Love

 Kedoshim

Lev. 19:1-20:27

 

Précis:  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.

 

Lev. 19:18 “Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord”

Lev. 19:34 “The stranger living among you must be treated as your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the Lord your God”

 

Rabbi Sacks, (Covenant and Conversation, 4/29/20) notes that this week’s reading includes what he calls “the two great love commands of the Torah.” Rabbi Akiva called 19:18 “the great principle of the Torah​.” ​ Sacks notes that the second verse may be more challenging.
            While many cultures have similar variations to the “Golden Rule,” these are rules of reciprocity, not love. We observe them because bad things will happen to us if we don’t. They are essentially quid-pro-quo’s.
            The Jewish view is based on love. While there has been much commentary about what is “love,” who is one’s “neighbor,” and who is a “stranger,” we can ask yet another question. Why do these verses appear in the heart of Kedoshim, the “holiness code?” This is the only place in the entire Bible where we are commanded to love our neighbor, and one of only two places where we are commanded to love the “stranger” (the other in Deut 10:19). Why do these “love” commandments appear in the midst of a host of other commands, from treating animals and servants properly, to refraining from mixing seeds in a field.

            Sacks suggests that there are three different Jewish answers to this question.

            First, the prophetic voice is about how people conduct themselves in society. Are they faithful to God and to one another? Are we acting morally, with concern for the least among us? Moral societies will flourish, immoral societies fail. The Prophets did not make the demand that people love one another. Society requires justice, not love.
            Second, we have a voice of reason, which we see best expressed in Psalms: if we act well, things will go well for us. This is the Jewish version of the quid pro quo, and neither does this voice speak of love.
            Third, and most importantly, we have the Priestly vision of love, which is based on holiness: someone or something that is set apart, distinctive, different. While holiness was initially within the province of the Priests, there were hints in Torah that holiness would extend to all of the People – a nation of priests (​Ex. 19:6).

            We as a People are held to this higher standard. As we read again and again in Leviticus, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy,” we are reminded that because God loves humanity, we must love humanity as well.  

Ethics Matter

 

Achrei Mot

Lev. 16:1 -18:30

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. 

 

Rabbi Charles P. Sherman has written about the inherent difficulty of this entire parasha (MyJewishLearning.com, 5/3/16). He notes that it contains “violent divine retribution, the slaughter of animals, the sprinkling of blood, sexual perversions, arcane rituals, shame and atonement." It is hard for us to digest these details. Should we care about the “how-to’s” of a sacrificial cult which has been gone for 2,000 years? Do we need to read about details of ritual purification which are also long gone? Do we really need to be reminded to abstain from bestiality?

            He notes that it is easy to respond patronizingly to such texts and to explain them away as remnants of a primitive past. He notes, however, that most of Achrei Mot is concerned with the purity of leaders. Even Aaron must purify himself before engaging in sacrifices. Leaders who seem beyond reproach are subject to the same ethical challenges as all other human beings.

            The sages teach that power can stain those who possess it. These may be financial, ethical, or sexual improprieties among our own Jewish leaders or among the political leaders of the nations in which we dwell.   

            This parasha is in part a warning that no matter how skilled, no matter how politically astute, no matter how successful, and no matter how charismatic the leader may be, ethics matter. As we noted at our recently concluded seders, the story of the Exodus must be told in every generation. The directive of Achrei Mot, for ethical behavior by our leaders, also needs to be reiterated over and over again.

 

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