crowd! We are here to love and cherish a tiny land, where most other people are against her and pray for her destruction! We are here to be compassionate and help others in need. And that’s what makes us stand out in the eyes of Hashem: We are few, different but special!
There is an old Persian saying which says: “If you don’t want to be embarrassed, follow the crowd”……………. But the Torah is telling us otherwise: “If you don’t want to be embarrassed in front G-d, have the courage to go against the crowd”!!
Shabbat Shalom & Regards;
Martin