Articles in K’doshim
Kedoshim: Legislating Moral Conduct
Human Rights Commissions
I attended a seminar on Canadian Human Rights Commissions. On the whole the event amounted to a wholesale “Let’s Quash Human Rights Commissions” extravaganza. But I must concede that the tone of the event was rather peaceful. The presenters articulated their call for abolition in reasoned, albeit impassioned, …
Kedoshim: Food For thought For Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Shared Ownership
Addressing the entire Jewish nation, the Torah states, “When you reap the harvest from your fields (plural) do not fully reap the corner of your field (singular). . . leave it to the poor.” The first stitch of the verse is written in the plural whereas the second …
K’doshim: Gossip can be Deadly
Innocent Chatter
On a bus in Tel Aviv, an elderly woman could not help but overhear as two young ladies gossiped about a friend, who was engaged to be married. Giggling, they predicted that if her fiancé would only discover her faults, he would surely call off their engagement. The woman …
Acharei Mot K’doshim: Journey of Sanctification
A Mixed Message
This week we read a double Parsha Acharei Mot and K’doshim. The first Parsha is a description of the Kohen Gadol, holiest Jew in the nation, in the Kodesh Hakadashim (Holy of Holies), holiest place in the world, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.
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Acharei Mot K’doshim: A Lifetime of Forward Steps
Be Holy
Our Parsha exhorts us to be holy and the reason given is “For I (Hashem) am holy”. The Midrash adds that though we are encouraged to reach for Hashem’s holiness, it will always remain beyond us. What did the Midrash seek to accomplish by this statement? Try to reach …
K’doshim: Man and Tree
Three Stages in a Tree
Man and tree are the same. What happens to the tree eventually happens to man. in light of the above we explore the teaching from this week’s Parsha that forbids the eating of fruit from the first three years of the tree’s existence. On the fourth …
K’doshim : Exclusive Dedication
Sanctity and Dedication
Our Parsha begins this week with an anomalous command for an anomalous reason. “Sanctify yourself,” the Torah instructs us,
“for I am sanctified.” (1) How does one sanctify oneself? and what exactly is the Torah referring to when it tells us that G-d is
sanctified? Furthermore, why does the fact …
