Delivered May 5th 2000

Kedoshim

 

This parsha deals with the attainment of holiness ?

central to all of Judaism and the reason for it all

it describes derech eretz ? the way we should live ?

and our question ? or rather our  four questions that we have to ask

as we stand between Pesach and Shavuot are simple:

why holiness,

where holiness,

when holiness and

how holiness ?

And so the story begins

a long time ago

in a far far far away  land

God turned to Moses:

 Vayidabayr Adonai el moshe laymor:

dabayr el kol adat bnei yisrael

veamarta ulayhem

kedoshim teeha yoo  kiy kadosh ani adonai eloheichem

holiness (in the plural ) you shall be

because I (in the singular) am holy

the Lord

your God

It seems that the why is not even a choice that we have ?

it is a commandment ?

you have to be holy, because I am holy

We all can remember those supremely harmonious and Godly times

Sometimes for the briefest of moments

But so memorable and strong that the

memory and yearning for them

remain.

All alone or perhaps with another in a similar quieted frame of mind ?

by the sea at sunset or

at the quiet of a  waterhole in the middle of the wilds of Africa

watching the giraffes alongside  the zebras gracefully and silently taking their evening drink or

in the forest after a rainfall, when the

harmony of it all comes together  in a single moment ?

the time is right, the space is right, and there is an inner realization that this must be what God is all about ?

and then the feeling is gone

as we buzz around with  busyness of the business of life

And those times seem to have come in the quieter periods of our lives ?

Sometimes even in childhood

And more often in the early idealistic years of adulthood.

Once serious survival takes place

We seem to get worn down:

a mortgage a family, a car, insurance, the PTA meeting

did you feed the birds?, has Aaron got his book for the library ?

and then the aging process,

? we get bogged down by the physical issues

and  thoughts of holiness

and its attainment seem to be the last in the queue for our time

and we try at Yom Kippur

Fasting in our white clothes and sneakers

and it does not seem to work as it should ? despite our serious attempts ?

or at least it does not always work for me.

And yet we have to do it because we have been commanded to do it.

And we have faith that it must be a good thing,

since we have had those brief harmonious moments with nature in the mountains that were precious.

So where and when should we seek holiness?

Is it in the mundane or in the mountains?

(as Dan Caine put it so eloquently)

and to paraphrase,

does the mundane go to the mountains

or the mountains to the mundane?

And it came to pass that

Moses came down from the

mountain with two tablets made of stone??

and for Jews therefore  the solution ?

bring mountains to the mundane ? there is no question.

Kedoshim is derived from the root letters

kuf

daled

shin

 The letter KUF seems to be surrounded by utter confusion.

No definite unifying theme emerges as one delves into its meaning and its gematria

The word kuf means

to surround,

or to touch,

but it also means monkey.-

not the typical animal you would associate with holiness

and more like the opposite

The letter KUF is associated with the words

kadosh  and  that sounds good and

hakaifa ? cycles ? that seems appropriate ?

but if you delve into its makeup, shape and gematria

you will again find confusion.

Michael Munk in his book

The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet

writes that the kuf is made up from a

chaf and a vav

a gematria of 26 which is the same as the

yud hey vav hey 26  of god?s unspeakable name

Yitzchak Ginsburgh, on the other hand,

in his book entitled The Hebrew Letters,

states that the KUF is formed by a

RESH above and a

ZAYIN descending below.

A gematria of  27 ?

(not a chaf and a vav) and therefore

not quite as Godly.

So between the cycles and the holiness,

The monkey business and the zayins

The reishes and the vavs

It sounds much like the confusion of our lives.

We start to see some clarity however when we look toward the daled ?

A little more boring perhaps

but wherein lies the solution

A delet or door strict in its orthogonal shape

Strict in its meaning

Unarguably a passageway from one environment to another

from the confused and  tsumisht  kuf to the

welcoming shin of

shalom, shabbat  and the shema

 vehayoo hadevarim ha-aleh?and these were the words

v?dibartam bam                        And you shall speak of them

bishivticha b?vaytecha,        when you dwell in your house

uvlechticha baderech                       when you walk by the way,

b?shochbacha uvikumecha.     when you lie down and when you rise up.

Why holiness? Because you have been commanded.

Where? ? bishivticha b?vaytecha,  ? everywhere ?

When? ? uvlechticha baderech  ? all the time ?

 impossible for mere humans of course?

       How?- the shema does not tell us ? herein lies the rub and the contribution of  kedoshim

Kedoshim

lays the rules of

how we should deal with

God, people, animals, and our environment.

on Godly things

vaet  shabtotai tishmeroo                 and keep my Sabbaths

ul tifnoo el haelilim ?                                    do not turn toward idols

velo tishuvoo  vishmee  lashaker

                                                      do not swear falsely by my name

veyarayta mayelohecha                   you shall fear God

ani adonai elohecha                         I am the Lord your God

et chuktai tishmaroo                                    you shall observe my laws

and when dealing with those closest to you

 ish imi

veaviv tiraoo                                         a person?s mother and his father he shall revere

lo tisnuh et achicha                            do not hate your brother

lo tikum ve lo titar et benay umecha

                                                            do not take vengeance

                                                            or bear a grudge

                                                            against the people of your nation

veahavta lerayacha kamocha                 love your neighbour as yourself

and on sexual relations

about  the with whom to tie the knot

and the who-nots

not to knot with

and when dealing with your fellow beings in your day to day work

 

lo tignov                                                                 do not steal

velo techuchsoo                              do not deal falsely

lo taasok et rayecha                                    do not defraud your fellow

mipnay sayvah tukoom                    you shall rise before the aged

gayr beartzechem lo tohnoo oto

               a visitor to your land ? do not wrong him

 

and when you are dealing with those less fortunate

uvakootzrechem et kezir arzechem

         when you reap the harvest of your land

lo techuleh pe-ut sudcha

                                                      do not reap to the edges

                                                      remember the poor

lo tekalayl chayraish                                    do not insult the deaf

ve liphnay iyvayr                             and in front of the blind

lo titayne michsal                             do not put a stumbling block

when dealing with your animals

do not let your cattle mate with a different kind

 

when dealing with your fields

do not sow your field with two different kinds of seed

uvushana hachamishith tochloo et piyro  on the fifth year you can eat the  fruits of a newly planted field

and on food things

lo tochloo ul hadum   do not eat anything with its blood

when dealing with your clothes

do not mix two kinds of material

And so you do all these things all your life and

you may still not get the feeling in the mundane that you had in the mountains ? there were so many rules that you spent half your life trying to remember how long you wait to eat the meat after the milk and the milk after the meat

And so we have the ?how? and it still does not work.

 The answer again is in kedoshim.

Why kedoshim in the plural

and not  kedusha or kadosh in the singular?

And why in the first instance does God tell Moses

dabayr el kol adat bnei yisrael and

why not dabayr el adat bnei yisrael?

The answer according to Rashi is that

we can be worthy of attaining such holiness only if we

merge our own personalities into the larger community and identify completely with the people of Israel.

Only ?in full assembly? can we be holy.

im kol adat bnei yisrael.

What underlies the commandment:  Be holy because I am holy?

Try this thought process:

Make yourself the God of your person.

Make each of your organs a different nation and

choose the brain as your chosen nation.

Make each cell in your body

a person in the world of which you are in charge,

and make each brain cell a person in your chosen nation.

And you are the God of this person

and you want to see health and order and harmony

You know that if each organ or nation went its own way

there would be no function at all

and you know (in your all-knowing way)

that if each cell went on its independent way

there would be chaos.

(This is, by the way, what happens in the disorder created by cancer ?

a single cancer cell decides that it will not obey the rules.

It is a  radical in the community

with no regard for the welfare of the whole

it multiplies and makes more of the same kind ? and eventually wreaks disorder and havoc)

and it is Shabbat and you as the God of your person want to rest

but there is one brain cell that wants to buzz around in your ear

doing his stock portfolio on the computer.

Would you not command that cell and every other cell to

be quiet on Shabbat and to behave like everyone else

so that all can rest and have peace ? just for one day? ?

Why holiness,

kedoshim teeha yoo  kiy kadosh ani adonai eloheichem

    and you if you were the God of your person you would command the same Where and When holiness,  ?

bishivticha b?vaytecha, ?     when you dwell in your house

uvlechticha baderech                       when you walk by the way,

b?shochbacha uvikumecha.

 when you lie down and when you rise up.

And How holiness ?

                  et chuktai tishmaroo      you shall observe my laws

not only by yourself ? but merge your own personality into the larger community

kol adat bnei yisrael

Shabbat Shalom

      Ashley Davidoff