Israeli Independence and Parshat Kedoshim

Rabbi Philip Weintraub
Congregation B’nai Israel
May 11, 2019

All sources from www.sefaria.org
Note, I elaborated on the sources further in my words, but here you many have to make some of your own conclusions!

דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י Hashem אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ 
Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.

קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ
The first significant words of our parsha. Dozens of commentators interpret these words. What does it meant to be holy? What does it mean to speak to KOL ADAT BNAI YISRAEL? Was the Holy One only speaking to us? Or to EVERYONE?

Looking at the classical commentators, we discover some parallels and some differences. This morning I’d like to go deep, to see how they connect and how we can connect better to one another.


Regarding the community, Rashi teaches:
"This (the addition of the words כל עדת) teaches us that this section was proclaimed in full assembly because most of the fundamental teachings of the Torah are dependent on it (contained in it)."

In terms of holiness, he argues:
This means, keep aloof from the forbidden sexual relations just mentioned and from sinful thoughts.

Nachmanides repeats Rashi and adds:
But in Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1, Chapter 2, I saw, "You shall be holy." And [so,] they learned there (Sifra, Shemini, Chapter 12:3), "'And you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, since holy am I' (Leviticus 11:44) - Just like I am holy, you should be holy; just like I am separate, you should be separate." But according to my opinion, this separation is not to separate from sexual transgressions, like the words of the rabbi (Rashi). But [rather], the separation is the one mentioned in every place in the Talmud where its [practitioners] are called those that have separated themselves (perushim)

Nachmanides teaches us that to be Jewish is to live by unique practices. We are to have our own customs and traditions. We are not to be identical to those around us--we are to be countercultural.

Sforno:

after the presence of G’d had manifested itself among the Jewish people, sanctifying them for eternal life, as had been the meaning of the verse in Exodus 19,6 “you shall become for Me a nation of priests a holy nation,” and taking into consideration G’d’s statement in Leviticus 11,45I have led you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your G’d and your becoming holy,” G’d had in the meantime separated the Jewish people from impurity through the legislation concerning forbidden foods, skin eczemas, ritual impurity ...

G’d had also elaborated on other ritual contaminations contracted through sinful contact. The objective of all these parts of Torah legislation was to establish a nation that could be described as “holy,”

Aka We should be as like Gd as possible, since we were created “in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis)


The Bekhor Shor teaches that “A holy ruler cannot bear having servants around her who are not themselves holy.”

From him we learn that we must surround ourselves with those who also make good choices! [Here I elaborated on friend groups and who we choose to surround ourselves with.]

Gersonides tells us that “we must keep ourselves apart from the material world to the extent we can, in this resembling Gd, who is completely free of materiality.

Gersonides seems to emulate Nachmanides in creating a separation from the world around us.  [Discussed challenge of asceticism in the modern world.]

Siftei Chachamim, 17th century Poland, Germany, Holland, and commentator on Rashi:


During an assembly. You might ask: Moshe taught the whole Torah to Israel as Rashi says in parshas Ki Sisa. The answer is: This parshah was said to them in an assembly of women and children [too] as it is written, “the entire congregation [of] Bnei Yisroel,” and [also] as it is written in parshas Vayeilech (Devarim 31:12), “Assemble the people — the men and the women and the infants.” But [generally], Moshe taught the men only. Another answer is: Moshe [generally] taught them in groups, one after the other, but this parshah was in the assembly of all Israel. The difference [of teaching in this manner] was that no one could say, “I do not accept this mitzvah because I have questions against it, and the reason I did not ask Moshe immediately is because not all Israel were present there.” Therefore, [here] all Israel were together so that no one could say this. 

Think about this in your own life--how often do you have partial attendance at a meeting--some people hear one thing and some hear another--and everyone is confused. By gathering everyone together, Moses ensures that EVERYONE gets the same message.

In the modern period:


Professor Dr. Tamara Eskenazi teaches that this parsha “articulates more comprehensively than any other portion of the Torah what it means for persons and community to be holy. Dictionary definitions of the Bible’s concept of holiness emphasise the notion of separation. In parshat Kedoshim, however, holiness comes from cultivating relationships. Connections--not only separations--definte the holy community; the connection to parents whom one must honor, to the poor and the disadvantaged whom one must protect, to the neighbor and strange whom one must love, and of course to Gd.”

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein of Toronto wrote in Torah: A Women’s Commentary:
“Parshat Kedoshim places before us one of the most difficult commandments in the whole Torah--not kashrut or Shabbat, nor even the rules of sexual conduct, but rather the admonition and expectation to “be holy.” Throughout the Torah, we are given rules and statutes that tell us what to do. Here we are told what to be...But what does it mean to be holy? Kedoshim does not tell us. The guidance that the parshah gives us is in the specifics: the ‘who, when, why and how’ of the injunction.”

She asks but does not completely answer a challenging question--is holiness different for women?

“Although we are still at the beginning of exploring what a fully developed feminist notion of being holy might look like, the opening words of this parshah--kedoshim tihyu--carry both a command for now and promise for the future: we can and we will find ways to be holy.”

To me this is the essence of the parsha. It is not simply a request, but a demand--we WILL be holy. It is not an inherent state, but a choice that we make through our actions. In my life, in my understanding of Torah, I see so much of Judaism, of halacha, about helping us to make choices. We can be paralyzed whether at Starbucks, in our pantries, closets or Amazon. We live in a world on infinite choice. Our Torah can help us narrow down things, to allow us to focus on the things that matter. Steve Jobs was famous for wearing the same thing every day--without wasting mental energy on clothing choices--he could focus on his business ideas.

Who are we talking to? We are talking to EVERYONE! We are talking to the Jewish community AND those that live with them. We spoke to everyone simultaneously--none are more or less important than another. Of course, tomorrow we will be celebrating some very special people in our lives.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the choices of Mothers and USYers. We will thank those who have parented--whether in their homes, classrooms or anywhere. We will appreciate those who celebrated Jewish lives as teenagers--and still do so today.

In just a moment, we will offer our prayers in front of our symbolic Kotel, directing our hearts to Israel. This week’s parsha makes me think about what it means to be Jewish, to have a connection to Israel, to be the KOL ADAT BNAI YISRAEL that Gd spoke to.

In our history, the connection to Israel from the Jewish people has been long and deep. In every prayer service we have thought of Israel. In every Amidah, in every Tefillah, in every prayer, we connect to our Holy Land. We pray for its restoration and for peace there. Jews have lived continuously in the land, yet we also have a long history of exile. We have not ALL lived there since biblical times. I opened this morning with Rashi and I want to close with him--looking at his first comment on the Torah.


Rashi on Genesis 1:1

בראשית. אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק לֹֹֹֹֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְהַתְחִיל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה אֶלָּא מֵהַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, שֶׁהִיא מִצְוָה רִאשׁוֹנָה שֶׁנִּצְטַוּוּ בָּהּ יִשׂרָאֵל, וּמַה טַּעַם פָּתַח בִּבְרֵאשִׁית? מִשׁוּם כֹּחַ מַעֲשָׂיו הִגִּיד לְעַמּוֹ לָתֵת לָהֶם נַחֲלַת גּוֹיִם (תהילים קי"א), שֶׁאִם יֹאמְרוּ אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם לְיִשְׁרָאֵל לִסְטִים אַתֶּם, שֶׁכְּבַשְׁתֶּם אַרְצוֹת שִׁבְעָה גוֹיִם, הֵם אוֹמְרִים לָהֶם כָּל הָאָרֶץ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה הִיא, הוּא בְרָאָהּ וּנְתָנָהּ לַאֲשֶׁר יָשַׁר בְּעֵינָיו, בִּרְצוֹנוֹ נְתָנָהּ לָהֶם, וּבִרְצוֹנוֹ נְטָלָהּ מֵהֶם וּנְתָנָהּ לָנוּ: 
IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187).

Rashi opened his Torah commentary noting the Jewish connection to the land. Living in France right before the Crusades, he saw that other nations ruled or desired to conquer Israel. He argued that the Torah itself was the Deed, the document that declared our special connection to the land. In this day and age, we may think things are more complicated, but it has always been so. Today we are blessed and privileged to be able to travel to Israel whenever we wish. There is a democracy there. Like our own country, it is not perfect, but a noble experiment, they are attempting to balance Jewish values with Western ones. It is a stronghold and protection for Jews everywhere--and a reminder that we are safest everywhere in the world when we have a place of security! Am Yisrael Chai. The Jewish people live. Oseh shalom bimromav...May the one who brings peace above, bring peace to us.


Thank you to Maureen Sechan for finding this incredibly joyous, beautiful video to celebrate this year!


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