Parashat Acharei Mot - Seventh Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
This aliyah is one of the most severe and shaking in the entire Torah. The verses leave no room for soft interpretation: there are deeds, abominations, that are not only halachic prohibitions, but an existential threat to the people and to the Land itself.
Forbidden Abominations: Crossing Universal Moral Boundaries
“Ve’et zachar lo tishkav mishkevei ishah to’evah hi” (And with a male you shall not lie as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination, verse 22).
“Uvkhol behemah lo titen shkhavtekha letam’ah vah… tevel hu” (And with no animal shall you cohabit to be defiled by it… it is a perversion, verse 23).
Here the Torah declares aloud: there are biological, moral, and spiritual boundaries that must not be crossed. Torah does not only dictate halachot, it shapes the soul of the nation. The Torah determines: these acts defile the person, the society, and the Land.
The Land Reacts: “Vataki ha’aretz et yoshveha”
The astounding message is that the Land is not neutral. When the sins are severe, she herself vomits out her inhabitants, as happened to the peoples of Canaan.
These sins are not only personal. They desecrate the holiness of the Land. The people of Israel are required not only to conquer the Land, but to be worthy of it.
A Duty of Care: “Ushmartem et mishmarti”
The Torah ends with a careful but firm call:
“Ushmartem et mishmarti… velo titam’u bahem ani Adonai eloheikhem” (And you shall keep My charge… and you shall not be defiled by them, I am Hashem your God, verse 30).
Holiness does not stem from inspiration, but from commitment. There is a charge: boundaries, laws, and faithfulness to the covenant with Hashem.
To Be Worthy of the Land
“Velo takhi ha’aretz etkhem… ka’asher ka’ah et hagoy asher lifneikhem” (That the Land not vomit you out… as it vomited out the nation that was before you, verse 28).
It is not enough that we were born Jewish or live in the Land of Israel. We must live differently, more morally, more purely.
Only thus shall we merit, not only to dwell in the Land, but to be a blessing in it.
The morality of the Torah does not compromise. But neither is it accidental. It is built on a deep foundation: that a person is capable of living in holiness, out of the divine image within him.