This Week’s Torah Portion: The Golden Rule – PJ Media

Dvar Torah -- Acharei Moth/Qdoshim (Leviticus XVI, 1 - XX, 27)

It has already been noted that the concept of qdusha (sanctity, holiness) implies a separation or dedication to some higher purpose. Thus, Israel, as the nation dedicated to the actualization and propagation of Torah in the world, is called the mamlecheth kohanim vgoy qadosh (kingdom of kohanim and holy nation, Exodus XIX, 6) and is subject to such restrictions as kashruth as a result (cf. Leviticus XI).

Within Israel, the descendants of Aharon, the kohanim who administer such institutions of qdusha as the Temple, are similarly subject to restrictions -- e.g. in terms of whom they may marry -- over and above those that apply to Israel in general.

This manifestation of qdusha certainly finds expression in our parasha. In order to explain why Qdoshim follows Acharei Moth (and, as this year, the two are often read together), Rashi cites a midrash from Torath Kohanim. Acharei Moth ends with an exhaustive list of depraved practices, in particular forbidden sexual unions, against which Israel is warned, characterized as maas eretz Mitzrayim (whence they had just come) and maas eretz Knaan (whither they were going; cf. Leviticus XVIII, 3).

Qdoshim begins with the command: Qdoshim tihyu (You will be holy, XIX, 2), which the midrash, as Rashi phrases it, explains as meaning: Be separate from improper relationships and from transgression, for every place you find limitation of impropriety, you find sanctity.

The Oral Torah is shot through with expressions of this idea. Thus, in Yrushalmi Yvamoth II, 1 we find: Anyone who restrains himself from sexual impropriety is called holy. Similarly, in Shvuoth 18b, Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefeth declares: Anyone who sanctifies himself during marital relations will have male children, as it is said, And you shall sanctify yourselves and you will be holy (Leviticus XI, 44). And close to that: For a woman will conceive and bear a male (ibid., XII, 2). Sons who are fully occupied in Torah study and the fulfillment of its mitzvoth are born in qdusha.

Our parasha reveals another aspect of qdusha besides the already well-established concept of prishuth or restraint mentioned supra. A series of noble precepts enjoin Israel to be kind to the weak and respect the aged, and to refrain from bearing a grudge, from oppression, and from robbery. It culminates in the sublime declaration:

You will not take revenge and you will not bear a grudge against your people, and you will love your fellow like yourself; I am Ha-Shem (ibid., XIX. 18).

This, Rabbi Aqiva tells us, is the klal gadol baTorah (fundamental principle in the Torah, Yrushalmi Ndarim IX, 4) and Rashi, citing the midrash, tells us of our parasha sherov gufei Torah tluyiim bah (that most of the fundamental concepts of Torah are dependent on it).

Continued here:

This Week's Torah Portion: The Golden Rule - PJ Media