Torah For Today

Acharei Mot/Kedushim

Lev. 16:1-20:27

Last week’s Torah portion was= about purity and the need to separate from the community in order to become clean= . We related it to the concept of holiness and observed that when Moses commanded the Israelites to consecrate themselves they had to separate from normal activity. This week, we will continue to discuss the concept of holiness but from a different perspective. This week’s double Torah portion descri= bes the role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement and also the command to= be holy in our personal lives. In Lev. 19:2 we read 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD= your God am holy (Lev. 19:2) .

The Rabbis have wri= tten much on what it means to be holy according to this passage. We often think = of holiness in terms of separation from sin and engaging in spiritual activity. The emphasis is usually placed on separation. However, within the context of this passage and in the Talmud as well, we learn that holiness means not on= ly to separate, but to engage as well. This is surprising because we constantly read about separating from idolatry and the people around us. In the Christian world today there are m= any who understand holiness to mean separation from the world and everything in= it. However, as I stated above, holiness also means to engage the people around= us. For example, in the very next verse (Lev. 19:3) we read “Every one of you shall rever= ence his mother and his father”. To revere parents means to engage them. T= he text does not add any qualifiers such as “as long as they are reasonable” or “as long as they are believers” or “= as long as they treated you well when you were growing up”. The text simply says “every = one of you shall reverence his mother and father”. Farther down in the chapter we read about being kind to strangers 'Now when you reap the harvest of y= our land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gath= er the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and f= or the stranger. I am the LORD your God.”(v.9-10). According to the chapter, holiness includes caring for others – for people in need. Obviously we have to engage people in order to understand needs. Notice that the passage says th= at we should be concerned for “strangers”. The Hebrew word is “ger” meaning alien, immigrant or sojourner. One cannot help but notice the word immigrant. In the news we read of the controversy over ille= gal immigrants or aliens.

Regardless of our political views, we need to be careful not to become hardened to the place where we become merciless. The passage says that we are to be holy because God is holy. In other words we = are to imitate God in his holiness. We are forever thankful to God that in His holiness he did not simply separate from us forever. Rather, in His holiness he engaged this world. First throu= gh the patriarchs priests and prophets but eventually in the person of Yeshua.= He engaged the sinners and those who we would least expect. The righteous peop= le could not understand how he could do such a thing: “Then it happened that as Yes= hua was reclining at the table in t= he house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Je= sus and His disciples. ^{11
When the Pharisees saw this, th=
ey
said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collec=
tors
and sinners?" ^{12
But when Jesus heard this, He s=
aid,
"It is not those who are h=
ealthy
who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ "But go and lea=
rn
what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not co=
me
to call the righteous, but sinners."(matt. 9:10-13). Since we are to be imitators of Go=
d, we
are to be people who are compassionate toward those around us regardless of=
who
they are and what they believe.
This includes our neighbors, co-workers, and others in our
community.}}=

The Talmud discusse= s this issue in Sotah 14a. R. Hama son of = R. Hanina further said: What means the text: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God?⁴ Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah; for has it not been said: For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire?⁵ But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed = be He. As He clothes the naked, for it is written: And the Lord God made for A= dam and for his wife coats of skin, and clothed them,⁶ so do thou also clothe the na= ked. The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick, for it is written: And the L= ord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre,⁷⁼ so do thou also visit the sick. The Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners, for it is written: And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son,^8<=
/sup> so do thou also comfort mourners. The Holy one, blessed be He, buried the d= ead, for it is written: And He buried him in the valley,⁹ so do thou also bury the dead…” The Ta= lmud asks the question “How can we imitate God”. The answer is by following his moral attributes. We read the same thing in the New Covenant.= See Matt. 25:34-40 We need to ask the question of ourselves – Are we living as holy people? Are we keeping from sin? Ar= e we engaging our community? As James says Pure and undefiled religion in the = sight of our God and Father is this: = to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27). May we be a holy people – in our separation fron sin and in our engagement with the community. Shabbat Shalom!

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