Parshat Kedoshim - Insights and Questions
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
Parshat Kedoshim is one of the densest and most stirring parshiyot in the Torah. It does not tell one long story, but holds up a sharp mirror before a person: Does your holiness stay in the synagogue, or does it come down with you to the field, to the scale, to the marketplace, to the family, to speech, to the heart?
The opening sets the tone: “וַיְדַבֵּר יְדוָד אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃ דַּבֵּר אֶל כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְדוָד אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃” (Leviticus 19:1-2).
And the strong point: the Torah does not begin here with angels, kabbalists or hidden righteous ones. It addresses the entire congregation of the children of Israel. In other words, holiness is not a closed club for a select few. It is a demand from every person: from the farmer at the edge of the field, from the merchant with his scales, from the child before his parents, from the person about to speak gossip, and from the heart that almost hates in silence.
Insights on Parshat Kedoshim
Holiness is measured specifically in the small details. The Torah commands leaving pe’ah and gleanings for the poor and the stranger, not to steal, not to lie, not to oppress, not to withhold wages, not to curse the deaf, and not to place a stumbling block before the blind. As an interpretive idea, we can say that the Torah teaches here: do not look for holiness only in the grand moments. It lives precisely in the second when no one is watching you, and you choose to be honest.
The fear of Heaven is measured in one’s relationship to the weak. The Torah says: “לֹא תְקַלֵּל חֵרֵשׁ וְלִפְנֵי עִוֵּר לֹא תִתֵּן מִכְשֹׁל וְיָרֵאתָ מֵּאֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲנִי יְדוָד׃” (Leviticus 19:14). The idea here, as interpretation rather than a quoted source, is that the true test of a person is not only how he acts before someone who can repay him, but how he behaves toward someone who cannot know, defend himself or take revenge.
Holiness enters into the interior of the heart. The Torah is not content with external behavior, it enters the place that no one sees: “לֹא תִשְׂנָא אֶת אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ” (Leviticus 19:17). This is a stirring verse. The Torah does not only say ‘do not harm’. As an interpretive idea, it demands from a person not to build within himself a quiet factory of hatred. Sometimes a person smiles on the outside, but on the inside he holds folders of old resentments. Parshat Kedoshim demands inner cleanliness, not just external politeness.
Love your fellow as yourself, turning the other into a person. “וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ אֲנִי יְדוָד׃” (Leviticus 19:18). The idea here, as interpretation and not a quoted source, is that the Torah does not ask only for a society that is legally functional. It wants a society that has a heart. One can refrain from stealing and still be cold. One can refrain from lying and still not see the other. Kedoshim means turning the other from a background object into a person who matters to me.
A special relationship to the stranger. “כְּאֶזְרָח מִכֶּם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם הַגֵּר הַגָּר אִתְּכֶם וְאָהַבְתָּ לוֹ כָּמוֹךָ כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי יְדוָד אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃” (Leviticus 19:34). What depth there is here: the Torah turns the national memory of suffering into an engine of compassion. We have not forgotten that we were strangers, and therefore we are not permitted to become indifferent before another stranger.
There is no separation between spirituality and economic honesty. “מֹאזְנֵי צֶדֶק אַבְנֵי צֶדֶק אֵיפַת צֶדֶק וְהִין צֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָכֶם אֲנִי יְדוָד אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃” (Leviticus 19:36). The idea is that holiness is not only candles, prayer and emotion. Holiness is also the invoice, the weight, the price, the way one speaks to the worker, and the ability not to exploit the weakness of another person.
Parshat Kedoshim reveals that the holy person is not one who flees from the world, but one who enters into the world and turns every encounter, every shekel, every word and every thought into a place that has fear of Heaven, delicacy and justice.
A further insight on the parsha
Usually, when we hear the words “You shall be holy”, we imagine a withdrawn, detached person, perhaps seated on a high mountain, far from the street, from money, from the market, from people.
But Parshat Kedoshim shatters this image completely. Immediately after the great command: “וַיְדַבֵּר יְדוָד אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר׃ דַּבֵּר אֶל כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְדוָד אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃” (Leviticus 19:1-2), the Torah does not continue to speak of angels, ascetic practices or seclusion. It descends immediately into life itself: father and mother, Shabbat, field, the poor, the stranger, commerce, a worker’s wages, gossip, hatred in the heart, vengeance, grudges, the elder, scales.
And the novel point here: the holiness of Parshat Kedoshim is not an escape from life, but the ability to bring the Holy One into the most ordinary daily life. Not only in the study hall. Also when you pay an employee. Also when you weigh merchandise. Also when someone has hurt you and you could take revenge. Also when no one knows what is in your heart. Also when you pass by a weak person, poor, a stranger, an elder or a blind person.
Notice the verse: “לֹא תִשְׂנָא אֶת אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת עֲמִיתֶךָ וְלֹא תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא׃” (Leviticus 19:17). This is a powerful verse, because the Torah does not stop at deeds, it enters the most hidden room in a person, the heart. A person can look perfect from the outside, speak well, smile, function, but inside hold on to an old hatred. Parshat Kedoshim tells him, as an interpretive idea: holiness begins precisely there, in the place where no one sees.
And even more: “לֹא תִקֹּם וְלֹא תִטֹּר אֶת בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ אֲנִי יְדוָד׃” (Leviticus 19:18). The idea here, as interpretation and not a quoted source, is that the Torah does not only say ‘do not be a criminal’. It says: do not be a person who keeps an internal ledger of vengeance. Do not let the memory of the wound become your identity.
In Parshat Kedoshim, at the end of commandments, the expressions “אֲנִי יְדוָד” and “אֲנִי יְדוָד אֱלֹהֵיכֶם” repeat many times. The idea is that it is as if the Torah is saying: even when you are alone in the field, even when you are alone with the scales, even when you are alone with a thought in your heart, you are not really alone. Holiness is not only what you do before a crowd. Holiness is who you are when there is no crowd.
This is why Parshat Kedoshim is not only a parsha of commandments. It is a parsha that reveals to a person a secret: it is possible to be a completely ordinary person from the outside, working, buying, selling, speaking, being hurt, coping, and still to live a life of holiness, if in every small moment you choose not to make the world a colder place.
The insight: Holiness does not begin in the heavens. It begins in the second when you decide not to lie, not to exploit, not to hate, not to take revenge, and to leave room for the other within your life.
Questions on Parshat Kedoshim
- Why is the great command “You shall be holy” spoken specifically to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and not only to a select few?
- Is it possible that the holiness of the parsha is not an escape from the world, but rather a deeper entry into the field, money, speech, family and society?
- Why, immediately after “You shall be holy”, does the Torah move on to the fear of father and mother and the keeping of Shabbat, what is the inner connection between them?
- What is the secret behind Parshat Kedoshim combining commandments between a person and God with commandments between a person and his fellow, almost without separation?
- Why does the Torah command leaving pe’ah and gleanings for the poor and the stranger specifically in the middle of the parsha of holiness, is charity not only kindness but a definition of holiness?
- What stands behind the expression “you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger”, why does the Torah say to leave, and not to give?
- Why does the Torah forbid theft, denial and lying in one continuous sequence, is there here a description of an inner spiritual slope of a person?
- What is the connection between a false oath and the desecration of God’s name, why does a private lie become an injury to God’s name?
- Why does the Torah emphasize not to withhold a worker’s wages until morning, what does this teach about the Torah’s sensitivity to the pain of a working person?
- What is the depth of the prohibition “you shall not curse the deaf”, if he cannot hear, who is really hurt?
- What does “you shall not place a stumbling block before the blind” mean on the inner level, can a person place a stumbling block also with words, advice or influence?
- Why, specifically regarding commandments that can be hidden from the other person, does the Torah say “and you shall fear your God”?
- What is the novel teaching in the Torah’s saying “you shall judge your fellow with righteousness”, can a person judge someone rightly even without being a judge?
- Why does the Torah place “you shall not go as a talebearer” next to “you shall not stand idly by the blood of your fellow”, can gossip be a kind of social bloodshed?
- What is the meaning of the prohibition “you shall not hate your brother in your heart”, why does the Torah enter into the heart and not settle for deeds alone?
- How can the Torah command both to rebuke one’s fellow and not to bear sin against him, what is the secret of rebuke that does not break a person?
- What is the subtle difference between vengeance and bearing a grudge, and why does the Torah warn against both before “love your fellow as yourself”?
- Is “love your fellow as yourself” the peak of the parsha, or only one expression of a larger idea?
- Why, in a parsha that speaks of holiness, do the prohibitions of mixed species and sha’atnez appear, what is the connection between holiness and guarding the boundaries of creation?
- What does the commandment of orlah teach about the human ability to hold back specifically when the fruit is right before one’s eyes?
- Why does the Torah relate to the elder with special honor, what is it about old age that turns it into a place of holiness?
- Why does the Torah return to the stranger and say “you shall love him as yourself”, why does the love of the stranger need a separate verse from the love of one’s fellow?
- What is the depth of the reasoning “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”, is the memory of past pain meant to turn us into more sensitive human beings?
- Why does the Torah connect the exodus from Egypt with “just scales, just weights, a just ephah and a just hin”, what is the link between redemption and integrity in commerce?
- What is the meaning of the frequent repetition in the parsha of the expressions “I am Adonai” and “I am Adonai your God”, is this a hint that the Holy One is found specifically in places that no one else sees?
Daily Aliyot
Parashat Kedoshim - First Aliyah
Parashat Kedoshim opens with the great call: 'Kedoshim tihyu ki kadosh Ani Adonai eloheikhem' (You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your God, am holy). Immediately afterward comes a sequence of social mitzvot from which everyday holiness is built.
Parashat Kedoshim - Second Aliyah
The second aliyah continues the sequence of mitzvot between a person and his fellow: just judgment, the prohibition of lashon hara, the prohibition of hatred and revenge, and loving your neighbor. Alongside them: the laws of kilayim and the case of the betrothed maidservant.
Parashat Kedoshim - Third Aliyah
After detailed instruction on the laws of sacrifices, purity, and holiness, the Torah takes us to a wide field of everyday life: the laws of orlah, the prohibitions of divination and sorcery, bodily injuries, and respect for the elderly.
Parashat Kedoshim - Fourth Aliyah
In this aliyah the Torah continues to walk on the paths of justice and humanity, and establishes one of the great pillars of Jewish morality: the treatment of the stranger and the different one, and justice in weight and measure.
Parashat Kedoshim - Fifth Aliyah
The fifth aliyah of Parashat Kedoshim opens with a topic that is at once shocking and profound: child sacrifice to Molekh, and turning to ovot and yid'onim (mediums and necromancers). Two forms of 'spiritual harlotry' that the Torah forbids with a severe prohibition.
Parashat Kedoshim - Sixth Aliyah
In this aliyah we encounter a difficult, sharp, and precise list of severe transgressions concerning the holiness of the family, the marital bond, the honor of parents, and basic moral definitions that constitute the foundations of the existence of the people of Israel as a holy people.
Parashat Kedoshim - Seventh Aliyah
In this aliyah the Torah concludes Parashat Kedoshim with a decisive call for a distinct and separated Jewish identity. No more blind imitation of other cultures, but a clear message: 'Velo telkhu bechukot hagoy' (You shall not walk in the customs of the nations).