Kedoshim Parshah Thoughts
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Gusto
We are forbidden to eat a sacrifice past its allowed time. The Torah claims this is ‘desecrating the Holies of Hashem’. How’s that?
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Gusto
We are forbidden to eat a sacrifice past its allowed time. The Torah claims this is ‘desecrating the Holies of Hashem’. How’s that?
A person is affected by how he experiences Mitzvos. If he had a good experience then he connects to Mitzvos. If not, he disconnects. Rashi (Sukkah 49) says that doing Mitzvos in a way that’s enjoyable is considered loving Mitzvos!
Eating half-rotten sacrifice meat, – meat way past its prime, – breeds an attitude of disdain for the Holies – sacrifices. The disgust the eater feels extends to the Mitzvah too. Eating old kodshim disgraces the Holies. To oneself!
What is the lesson? Ensure that every mitzvah we do is FUN!!!
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Respect
The parshah mentions twice “Fear your G-d; I am Hashem”.
Once it warns against cursing a deaf man or placing a trap before a blind man, and once it enjoins us to honor sages and the elderly. The first seems obvious; cursing a deaf man or placing a trap before a blind man are crimes no one will discover. What stops them? “I, Hashem, am keeping score!” But what is the connection to honoring sages and elders? (See Rashi)
‘Stand before elders, honor the sage, and fear your G-d, I am Hashem’ means; ‘if you will honor those deserving it, you will fear Me too. If you are sloppy in giving due honor, you will not honor Me either’.
We do not act in a vacuum. To honor Hashem, we need to develop our honoring. We must be careful to render due honor to those who deserve it. We will be people who have learned the skill of honoring.
We need to create a society and environment of respect.
(How about starting by showing another respect one time a day by greeting them on the street?)
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Playing G-d
A judge may not help a poor man. The judge may think ‘Ach! This fellow is so poor, the rich man ought to support him anyhow; let me rule in his favor, as if the money really was his’.
Absolutely totally forbidden!
Why?
Perhaps the court is represents the “place of justice” in this world, and truth must reign there absolutely. After the judgement people can do chessed, but the ruling – the naked truth – must be heard.
Perhaps too the integrity of the court in on the line: if we can toy with the truth, – even for good reason, – we will come to be lax and toy with it elsewhere too.
One more thought: a judge sits supremely powerful: his decision alone determines the outcome. Judges may start playing G-d. They think they will make things right. They think society depends on them.
This is dangerous. A judge is a jurist, not a social philosopher. A judge needs to know that he has a restricted mandate; issuing judgement. That, – only that – is his job.
Do not favor a pauper in court. You do not run the world!
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Giving Lousy Stuff
Paradox; Charity is from our best: ‘all the fat – for Hashem!’. No second-rate stuff. Yet the Torah tells us to leave our fields’ leftovers for the poor: the corner-ends, dropped pieces, forgotten bundles and dropped off grapes. Why not give good stuff?
One suggestion was that the Torah knows its hard for someone to part with hard-earned produce. It only asks for what a person will give willingly – junk – even if he ought to give the best.
Another thought is: this charity is not a tithe, nor based on the poorman’s need. (Those are obligations we fill with our very best produce!) Rather this charity derives precisely because these gifts are not meaningful to their owner.
Its junk. The Torah says ‘Come on, surely you can spare these!’. The lesson to us is that we are obligated to a larger-than-normal donation if we are giving old clothes or unneeded mishloach manos lying around the house.
Our not needing it obligates us.
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Finding Common Ground
‘Do not hurt the stranger, he shall be as the townsfolk. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt too…’
Rashi explains that we ought not make fun of his being a stranger for we too were strangers. People in glass houses ought not throw stones.
We had another suggestion: To befriend someone, find common ground. A ger, a stranger, is often coming from a society so alien that it is hard for us to find something in common with him. So the Torah starts us off with the fact that we both experienced being a stranger in another land. Thats a commonality. This leads to connection.
The lesson here; seek similarities between yourself and your fellowman, and you are well on the road to loving him.
Too often, the first thing similar people look for is differences. Perhaps this comes from being unhappy in your own skin, forcing yourself to try and self-define by distinguishing oneself from another.
Methinks thats pretty sad…
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Give ’em A Piece Of Your Mind!
We are encouraged to rebuke others. Why?? (Its so NOT cool!!)
Reason One: we are responsible for evil we can prevent. If we can stop certain behaviours by rebuke, we need to do so.
Reason Two: We dare not stand idly by sin. We care, we need to protest.
What if you know sinner is aware of what he is doing is wrong and will not stop by being rebuked? If rebuke is a protest, you will need to speak out. If rebuke is to change matters, thats not happening.
Rabbi Hirsch takes a third path: ‘Avshalom refused to speak good or evil to Amnon for he hated him’; we rebuke most those we love best. Within the family we speak out; on the street we act courteous. Why? We just care more! Rebuke your brother out of caring for HIM.
How to do it?
A. Make it clear to the other that you are trying to help him. and that
B. You do not feel superior (‘I tend to make the same mistake…’)
C. Do not position an argument; Do it privately, say your piece and leave – don’t demand an answer. It might not be ‘Thank you!’
D. Speak in terms of their benefit (‘you might want to…’)
E. Try an indirect way. If you want someone to stop talking during krias HaTorah just ask them to lower it a bit. Usually they will quiet down.
Its an important mitzvah, one that is neither popular nor comfortable and takes maturity.
And we are obligated to do it.
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Love
The prospective convert knocked on Hillel’s door and asked for a synopsis of the entire Torah. ‘Do not do to others what you hate’, said Hillel.
In our parshah it says: Love another as yourself. Why did Hillel focus on the negative – not doing what you hate?
Society’s ideals must necessarily be above common behaviour. With no creative tension, society will not grow. However when ideals are far above society, they lose all meaning. They become irrelevant, because people actualize them.
Loving another as oneself is nice, but too high for the convert. Hillel made it more real and practical – don’t wrong another. [L’frakim, – Sridei Eish, Rabbi Weinberg z”l ]
The message is: beware unreachable ideals. Ideas – even Torah ideas – need translation to our own lives. Otherwise they lose all meaning!
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Keeping Score
In the Haftorah the Navi expresses Hashem’s complaint;
We had disappointed Him from the outset;
A. In Egypt, He wanted us to leave Egyptian idol worship and follow Him. Instead we stuck to the idols, rejecting Him. He felt like leaving us there for good. But He had sent Moshe to Paroh to speak His demand that the Jews be sent out. In honor of His name He followed thorough and took us from Egypt.
B. In the Desert we rebelled against Him again and again. He would have ended it all. For His honor’s sake he brought us into the Land, as He had promised our forefathers.
The entire affair was done grudgingly, without satisfaction or profit, solely for the sake of keeping his word and honor. Pretty sad.
In the Mishna in Sanhedrin, Rabbi Akiva opinions that those who died in the Midbar, neither have a share in the world to come nor will they arise from the dead. They are done for, gone for good. Reading our Haftorah, we start appreciating why!
The upshot of it all: We are grateful to Hashem when we realize that He did not enjoy the Exodus at all. Yet He did us the kindliest things. And so lovingly!
Thank you!
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