Parashat Kedoshim
("holy ones") Leviticus
19:1-20:27
“And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying, “Speak to all the
congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy,
for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Leviticus 19:1-2.
This parashat begins with a
call for holiness and then continues a more detailed aspect of the ethical commandments. Remember the Passover blessing that states
clearly that we are sanctified with his commandments. "Blessed are You, Adonai our God, King
of the Universe, who chose us from all peoples and exalted us from all tongues,
and sanctified us with His commandments”
Some would say that the commandments are part
of the Old Testament and therefore are “done away with” but Shaul stated in
Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the
contrary, we establish the law” and then continues his endorsement of the Torah
in 2 Timothy 3:16, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness.”
Peter, Yeshua’s disciple, resonated this exact
call for holiness when he stated, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be
holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1
Peter 1:15-16.
Which I guess begs the
question; what is holiness?
In Hebrew, Holiness is read
as “Kadosh” but there are related words such as Kedushah (sanctify / set
apart), Kiddush (sanctifying the wine), Kaddish (sanctifying the Name),
kiddushin (the ring ceremony at a marriage).
It is separation from the profane.
Holiness is elevated and
lifted high as per Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who
inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place.””
Holiness is righteous, “And
God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness” Isaiah 5:16.
Holiness cannot be equalled “To
whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.” Isaiah 40:25
Holiness is great and
awesome, “Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He is holy.” Psalms 99:3
And how are we meant to be
all of these things? By understanding and
obeying the commandments of HaShem and separating ourselves from the profane; “Her
priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not
distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the
difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes
from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” Ezekiel 22:26.
The great Creator began
creation in the very same way by separating the Light from the Dark.
“And God saw that the light
was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:4.
In-fact, the call for holiness
is made no less than three times in this parashah. The number 3 has heavy Biblical
significance.
“You shall be holy, for I
the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
“Consecrate yourselves,
therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 20:7
“You shall be holy to me,
for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should
be mine.” Leviticus 20:26
Our battle is continue the pursuit
of holiness, not happiness. But even in
our failings we read in Leviticus 16:16 that the LORD "dwells with them in
the midst of their contamination."
As we read on, we read how
HaShen reinforced many ethical and sabbatical commands, but the ones that I think
need more attention are found in Leviticus 19:14 which reads literally, "You
shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind." How would the deaf know if we were cursing
them if they cannot hear? This is a
picture of the heart attitude or as Yeshua says, “And whoever says to his
brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:22. But it’s not that these are some
magical evil words – it’s the heart.
So if cursing someone who
cannot hear you is evil, how much more should we refrain from cursing those who
can? We should refrain from all types of
cruel or hateful speech or behaviour in general (Lashon Hara).
Putting a stumbling block
before the blind is another heart attitude issue. What kind of a sick puppy would enjoy
tripping the blind? But this goes
further than some sick joke. This goes
to the heart of giving misleading information, bad advice, selfish manipulation
and deception.
All of these can be summed
up in Leviticus 19:17, “You must not hate your brother in your heart." Or as we read in 1 John 4:20, “If someone
says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar”.
Actually, this whole ethical
parashah can be summed up in the Ten Commandments. If you were to take the first two and the
last two words of the Ten Commandments it reads, “I AM…Your Neighbour”. And then Yeshua stated clearly, “‘You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind.’ This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets
Jon Eaton
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