Acharei Mot-Kedoshim – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

After several weeks of dealing with issues of ritual purity and the clean and unclean foods, this week we move forward and we talk about holiness. We are commanded to:

We will also talk about faith, religion and ceremony, and discuss the practical aspects of life, as our Torah portion answers the question, how can we practically live a life of holiness? It gives us examples of such a life, and we’ll talk about them later.

But first, I would like to speak about the interesting combination of the words “decrees and laws”, which appear more than 20 times in the Bible, and several times in today’s reading.

The same pair of words also appear in prophetic writings, like in our weekly Haftorah from Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 11:

What are they, these laws and decrees, and what is the meaning of the phrase; “Live by them?” which often comes right after mentioning “laws and decrees”?

According to Judaism, there are 613 commandments in the Bible, with the first and immediate division into two groups “to do” and “not to do” commandments.

The second division of the commandments is between “laws” and “decrees;” these are two different categories: “Laws" are commandments with a clear reason and purpose and their benefit is obvious. They are part of any legal regulations that are necessary in every society, such as the prohibitions not to murder, not to steal or not to give a false testimony. These are clear and logical. Such laws exist in every civilized society or country, and even if they are not exactly the same, then similar arrangements are in place. For example, instead of “appoint a king over you” (Deut. 17:15) most countries have an elected president or prime minister; but the principle is the same.

“Decrees”, on the other hand, are commandments, without a clear logical reason behind them. In this category we include the ritual commandments, the regulations between people and God, and everything else, that is not part of the civil law. Commandments like building a booth, a Sukkah, during the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you do not belong to the people who were redeemed from Egypt, and unless it is part of your collective memory, such a commandment, to build a booth, will have no meaning or reason for you. Only in connection to Israel, this commandment has spiritual, religious, and even national meaning. Also, the Sabbath, repeated again in our portion, has no social meaning.

It is related to the story of Creation. God rested on the seventh day, so He sanctified the seventh day. Here as well, the meaning of the Sabbath is religious, Biblical, and maybe even national, but it is not part of civil law.

I am not saying, that these commandments are less important; not at all. They protected our people in exile and kept us from assimilation. I am just saying that these commandments are not kept and not enforced anywhere outside of the Torah-observant world. These commandments are called “decrees.”

The “laws” that are similar to the civil laws of society, are meant to add moral qualities to our life. They are meant to build a better society and better relationships between people.

The “decrees” are meant to give us holiness; to bring us closer to God.

The laws and decrees compete each other and together, these two groups cover our relationships with each other and with God.

In my opinion, this is the reason why, when Yeshua was asked, which is the greatest and most important commandment, he mentioned the two, equally important.

When Yeshua is asked what is the greatest and the most important commandment, he gave his answer in two parts, the first - between man and God, and the second, between man and his neighbor.

If we are working in both directions, if we have love and the desire to serve God, as well as love and the desire to serve those around us, to help other people, then we fulfill the entire Torah. Because the Torah is dealing with these two questions: proper relationships between people, and how to bring people closer to God.

One of the questions that always come up in every religious dispute is about a good person; one who always tries to help others, and why isn’t it enough?

The answer is simple. If this person keeps only half of the requirements, he is keeping the laws. But what about the decrees that are supposed to bring people closer to God, that give people holiness?

The same claim can be addressed to people of faith, those who are religious. What about those who keep everything between man and God and keep all the religious requirements; is that enough?

The answer is the same. If such a person only keeps half of the requirements, what about the laws that are supposed to bring us closer to other people, and give us holiness?

What is it, that gives holiness to a man?This is exactly what our Torah portion is talking about. It lays out before, us everything we have to do:it is forbidden to steel, forbidden to lie, we are obligated to save a person in danger, our court system must be just, we must keep the Sabbath, it is forbidden to put an obstacle before the blind, and an additional 50 commandments, all of which can be categorized as requirements for holiness. Then, the most important and fundamental among them, according to Yeshua is:

In his first letter, Peter is asking us, the believers, to be holy in all aspects of our life:

When thinking of holiness or a holy person, we usually imagine someone who is separated from the world, who lives in a desert. Or a monk in deep meditation on a high mountain in Tibet, or a rabbi, whose life is completely dedicated to study the Torah.

But this is not what Peter is talking about. On the contrary, ‘be holy in all you do’ means - in the way you live. A person is asked to keep holiness in the very stir of life, actively participating in it.

Peter equates two passages from Leviticus. The first from chapter 11, deals with the most basic aspects of life; the kitchen and food. Holiness is not limited to the Temple, or to a certain religious ceremony. Holiness exists in every place, in every time, and in every person and even in food. After a long list of creatures, we are not allowed to eat, comes God’s order:

This order comes in connection with prohibition to eat defiled food. Here, in our Torah portion, the concept of holiness and the demand to be holy appears again. This is where Peter’s second quote comes from; the demand to “Be holy in all you do.”

To be holy means not to take advantage of your neighbor, not to hate your brother in your heart, not to slander. It means to reap from your field, but leave its fringes for the poor and needy.

To be holy means not to “…put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:14)

And who is the blind?

It could be a person with a disability who literally cannot see with his eyes? In such case, putting a stumbling block before him would be a really cruel joke; it would be a pure evil.

But, at the same time, a blind man can be someone, who is lacking knowledge or information. Our sages already said that someone without knowledge, someone who comes to you for advice or a recommendation, is like a person who is blind in a certain area and is asking which way to choose: what decision to make.

And we must be careful in what we advise them. The Bible tells us to “fear… God”. In this context, the blind is a person in trouble, who needs good advice, and if we mislead the one who trusts us, for personal gain, it is as if we put a stumbling block in a street in front of the blind.

This verse speaks of taking advantage of others for personal gain. For example, the horrible stories of companies that are selling appliances, guarantees and services to the elderly.

Charging them extra and taking advantage of their trust and lack of knowledge, while knowing with certainty, that they are giving bad advice; misleading and over-charging the elderly, all for the sake of greed and personal gain. This is an example of placing an obstacle before the blind, and “fear of God” is written exactly for these kinds of wrong practices, and we should be very careful not to do it.

How do we keep holiness?

According to the New Testament, and according to our Torah portion, we ought to keep holiness in every aspect of our life; in our personal and family life, in agriculture, at work and in business. The holiness is not kept from outside, from afar, but from within the activities of life.

Paul summarizes Yeshua’s teaching about the two most important commandments of the Torah, saying that everything boils down to love. If you love your neighbor, love the person next to you, you fulfill the purpose of the Torah. In this way, the entire Torah is fulfilled in one commandment:“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul Summarizes the whole Torah with these verses:

All the commandments concerning people and their neighbors, are included in the verse “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Now we need to understand the meaning of the phrase “live by them” in connection with the laws and the decrees. In this Torah portion, God warns us not to follow the ways of Egypt, or the ways of the local inhabitants of Canaan, who did not keep purity or holiness, who corrupted and defiled the Land, and because of this, God drove them out.

God warns the people of Israel and us today, if we want to be worthy of living in Israel, in the Holy Land, we have to keep the Word of God.

All of this appears in the conclusion of our Torah Portion:“

This text is talking about the continuity of the nation and the family; about the duty to keep the commandments. But also about passing the Word of God to the next generations, so that they will continue to live and prosper in the land of Israel.

I will like to conclude with the statement of Yeshua: