Kedoshim Commentary
Parashat Kedoshim
19:2 – ” Ye shall be holy (kedoshim – קדשים): for I the LORD your God am holy”
This is the namesake verse of this parashat. Rather than leave holiness to some ethereal notion, as has been the case in most of Christendom, Torah is explicit in regard to holiness. Hashem tells us throughout Torah (and even the Apostolic Scriptures are equally explicit) how we are to define and live out holiness. It invades every facet of our lives from speech and deed to dress and food, even to our very thoughts. It is holiness that sets us apart, and holiness that keeps us from assimilating into popular culture and theology. It is living a life of holiness that consecrates us to Hashem and draws people’s attention to a “peculiar people” who can direct them to the One True God. Instead of needing to figure out how to make the Scriptures relevant to our lives, it is holiness that makes our lives become relevant to the Scriptures.
19:3 – “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.”
It is interesting to note that Hashem links a “moral” mitzvot of honoring one’s parents to an “amoral” mitzvot of keeping His Sabbaths. It appears that Hashem doesn’t differentiate between “moral,” “civil” and “ceremonial” commandments like humans who try to avoid His input into our lives.
19:5 – “And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.” (KJV)
RSV – “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.”
JPS – “And when ye offer a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it that ye may be accepted.”
Chumash – “When you slaughter a feast peace-offering to Hashem, you shall slaughter it to find favor for yourselves.”
It seems there is some difference in the way this verse should be rendered into English, with the KJV being in disagreement with the majority of other English translations. The problematic phrase is based on the translation of one Hebrew word. It is a form of the word ratzon (רצון), which means “pleasure, delight, favor.” It is most commonly used in the Tanach with the understanding “to be favorably received,” as in Leviticus 1:4. It appears that this is a simple problem of translators who are more concerned about the theological ramifications of a passage than the fidelity of the text.
If we examine the passage carefully, it is clear from the context how we must interpret this word. The context is in regard to the procedures which render a peace-offering as ratza [רצה] (“acceptable” – vs. 7 – and the root of ratzon) or pigul (“rejected” – vs. 7). If the it is offered incorrectly it is pigul. If it is offered correctly it is ratza. If the offering is ratza, logic follows that we have found ratzon (favor, acceptance, etc.) in the eyes of Hashem.
19:14 – “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.”
Hashem demands that we honor the disabled (as well as those less fortunate – se vs. 9 & 10). This passage can also be expanded to reflect our relationship with those who are “deaf” and “blind” to the Torah or Messiah. If our actions cause the spiritually blind and deaf to abhor Torah or Messiah through our words or actions, then we have become a curse and a stumbling block before them. (For further study, see my article “The Greatest Sin.”)
19:16 – “Thou shalt not go up and down asa talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.”
The sages se the connection of these two concepts as being one and the same. It is the prohibition against Lashon Hara (“Evil Speech”) and the results thereof. In this line of thinking character assassination is equivalent to murder, but worse. With character assassination (from Lashon Hara) the victim is still living, but must live as though dead.
19:17 – “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”
This is a very interesting passage in that Messiah Yeshua makes an association with this passage and the previous, just as the sages linked the previous two ideas. In his Sermon on the Mount, he says:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
In this teaching, Yeshua faithfully places Lev. 19:17 in context with the previous verse (“neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour”) to create a midrash which interprets Torah to say that even harboring bitterness against your brother is equivalent to bloodshed, and will incur equal judgment.
19:19 – “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff.”
Again, this is the crux of this parashat – “holiness.” It is these things which have no “logical” reason or consequence which “set apart” (sanctify / make holy) His people from the “unholy” or “common” (Acts 10:14 is a quick reference which equates these terms). When we are living by Hashem’s Torah, we cannot help but be different from the “norm.” The secular person can wade through the “scientific benefits” from Kosher foods, monogamous heterosexual relationships, etc. But it is only those upon whose hearts the Torah is being written (Jeremiah 31:31ff) who cheerfully adopt the “chukim” (those things in Torah which seem to make no logical sense) in order to “be holy” as He is holy.
