Stumbling Blocks

Achrei Mot-Kedoshim

Lev. 16:1 -20:27

Précis: Achrei Mot begins with Adonai speaking to Moses after the death (achrei mot) of Aaron’s sons. It describes the rituals for Yom Kippur, including the prescribed sacrifices. There are specific details about the purification of the Sanctuary, vessels, and the priests. Following this description, rules for the slaughter of meat (including the prohibition against eating blood) are reiterated. The parasha concludes with a listing of prohibited marriages. 

            The opening words of Kedoshim are “You shall be holy” (kedoshim tihyu), and it continues with various descriptions of how the People are to strive for holiness. Included are fundamental laws, such as fearing one’s parents and observing Shabbat. Consideration of the poor through the commandments to leave the corners of fields for gleaners is included, as are mandates which complement the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments (being honest, avoiding vengeance). Specific bans against magicians, soothsaying, witchcraft and defiling the dead follow, as are reminders to avoid human sacrifice. This parasha is often viewed as the very core of moral teaching for the Jewish People.

Leviticus 19:14 “You shall not insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind.”

             As noted by Yardén Raber (Torah Sparks 5/4/16) Professor Jacob Milgrom, one of the most prominent Bible scholars of the 20th century, suggested that with this week’s reading, the nature and direction of the Book of Leviticus changes: the concept of “impurity” expands to include moral sins and blemishes, and remedies also expand. With this week’s reading, we enter the realm of “holiness” and immoral behavior becomes the main source of impurity.

            In the cited verse, we observe that the “deaf” and the “blind” can be taken advantage of because of their disabilities, and certainly this verse literally prohibits such behavior. Rashi teaches, however, that we should also understand the verse metaphorically: we should not take advantage of an individual who is “blind” to a particular matter. In other words, we must not take advantage of the vulnerabilities or shortcomings of others. Sages have suggested that we violate this provision when we know that an individual doesn’t understand the nature of the transaction into which he is entering – that he is “blind” to the consequences.

            The placement of a stumbling block also may be understood as offering improper temptation. Do we offer someone in recovery a glass of wine? Do we offer dessert to an individual fighting to lose weight? Does the funeral home “upsell” the coffin to a mourner who is told that a plain pine box is not sufficient to honor the deceased?

            In reality, all of us have disabilities, some known to others, and some known only to ourselves. Being truly self-aware means avoiding the temptations, the stumbling blocks, which we know will only lead to those behaviors from which we wish to disassociate ourselves.