Kedoshim, Holiness

Two principle ideas are noteworthy in this parasha.

“With righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.”  When we look at others we make judgments about their behaviors based on what we know about them (this is called prejudice) or what we judge them as doing at the moment.  In the latter instance, we are directed to be fair.  Being fair means not rushing to condemn or be harsh.  We are told not to magnify faults or look for the worst in them.  Rather, Torah tells us to look for the best.

"Love your neighbor as you love yourself."Rabbi Akiva called this the cardinal principal of Torah, while Hillel said, "This is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary." 

The word for love in Hebrew is "ahava."  “Ahava” in gematria, the numerical value of the letters is 13.  When that love is amplified (in other words we love ourselves and extend that love to others) we get the number 26.  Twenty-six is the gematria of God’s name.  Through loving one another and ourselves we achieve “kedoshim,” the name of our parasha, which means holiness. 

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D'Var Aher

In confronting Moses, Korah declares, “All Israel is holy.” 1 There is no contesting the truth of the claim of Korah. The people are holy, as Rashi explains, because they each heard the Word of God when they stood at Sinai. That moment transformed them forever


The Torah reading this week called kedoshim seems to say something different. It states, “You shall be holy.” Were they holy? Or were they to become holy? Was the Israelite nation that saw and heard God kodesh, holy, because of the encounter? Or did holiness come to them because of some other event?

Rav Soleitchik observed that every Jew has an innate kedusha. There exists inside of us a soul, a kernel of holiness, that we always carry. Yes, each one of us is holy tells Rav Soleitchik. Yet, Korah was exaggerating in one not-so-obvious way.

There are levels of holiness. The degree of holiness depends upon the realization and accessing of that soul-gift. True, our soul is innately holy but if the soul is ignored or squashed, its voice can go unheard. It is almost as if it does not exist. At any moment the soul could awaken and break through the barriers that have kept it contained but until then it passes unseen, unacknowledged, as if it did not exist.

When the soul-voice is heard the physical actions of the person can allow it to ascend making the person more holy. In other words, holiness is not an absolute; it happens in degrees. There is less and more holy. This is the meaning of this Torah reading where God declares, “You shall be holy.” The people obviously had holiness within them but they could still spiritually grow. Rashi again helps us when he reveals that when a Jewish person resists the temptation to give in to the sitra achra, the dark side, they rise in holiness. That is why the Torah uses the future tense, shall, which tells us that the path to holiness is always open. One can aspire to greater holiness.

In the same verse, Leviticus 18:1, God adds that we can become holy because He, God, is holy. This is not a platitude. The Safat Emet explains that the holiness of the One God is limitless. There is not end to His kedusha. There is no point when a person can declare - as Korah seems to do - that they have already reached the highest level of holiness. They can never say that there is no need to do anything more. On the contrary, our potential for growth and holiness is without end.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev goes even further by saying that every time we observe mitzvot and grow in holiness God also increases in holiness. We are inseparably connected to God and our actions inflate the holiness of the Master. Is this true? Can it possibly be that we make God more holy?

What Levi Yitzchak means is that the more we grow in holiness the greater our awareness of holiness becomes. At first our vision is limited by our understanding. We see little and we understand little. As our understanding of things holy expands, we begin to see more and more of the radiance of haKadosh Barukh Hu everywhere. Our limitations no longer hold us back from seeing the grandeur of God. The expansiveness of God seems to grow.

The Talmud 2 explains that holiness hangs on the way we connect with God and Torah. In fact, the word for holy, kodesh, really means separating. When we take the time to categorize our speech, behavior and observance in terms of mitzvot, we separate or infuse our behavior with holiness. The simple act of thinking about what we do and asking, “Is this what God wants from me?” fills every space with kedusha.

Sanctified living is about the small matters of life. Looking at the world through the lens of what God wants of us means weighing our words very carefully before speaking. It means thinking about how we conduct business. It involves considering how we dress and our mode of sexual behavior. Even eating is a part of our identity. Each nuance of living can be guided by holiness. This is what the Torah means when it expresses the thought “You shall be holy.” Do not stop growing. Walk with God.

1 Bamidbar 16:3
2 Yevamot 20a

Pesach

In the Pesach seder we read each year, “In every generation a person should see themselves as if they were personally liberated from Egypt.” This is a powerful phrase and idea on many levels.

1.  Pathos.  A Jews we should never be so callous as to dismiss the pain others have experienced. When we become inured to the cries of the hopeless we are the ones lost.

2.   The Nation. We are not alone but part of the nation of Israel.  All across the globe Jews were breaking the middle matzah, saying the same blessings and reminding themselves that they are part of a single fabric of which we all form an integral part.  We see ourselves as kin, redeemed at the same moment.  We breathe life into one another.

3.  The Individual.  It is up to us to be aware that Egypt and slavery and ultimately redemption are the goals of Pesach.  As Jews, we feel with our soul the timelessness of the pain and suffering of the past.   It is said that every soul was enslaved, redeemed and present at Mt Sinai.  It is part of our collective unconscious.  You were there.

4.  Redemption.  Our lives cry out for liberation from personal enslavement.  Perhaps we are in the grip of addiction, or ignoring those who are addicted; maybe we need release from holding others as hostages to our ego; perhaps we are guilty of hoarding and not sharing what God has given us. Perhaps we are ashamed of what we have become.  This day is an opening, an opportunity for liberation.

In this, the last day of Pesach I wish you the strength and determination to make you and your ancestors proud and God beam with naches.  May this be His will. Amen.

D'var Aher

"Once, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him [not realizing he was an angel] and asked: 'Are you one of us or are you for the enemies?' 

He replied: 'No, I am the captain of the Lord's host. Now I have come ' Joshua threw himself face down to the ground, and prostrating himself, said to him: 'What does my Lord command his servant?' The captain of the Lord's host answered Joshua: 'Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ' And Joshua did so." (5:13-15)

On Pesach we tell of rabbis debating past late at night and into the early hours in Bene Brak. We tell of four children with significantly different attitudes.  We bring together disparate ideas about necessity of making peace while recalling the Angel of Death.

Most tellingly, we gather together to strangers, friends and family to reconvene and remind ourselves that no matter our ideas about politics, Israel, and personal preferences about life, that we are one people.

Not everyone with whom we disagree is an enemy.  They may even be an agent of God.  In fact, there are tzaddikim (and even regular folks!) who believe that everyone is part of the woven tapestry that God holds as precious.  Each of us is a thread in that great tapestry.  We are different colors and striations.  Each thread is necessary.  Take one out and the entire picture undone.  

That is why Pesach is such a vital holy day. Besides celebrating our freedom and God’s deliverance we come together as one extended family.  

Sit down. Lean left.  Remove your shoes.  This is holy ground.  And God smiles.

D'var Aher

It is abundantly clear from the Haggadda: Every person is obligated to view themselves "as if" they had gone from Egypt.

How often in the Torah are we asked to imagine, “as if”? Can you think of any instances? One of the few times in Torah that the term is used is when God tells Abram that he gives the patriarch the great land of Israel. 1 Rashi, knowing that the gift would not be actually given to Abram until many, many years later, interprets the words of God “as if” the land were his now. In other words, Abram was supposed to imagine his gift, even though it had not yet arrived.

Few are the places where Judaism ever commands us to 'feel' anything. Mitzvot tend to regulate behavior, not thoughts and mind-sets. Laws are needed for the governance of a society. It does not really matter whether we agree with them or not. What is important is that we have laws. That is why Rabbi Hanina, of the second century, said that without laws, people would each other alive. 2 But what about feeling? Is this really necessary for a society to function? Does it matter at all what a person feels as long as they follow the law?

There is an argument in the Talmud over which idea ought to take precedence when teaching people: action or study. 3 Which of the two ideas is greater? If a person can only choose one of them, study or observance, which should they choose? In the ultimate analysis, the Sages decide that study takes precedence over action because it can lead to action while the reverse may not be true.

Then why is so little emphasis placed on feeling? If the rabbis believed that study is greater, why would they not also take the position that feeling is also a powerful spur to action? Isn't feeling also a powerful incentive to practice mitzvot?

Sure, we are commanded by the Torah to 'love' God. Love is an emotion, a feeling. What about the other feelings that should accompany our actions? Shouldn't we be expected to invest emotional energy into our performance of mitzvot?

Could it be that actions, mitzvot, leads to feelings? And not the other way around? Or perhaps were the Sages concerned that if we placed too much importance on the way people feel they would probably place the emphasis on intent over the Word of the Holy One? Maybe they would be prone to dismiss the power of observance in favor of feeling? That would be tragic.

Pesach is an exception. Here we are commanded to feel. Rambam goes so far as to instruct us that we must experience the immediate sensation of fleeing from the clutches of slavery. 4 The seder is not a bland ceremony, the master tells us, but an emotional call to feel the shame of the slavery, the power of deliverance, and the majesty of the miraculous departure.


Whenever we recite the Hallel psalms in a religious setting they are introduced with a blessing. The only exception is the Pesach seder. During the seder we simply sing as we segue from the words of the Haggadda to the inspiring words of King David. So why do we not say a blessing? Why do we just burst into song?

Teaches Rav Hai Gaon, we do not say a blessing for this Hallel because we throw ourselves soulfully into the joy of song. Pesach is meant to be an inspired moment. We sing to God of deliverance. We sing to God of rescue. We sing to God in amazement that the slavery has ended and we are free.

Perhaps after we have realized the fundamental principles of Pesach, after the long hours of scrubbing, covering, cooking, and entertaining we can open our hearts and simply sing. That would be a great thing. At that moment our souls can reach the highest levels of spirituality. "As if" becomes the reality of liberation. More, it becomes the nexus that brings us true freedom. Each Jew must feel "as if" they had been personally delivered from bondage.

Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” For us, on Pesach, feeling is the ultimate triumph.


1 Genesis 15:18
2 Pirkay Avot 3:2
3 Yevamot 109b
4 Hilchot Hametz U’Matzah

Aharay Mot:

                                             Where Life Becomes Alive

Two disparate ideas converge in this parsha.

The first is the Avodah service that we read and hear on Yom Kippur. The other seemingly random idea is the admonition of HaShem to Aaron that he may not enter in the mishkan, Tabernacle, any time he wished. Aaron could only come when he was summoned by the Holy One, blessed be He.

The Avodah service is one of the least meaningful parts of Yom Kippur for modern Jews. Many progressive synagogues have eliminated the service entirely or have re-written it with a different meaning. It a nutshell, the Avodah contains the lengthy tale of the kohen preparing for a meeting with God in the Holy of Holies. From immersing in the frigid waters of the mikveh to the numerous changes of clothes to the tying of a rope around the kohen’s ankle to pull him out of the Holy of Holies if his actions and intent were not appropriate and he died to the poetic verses extolling the grandeur of the kohen gadol, the entire story is long and far removed from our life.

Most of the story is consumed with the arduous and meticulous preparations of the kohen. It is an instruction manual, not a gripping nail-biter. Finally, the climax of the story tells of two goats; one carrying the sins of Israel and the other to be offered up to God. It is an exhaustive, long and dry narrative.

In the next section of the parsha Aaron was reminded by God of the death of his two sons. Remember they came into the mishkan without preparation and subsequently died? The cautionary note to Aaron was that he was no longer welcome to come into the mishkan, except on special days.

Both stories reveal a great truth for our time. They are a great paradigm for our era.

Listen: Everything begins with a pinpoint of desire. When we want to buy a car we do research to find the one that best fits our need. We would not buy the first automobile we see on the lot. Purchasing a house requires thinking, reading and close examination. Running a marathon means deliberate and careful training. The same could be said for a business plan, an important meeting, writing a book, painting a picture…..

Praying is no different. It is not a passive endeavor. For some, it is gathering with other like-minded people for mutual support. At other times we come because we feel soulfully empty. At yet other times we come because we need healing. A religious service made meaningful when we come with an agenda. Unprepared for the event, the moment is squandered. We enter into a holy sanctuary with a purpose in mind.

For the children of Aaron the experience in the mishkan ended in death and mourning. For us the tale winds up in a withering spiritual desert, which may be worse than death because it is a life devoid of meaning. Both tales have the identical meaning: make for yourself a life worth living. Prepare for that event. Be aware. Open your senses to all that the universe has to offer.

One hasidic rebbe was asked what he did in the solitary time he spent before davenning each morning. He said, “I pray that I might pray.” Against this, there is a comment by a contemporary sage who said that ‘when someone says ‘let us pray’ you know he is ignorant. In other words it is no simple task to utter true words of prayer. It requires focus, determination and desire. To be so frivolous with words in believing that prayer can be conjured up like a cup of tea is a misuse of prayer
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Later in the Torah reading there is the phrase, “You shall observe My laws and keep My statutes to walk in them…” Leviticus 18:4

In the Talmud, a question about this is raised. What does it mean "walk in them"?

In its inimitable style Talmud answers that we must strive to make mitzvot, the commandments of God, a priority. They ought to foremost in our thoughts, not second or third but first. When our primary focus is meting out the Word of God; when nothing else comes into conflict with fulfilling the mitzvot, the force of the cosmos - every breath and action - becomes imbued with strength.

The Sefat Emet , Reb Yehudah Leib Alter, talks about his beloved zayde, grandfather, who said that this pasuk directs us to fold almost our energy into every act in order to make it holy. What does this mean? It means that we need to take ourselves, our actions and interactions very seriously. It means that the words we utter and actions we undertake can have cosmic repercussions. Done for the sake of the Almighty our life becomes holy and meaningful.

Note that he did not say we must devote all our energy to God: that is too much to ask of anyone. Yet, if we try to elevate a perfunctory and unthinking life through conscious living; if we know that there is a God who intensely cares about us and what we do, every act has the potential of being holy.


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Davar Acher

Before the famed Maggid of Mezritch died he blessed his disciples. To one, he gave good health. To another, he gave wisdom.  To a third, he gave his sense of humor.  And to Rebbe Elimelech he gave him the power of Tikkun Ha-Olam, improving the world.

When the Maggid passed away, Rabbi Elimelech went into the world, to work among people and improve their lives. At the end of two years she returned home and pondered, “Have I succeeded? Are the people any better off now than they were before?” He thought, “No.”

Falling asleep, he dreamt that he was in front of his master, The Maggid of Mezritch.

He said, “Other disciples have all succeeded but I have failed.”

His master replied, “It is true you went out into the world in order to make people better but what about those in your own city of Lizensk?”

Rabbi Elimelech took his words to heart and begin working with the people of his own town. Some time later, he asked himself again, “Have I succeeded? Are the people any better off now than they were before?” He thought, “No.”

The Maggid came to him again and instructed him to focus on his family before attempting to fix an entire city.

Rabbi Elimelech took the words to heart and begin working with the people his wife and children. Some time later, he asked himself again, “Have I succeeded? Are the people any better off now than they were before?” Once more he thought, “No.

“What about yourself?” asked the Maggid that night. “Have you begun with yourself?

This is the meaning of the passage in the Torah this week which states, “When Aaron made atonement for himself, for his household and then for the entire people Israel…” Lev 16:17

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Davar Acher                      Kippur

                                                                                             

16:2  Moshe is directed to tell the Great Kohen (Aaron, his brother) that he should not come within the Kapporet.  Interesting word.   Some people say the word means “lid”.  They are the same ones that say it probably means "curtain".  Others say it is the “seat of mercy”.  What is the shoresh (root) of the word?  The same as Kippur, isn’t it?

It is no accident that the next p’seukim (sentences) speak of Yom Kippur.

The times in a person’s life when they are  most likely to come close to holy places are when they are in deep pain.  And the Torah deliberately warns: “Man may not see Me and live.” (Ex 33:20).  That is what Nadav and Avihu did (the two sons of Aaron who mysteriously died).    The reason why Moshe is told by the Lord to keep to the outside of the kapporet is to avoid the same fate.  What similar place is there today where people could fall into the same trap?

What then follows in the Torah is what we call the Avodah Service.  This is the story we recite yearly on Yom Kippur.  The Great Kohen would do these things to ensure the forgiveness of the people.  Scholars are not quite sure what the word ‘kippur’ means.  Some believe that it means to verbally acknowledge how we have erred.   Others tell that it means canceling out the crimes of the past.  I think it means something entirely different.

 When Yom Kippur comes Jews will do teshuva.  What does this word teshuva mean?  It denotes ‘returning’.  What we can learn from this is that when we do not act with God we distance ourselves from Him. 

                          

‘Kippur’ may well meaning going away from the ways of God.  Name some ways people distance themselves from their Maker.

Metzora: Life's Pain

The episode in Torah portion this week commences with a disease called metzora. While the exact english name of the disease is not clear, metzora was a consuming whitish skin lesion that was likely contagious. The kohen, as judge, determined whether the disease was the dreaded metzora or not.

"...he shall be brought to the Kohen. Then the Kohen will go out...."

So what was the truth? There is a contradiction here: Did the kohen go out to the metzora? Or did the metzora go out to the kohen? What actually happened?

The general consensus of the Sages is that the metzora went to kohen. Why would they say that the metzora goes out to kohen? Because, they said, the afflicted must accept their condition before they can reach out for help. There are times when the loneliness of sitting in pain becomes so unbearable that all we want to do is sit and cry. All strength leaves us, it seems to just evaporate out of our pores, so that we remain alone, shivering, frightened, and feeling totally helpless.

There are other times when we just ignore the toothache, pretend that there is no lump or go on using the aching leg. It is critical to reach out your heart toward those who can offer help. We need someone to sit and hold our hand and take away the awful isolation. Help will only come when we venture out and seek it.

A simple example is when we are ill we need to see a doctor. We require assistance to get through the malaise. In our more complex universe, far more ailments cannot be assuaged by a paid professional. An operation or a prescription for drugs may not be the cure for what pains us. Those are the times we need to be strong enough to reach out beyond our ego and call for comfort. That is why the Sages tell us that when we are hurting we need to reach for help, not withdraw into a pitiful state of separation and perhaps ultimately self-loathing.

We have a family to support us. We form communities so that we will not have to endure the pain alone.

But it is the responsibility of the community not to wait for that to happen. For this reason, the kohen also needs to go out to the metzora.

Talmud teaches that the “metzora needs healing." 1 Is this true? Is this what the Torah reading is about? Healing the afflicted? Does the kohen facilitate healing? Is he doctor as well as priest?

It does not appear that the kohen effects healing at all. All he does is assess the afflicted one. The kohen ventures out to examine the metzora and determines whether this is an abrasion, a scar or the disease. If he finds them to be contaminated, the metzora is then exiled to outside the community. Rabbi Harold Kushner has taught that the healing to which the Talmud alludes is about the kohen making the time to physically go out and visit the afflicted himself. Such an act makes the one who has the lesions feel like they are important enough to be visited by Aaron and his progeny. That the head of the religious community goes out himself facilitates healing.

Idea: Maybe when we call someone who is sick we are performing a greater symbolic task than we even know.

Even a kohen can become metzora. What happens then? The kohen must go to another kohen. Is that difficult? Is it hard to admit to our weaknesses?

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, a great nineteenth century moralist, made a powerful observation: A person has one eye weaker than the other. The weaker eye sees the faults in others, whereas the stronger eye sees your own faults.

It requires no special gift to be critical of others. For far too many people criticism comes easily. To be self-reflective, though, takes strength of character. Never let pride stand in way of wholeness, reaching out for healing, said Salanter.

“Life and death come from the mouth,” states the Talmud. In fact, the metzora disease is believed to come as a Divine punishment for engaging in slander. The action of a penitent soul would be to bring two birds to God once they have realized their sin.

One of the sacrificial birds was released while the other offered on the altar. Why was a bird brought and not another kind of animal, say, a lamb? Because a bird does not stop singing. Its voice continues to flow out its throat. In much the same way, the words uttered by the metzora flowed unceasingly. They never stopped to think about the damage they were doing or the sin they were committing.

The Sages also ask why one bird was killed and the other released. Midrash Lekach Tov provides an insight. The midrash declares that there are two kinds of speech. One kind of speech is when we bring good things to the world by monitoring what we say and thinking before speaking. The other is when we can bring destruction into the world by reckless, thoughtless words. One bird needs to die just as the evil thoughts expressed need to be to be extirpated. That does not mean though that we are to keep silent, never saying a word, for fear of saying something bad. Words can also bring great harmony. Just as one of the birds goes free so too when we offer healing and goodness our words fly and generate.

1 Megilla 8B

D'var Aher

The Torah states, “When you arrive in the land of Canaan, which I give to you as a possession, I will place a plague of leprosy on a house that you possess in the land.” Lev. 14:34)

Really?  God would do such a terrible thing to the new inhabitants of the land?  It is important to read behind the linesfor this text is most sacred.

It was said that the Canaanites placed their riches - gold and silver- in the walls of their homes.  Hearing that rumor might make anyone, the Israelites in our tale, anxious and desirous of gaining the land swiftly at any cost.  

As any thinking person knows, there is no gift that does not come with a price tag.  We have all heard stories about how families self-destruct when coming into large wealth.  It can become a plague that rips apart lovers, parents, partners and children. Therefore God warned the Israelites that terrible things lurked there if they were not careful.  

Yet another lesson is inside God’s warning, as well.  The pursuit of wealth for its own sake distorts the most important aspects of life like helping our neighbors, caring for the unfortunate and underprivileged. The pursuit of wealth or anything that solely feeds the ego is antithetical to everything that the Torah teaches.  We are to seek holiness, not accolades.  We are told to bring purity in our lives, not selfish gain.

If we desire blessing we become a blessing.

“Love God with all your might,” we are taught. This means that we are to pursue Torah, become one with it, help each other come closer to God and live kindness.

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