Parashat Kedoshim - Fifth Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
The aliyah opens with a topic that is at once shocking and profound: child sacrifice to Molekh. An idolatrous cult that was widespread among the peoples of Canaan, whose climax was the sacrifice of sons and daughters in the service of a foreign god.
”To Defile My Sanctuary”
The Torah does not only forbid this. It sees in it a double injury: “Lema’an tame et mikdashi ulchalel et shem kodshi” (To defile My Sanctuary, and to profane My holy name, verse 3). This act defiles the holiness of the entire Sanctuary, and profanes the name of the Holy One.
Public Responsibility
The Torah emphasizes that responsibility falls also upon the public: “Ve’im ha’alem ya’alimu am ha’aretz et eineihem min ha’ish hahu” (And if the people of the land hide their eyes from that man, verse 4). That is, if society remains silent, ignores, and does not intervene, it too bears guilt. This is a sharp moral principle: even standing aside in the face of injustice is a crime.
Ovot and Yid’onim: Spiritual Harlotry
Then the Torah turns attention to another danger: turning to forbidden supernatural powers, ovot and yid’onim. These are mystical means (such as raising the spirit of the dead or divining the future) that were widespread in the pagan cultures.
The Torah forbids turning to them in the same breath that it forbids spiritual harlotry: “Liznot achareihem” (To go astray after them, verse 6). This is conceptual harlotry, replacing the direct connection with Hashem with the mediation of obscure powers.
The Way of Torah Versus Divination
Ramban (Deuteronomy 18:13) explains the positive opposite of the prohibition of divination in the verse “Tamim tihyeh im Adonai eloheikha” (You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your God): “Shenyached levavenu elav levado” (That we unify our heart to Him alone).
The difference between the way of Torah and turning to ovot and yid’onim is not only technical. Instead of seeking to know the future through obscure powers, a person is called to unify his heart to Hashem alone, to trust in His providence, and to live a moral life within natural reality.
A Call to Moral Courage
There is here a powerful call to moral courage: to stand against injustice, not to close the eyes. When a society fights evil, it preserves its inner existence. And when a person guards his holiness, even within the complexity of the world, he touches divine truth.
More Questions on the Parsha
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Why does the Torah command "You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor"?
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Why do the mitzvot of honoring parents and keeping Shabbat appear together?
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