Wendy Roberman
May 14, 2016
D’var Torah notes
KEDOSHIM
Leviticus 19:1 – 20:27
- Intro
Kedoshim, today’s parsha, means holy and consists of instructions for holiness
Goes on to include all the instructions for how to do this; many things we’re familiar with, such as these commandments are paths towards that holiness:
Fear/love your parents…………observe the Sabbath……………don’t turn to idols, some rules about sacrifices that don’t apply to us today. It includes such as don’t put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. Don’t gossip. Don’t hate in your heart.
- Key commandment/action we’re familiar with is: be holy by sharing with those in need
sharing some of whatever you have, with others:
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not fully reap the corner of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.”
We’re instructed to Leave that for the poor and the stranger. First of all, don’t harvest it all, and second, even from where you do harvest, don’t gather what’s fallen whether its seeds or fruit These lines are included in our Torah reading today. Most of us don’t live in the same kind of agrarian or even nomadic society, so we need to find other ways to “leave the corners and allow others to glean”. All of us in this room give tzadaka, charity, probably in many different ways. We fill shopping bags with canned food on the High Holidays. I like connecting it to the vision of fields of wheat or vineyards as it brings us back to the earth and the most basic of basic needs, food and water, as in wheat and grapes. I encourage all of us to add one more way this year of leaving something for others. And, if you grow food, consider finding ways to donate some of it to the several places in town that accept fresh produce for the hungry. I did some research this week and have information to share out on the lunch tables.
- Another key idea we’re familiar with: be holy by loving others
The verse from the parsha reads:
| 18You shall neither take revenge from nor bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. |
יחלֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵֽעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֹֽה: |
And a bit later in the Torah, so that this is clear that it’s not just “your people”:
“The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as a native from among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The central concept of holiness, how to be holy, is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the other “instructions” and commandments are how to act and show this love.
Hillel story; key point is that we must not only believe, or feel it, but “the rest is commentary – now go study” means we must study how to do it.
So central to Judaism, literally & metaphorically central, is this phrase, that it is in the middle book (Yayikra), in the middle chapter of the book (Kedoshim), and this verse is the middle verse of that chapter! It is in the heart and center of the Torah.
While researching, I found this interesting.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/193339/aviya-kushner-translation
Aviyah Kushner, former correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, wrote a book called “The Grammar of God”. She talks about the concept eyn mukdam u’meuchar baTorah ; there is no early and no late in the Torah. This is the phrase that Rabbis use when discussing chronological discrepancies in the Torah. And it reminds us that the Torah is not a strict history book.
She compares it to modern art, which often is only understood when it includes the viewer. That the reliance on the reader’s judgment and ability to understand includes the reader in the book. No matter what century the reader is in, she gets to have a say in what the Torah is to him or her.
The reason I was led to Aviyah Kushner’s comments was because in the Dvar Torah on Kidushim by Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, (she’s on the regular faculty of ALEPH), she talks about eyn mukdam u’meuchar baTorah –
there’s no early and no late in the Torah. The Rabbi’s through the centuries starting in 90 CE.
She says there is a Life Cycle Wisdom in the Torah
“The Torah begins with birth. “In the beginning God created…but the land was empty, and what was there was a bit chaotic.”
The Torah ends with death. “Moshe died, and was buried, and the Israelites mourned him. God knew Moshe, face to face, inner being to inner being.”
Between these two bookends lies the story of the Torah – and the developmental story of a person’s inner life.
In the middle chapter of Vayikra “God Calls,” Torah offers the wisdom that brings us from chaos to Presence: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
In mid-life (mid-Torah), we learn the deep wisdom of love, and we are graced with the opportunity to share it as we help our companions face life’s wilderness journeys.
Our sages say, eyn mukdam u’meuchar baTorah – the teachings of Torah don’t necessarily unfold in a linear temporal order. Some of us are just beginning; others are reflecting. Some are wandering in the wilderness, while others are claiming with clarity their true names. This is the beauty of community: a group of people, each exploring different stages of spiritual wisdom, shares and grows together.”
Also, “there’s no early and no late” comes in in that learning is not linear; there are starts and stops and steps forward and backward and there are contradictions and anachronisms along the way. And much like modern art, when we encounter it at 17 we see and understand it differently than when we encounter the same piece at 37 and again at 67. The piece of art hasn’t changed, but our encounter has changed the meaning of it for us.
- So, back to the beginning, where we are told “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am Holy.”
I wondered:
Is this an imperative, or a statement of fact?
Are we being told, “do these things so that you can be/become Holy”, or is it a statement, affirming that because God is Holy, we are (already) Holy?
Some see it one way, others another.
For Rabbi Shefa Gold – statement of fact: it is our birthright
“the realization of our identity in God — dawns on us slowly and calls us into the holiness that is our birthright.”
WHEN I AM CONNECTED TO THAT DIVINE CORE OF HOLINESS,THEN:
I have reverence for my parents,
where I come from,
I protect and cherish the sacred times of rest,
I leave the corners of the field,
a portion of my earnings for the poor and the stranger,
I do not steal or lie and swear falsely,
I love my neighbor and the stranger as myself.”
At some times in our lives, we feel like Shefa, “because God is holy, and I and all of us are all One, we are holy too. It’s a statement of fact. And sometimes in our lives, we don’t feel that connection, and the words are there for us as a commandment, because even if we don’t feel it, if we act it, we will still be holy by our actions, and perhaps the feeling will come.
And because there’s no early and no late in the Torah; it doesn’t matter which one it is at any point in time. They’re both true.
Love you neighbor as yourself, the basic tenet of all the world’s religions, is in the very heart and center of the Torah for us to access, study, learn and grow from.