Parashat Kedoshim
by Adrian Kelaty, Dvar Yerushalayim Student
Gur Aryeh

DEDICATED TO:
YEHUDA BEN MOSHE KELATY, Z"L
SHABBAT SHALOM

The parsha of Kedoshim opens when G-d tells Moshe, "Speak to the
entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, `Be
holy,' because I, the L-rd your G-d, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). This
command to `be holy' is the opening of the parsha because it includes
all the other commandments in the parsha which follow it. Apparently,
this mitzvah commands us that when we do G-d's mitzvot they should not
be like a burden or yoke upon us. In other words, we should not do the
mitzvot with the desire to be finished with them as soon as possible,
like a child who runs away from a school where he has been forcefully
compelled to study. Rather, a person's desire to do the mitzvot should
emanate from the depths of his heart.

It is even possible that a person could be very scrupulous and work
very hard to do the mitzvot, yet he is actually far away from them.
Despite his strenuous efforts, it might be that the mitzvot are really
a heavy burden upon him, and his heart is really bound to material
things and the affairs of this world. Therefore, the Torah commands us
with this inclusive mitzvah to `be holy'.

The Hebrew word for `holy' is "kadosh," and it is well-known that the
main implication of the word kadosh is "separate." This is true in
both its positive and negative connotations. For example, a prostitute
is a "kedaishah" because she is separated and set aside for sin. In
its positive connotation, the word kadosh (holy) implies separation
and withdrawal from the material into the spiritual.

Although all the mitzvot raise and separate a person from the
material, this function also depends somewhat upon the mentality of
the person who is doing them. Therefore, we are commanded not to do
the mitzvot because of compulsion or as a merely external act. Rather,
we should do them as acts deriving from our inner being, and we should
completely identify with them. One of the mitzvot commanded in the
parsha is the prohibition to eat fruit from a tree for the first three
years that it bears fruit. The first three years' fruit of a tree is
called "orla," the same word used for that part of the skin which is
removed by circumcision. The verse (Leviticus 19:23) which prohibits
eating fruit which is orla uses a difficult arrangement of words:
"ve'oraltem orlato". The Ibn Ezra explains these difficult words by
stating, firstly, that they do not constitute the actual prohibition
since the verse concludes by stating explicitly, "...You shall not eat
them." Then he writes, "It shall be considered in your eyes as an
uncircumcised thing."

According to what has been written here, we can attempt to explain
what the Ibn Ezra intended. When a person throws away the fruit of
the first three years for which he laboured, then he should think that
it is as if this fruit is unhealthy or spoiled and he also does not
want to eat it. In other words, he should identify with the mitzvah
and want to do it as if it were his own desire. That is how it should
appear in his own eyes. In the same way, a person who wants to advance
in his service of G-d must strive to make his desires and emotions
consistent with the Will of G-d, as our sages have taught, "Make your
will His Will...." The will of a person should become completely
identified with G-d's Will. In this way he will become close to G-d
and like Him.
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Once a child is born he begins to grow and develop at an unbelievable
rate. By the time he is one year old his weight has tripled from what
it was at birth. Most of the time, the child is either eating or
sleeping. His sleep time, specifically, is the time for digestion when
the food he has eaten is converted into parts of his body and bones.
In other words, building the physical body and its development occurs,
mainly, during rest and sleep time.

Even at the time when the physical development of a person ceases, his
personal, spiritual development does not stop. He continues to think,
his character traits continue to operate, and he will constantly be in
a position of choosing between good and evil. Just as there is a
period of digestion and conversion of food into the physical substance
of the body, we find the same parallel process in the spiritual
building of the soul. There is a time of learning, when a person
invests all his strength in the toil of Torah. This is like the time
of eating, but for the soul. In the same way, there is also a time for
the soul to digest its nourishment and convert it into the elements of
spiritual being. This is the period when a person establishes,
realises or substantiates the Torah he has learned, and it is called
"Kiyum HaTorah".

In our prayers we ask for G-d's assistance that we should be able "to
learn and to teach, to guard and to do, and to fulfill (kiyum)." In
other words, learning and kiyum are two separate functions done in two
separate times. There is a time when a person must stop learning in
order to take care of transient needs. Concerning this period Chazal
have said that there is a time when cessation of learning Torah is its
kiyum, and it means, simply, that transient needs are also part of
G-d's Will.

However, there is also another explanation to these words that there
is a time when cessation of learning is its kiyum in order that it
should endure and not spoil. There is a time when the Torah requires
kiyum, a time for a person's soul to digest his spiritual food and to
convert it into the substance of his spiritual being. That time, it
has already been explained, is the main time of growth and
development. The holidays throughout the year, Shabbat and the
festivals, can be equated to the time of spiritual eating for all of
Israel. The days between them are like those rest periods when the
digestion and conversion of the spiritual food takes place. This is
the time of kiyum for all of Israel, and this description especially
characterises the days of counting the Omer between Pesach and
Shavuot. This is an absolutely necessary period for the soul to digest
the lessons it has absorbed on the night of the seder, throughout Chol
Hamoed and the seventh day of Pesach. All the sparks of light and
impressions of kedushah which enlightened those days must be digested
and converted into spiritual substance, as it is written, "Place it
upon your hearts." (Duet. 30:1). In this way we become ready to
receive the Torah anew on Shavuot.

There is a verse in Psalms (92:8) which we recite during Kabbalat
Shabbat: "When the wicked propagate like weeds and all the workers of
iniquity sprout forth, to destroy them forever." This is like a person
who has become severely sick, and all the doctors have despaired of
finding a cure for him. Finally, one great doctor discovers the proper
medicine for him. However, when the sick person takes this medicine,
his condition becomes worse, his entire body breaks out with sores,
and it seems that only a few moments lie between him and death. He
says to the doctor, "Is this medicine, and is this what it does?" The
doctor answers, "You should know that your illness has penetrated very
deeply into your body. The strong medicine I gave you has extracted
the illness from within you to the outside of your body. Now that it
has gone out, I can give you another medicine which will cure you
completely."

The verse from Psalms which we recite in Kabbalat Shabbat is the same
case. We see the wicked flourishing like grass. All the workers of
iniquity sprout forth like mushrooms after the rain. The ways of evil
people prosper. In other words, the sickness has appeared upon the
body, but now the inner being is clean and purified. Now there is
hope for fulfilment of the verse's conclusion, "...to destroy them
forever."
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The verse (19:15) tells us "You shall judge your fellow man with
righteousness", obligating us to give someone the benefit of the
doubt, when we see him performing an action which could be interpreted
in his favour. Rabbi Aryeh Levine, renowned for his propensity to
judge people favourably, related to someone how he acquired this
attribute with the following incident:

"It happened when I attended the funeral of Rabbi Eliezer Rivlin, a
prominent treasurer of charity funds in Jerusalem. The deceased had an
intimate friend named Rabbi Shmuel Kook with whom he had worked
together for thirty years. When the funeral procession began, I
noticed that Rabbi Kook entered a flower shop and purchased a flower
pot.

"I was shocked and went over to Rabbi Kook to rebuke him. `Is this the
way to act at the funeral of a lifelong friend?' I censured him.
`Couldn't you find a more appropriate time to buy a flower pot?'

"He then explained his behaviour. He had befriended someone who was
hospitalised with a highly contagious disease. The day before, that
person had died. The doctors, who weren't Jewish, understandably
ordered that all of that person's belongings be burned. When Rav
Shmuel found out about the orders, he pleaded with the doctors not to
burn the deceased's tefillin, but to allow him to bury them instead.
They finally agreed that if he would obtain an earthenware flower pot,
they would permit the tefillin to be buried in it. But they warned him
that he had only until twelve o'clock to bring the flower pot.
Therefore, he had to leave the funeral procession of his best friend
in order to meet the deadline.

"At that moment, I made a resolution to always judge people
favourably."

-taken from "Love Your Neighbour", by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin.

SHABBAT SHALOM
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Shabbat Shalom

Sources:

"Insights into the Torah" - Rav Zalman Soratzkin
"The Midrash Says" - Rav Moshe Weissman
"The Call of the Torah" - Rav Elie Munk
"Love your neighbour" - Rav Zelig Pliskin
"Encyclopedia of Biblical Personalities" - Yishai Charidah