Shabbos Parashas Acharei Mos-Kedoshim/Emor - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Acharei Mos-Kedoshim/Emor - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

Every man shall revere his mother and his father and you shall observe My Sabbaths,

I am Hashem your G-d. [Vayikra 19:3]

For a six-day period labor may be done, and the seventh day is a day of complete

rest, a calling of holiness, you shall not do any work, it is a Sabbath for Hashem

in all your settled places. [Vayikra 23:3]

Oy. Last week I edited out (unintentionally) Parashas Emor from my list of upcoming

readings. Cut-and-paste error. No excuse. This week in Israel, next week for those of

you in Chutz LaAretz.

Continuing with our effort to find linkage between the parshiyot being read in the

different places, we find sequences of three verses in each that are closely related.

Both sequences of verses begin with "Hashem spoke to Moshe saying". The second

verse in each sequence begins almost the same. In Kedoshim it says, "Speak to the

entire assembly of the children of Israel and say to them," whereas in Emor it leaves

out the words "entire assembly". Many commentators discuss this, but it is not our

point this week. The second verses then command two different things, but there is

a correspondence. In Kedoshim, G-d commands us to be holy, in Emor, He commands

us to designate holidays as being holy. The third verse in each sequence gives clear

but different commands, however, each seems to be based on observing the Shabbos.

There are two obvious ties here, holiness and Shabbos, but there are many differences

as well. The first speaks of honoring parents, and the second describes holidays. The

Torah mentions both holiness and Shabbos hundreds of times. What is the relation here?

First, let us ask, why group parents and Shabbos in Kedoshim? We note that the verses

in this section ([19:1 through about 25] are actually a direct repetition of the Ten

Commandments. We could say that these two are representative of all ten as regards to

holiness, sufficient for the purpose of this section of the Torah, and stop right there. But the

Torah ordinarily doesn't do that. Thus we look for something deeper with these two. We find it

in 'mesorah', tradition. The command to honor parents tells us that we must know from where

we came, know who we are. Nechama Leibowitz says, "honoring parents is not an ordinary

precept but a fundamental principle of the Torah, whose continued existence depends on

tradition, without which its entire edifice would collapse." What might she have meant by this

"entire edifice"? Trust, respect for others, and duty to those who brought us to where we are.

These are the bases of holiness. These lessons are crucial to life, they override most other

mitzvos, but not the Shabbos which exemplifies them.

Next we ask, why group holidays and Shabbos? Certainly the laws for both are nearly

identical, and both are specified as being holy. In which case, we ask, where are they

different? There is one huge difference. Holidays are holiness that we have a part in

designating, while Shabbos was designated as holy before Israel existed, before

man existed, in fact all the way back during Creation. Why group them? They are both

"callings of holiness", equated by G-d even though He sets one and we set the other.

So, where is the connection? In a word, 'holiness'. The word in Hebrew is kedusha, which

we generally translate as either 'holiness' or 'sanctification'. What it really means is 'to

be set aside', meaning for something special. How does this apply here?

Our verse in Kedoshim introduces a segment on laws of sexual immorality. Beginning

with honoring our parents, acknowledging where we came from, it becomes clear that

the future depends on our following in their footsteps in this regard. Kedusha here means

separating ourselves from wrong, as our parents did (or we wouldn't be here). G-d set

this up, He designated it as holiness.

From that, folks throughout the ages of the world have jumped to the conclusion that

they should avoid anything 'fun', separating themselves from anything that might be

considered immoral. At first glance, that seems right, in that 'immoral' is wrong. But it

doesn't follow that we must separate ourselves from 'fun'. We separate Shabbos from the

other days of the week, not to sit and do nothing on Shabbos, but to use it in joy for

the things G-d intended us to do.

The Gemora in Yevamos [20a] says, "Make yourself holy through that which you are

permitted." The Ramban explains that this does not mean we have to avoid the sensual

pleasures. A man is allowed to cohabit with his wife. He is allowed to eat meat and

drink wine. But there are rules for when and how to do these, and when and how not

to do these. Our responsibility is not to avoid the permitted, but to use it correctly. It

is for us to make these things holy by separating right from wrong.

G-d made Shabbos holy. He made honoring those to whom we owe a debt holy. It

falls to us to make the holidays holy by using them as He wished, and to make

ourselves holy by applying correctly that which is permitted to us.