Parshat Achrei Mot.–Kedoshim (5770): To Be Or, What NOT To Be
Parshat Achrei Mot.–Kedoshim (5770): To Be Or, What NOT To Be
“Do not perform the practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled, and do not perform the practice of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions” [i].
In this week's parsha, the Jews have gone from the shackles of Egypt to the heightened spiritual experience of Har Sinai. The Jews now sit at the foot of Har Sinai and receive the instructions for the mishkan and the Temple service.
After more than four-hundred years of Egyptian servitude, the Jews' slave mentality that fill the Torah’s story line remains alive and breathing in all of us today. When something is so deeply rooted in our being, it is our responsibility to rectify that which is wrong and unjust.
As we begin a new journey from the land of Egypt, G-d commands us how to act and how not to act. Through His words, He shows us that the Jewish people are distinct and not like any other nation. We have specific morals and guidelines for what we do and don’t do. The Egyptians were immoral with relations, so we are commanded in meticulous detail with which relations are prohibited. The Canaanites were intensely engaged in idolatrous ways, therefore we are constantly reminded: “I am HaShem.” As the verse says, “Do not become contaminated through any of these, for through all of these the nations that I expelled before you became contaminated” [ii].
From the night of the first seder, we count fifty days of the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot [iii]. Rashi tells us that if the Jewish people stayed in Egypt for even a moment longer, we would have descended to the 50th and final level of impurity, which would have ended the Jewish nation’s existence. We count to remind ourselves that we must replace what we knew, with what we know and to understand what we lacked verses what we have.
Through the above verse we learn two important things: Heal the past and prepare for the future, but most importantly, focus on the present. Dani Friedenberg’s father said it perfectly: “Don’t learn from your mistakes, learn from everyone else’s."
Every aspect of the Torah during the forty years in the wilderness was preparation for Israel. The problem emerges when we don’t count the Omer, when we don’t learn from our past and when we don’t learn from the nations before us.
As Hashem tells us, “The people who lived in the land before you did all these disgusting perversions and defiled the land. Do not cause the land to vomit you out when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was there before you” [iv].
Through the merit of the Omer, we rectify what we individually perverted, and we cleanse ourselves to be a fit vessel to receive the Torah at Sinai. The month of Iyar is known as the month of healing. The letters Aleph-Yud-Yud-Hay serve as an acronym for “Ani HaShem Rophecha,” which means, “I am HaShem your healer” [v]. These are the words that HaShem spoke to the Jewish people after the splitting of the sea. Through the merit of this month, we strive to grow out of our “baggage” from Egypt and we begin anew, with G-d’s love and security saying, "All the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt, I will not visit upon you" [vi].
This week I will try to: learn from the past, prepare for the future and live in the now. I will realize that the nations that were kicked out of Israel were kicked out for defilement of the land (why were we kicked out?). I will start healing that which is broken, and I will let go of my past for the sake of my future.
[i] Vayikra 18:3
[ii] Ibid. 18:24
[iii] The counting is intended to remind us of the link between Passover, which commemorates the Exodus, and Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah. It reminds us that the redemption from slavery was not complete until we received the Torah.
[iv] Leviticus 18:27-28
[v] Exodus 15:26
[vi] Ibid.
“Do not perform the practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled, and do not perform the practice of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions” [i].
In this week's parsha, the Jews have gone from the shackles of Egypt to the heightened spiritual experience of Har Sinai. The Jews now sit at the foot of Har Sinai and receive the instructions for the mishkan and the Temple service.
After more than four-hundred years of Egyptian servitude, the Jews' slave mentality that fill the Torah’s story line remains alive and breathing in all of us today. When something is so deeply rooted in our being, it is our responsibility to rectify that which is wrong and unjust.
As we begin a new journey from the land of Egypt, G-d commands us how to act and how not to act. Through His words, He shows us that the Jewish people are distinct and not like any other nation. We have specific morals and guidelines for what we do and don’t do. The Egyptians were immoral with relations, so we are commanded in meticulous detail with which relations are prohibited. The Canaanites were intensely engaged in idolatrous ways, therefore we are constantly reminded: “I am HaShem.” As the verse says, “Do not become contaminated through any of these, for through all of these the nations that I expelled before you became contaminated” [ii].
From the night of the first seder, we count fifty days of the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot [iii]. Rashi tells us that if the Jewish people stayed in Egypt for even a moment longer, we would have descended to the 50th and final level of impurity, which would have ended the Jewish nation’s existence. We count to remind ourselves that we must replace what we knew, with what we know and to understand what we lacked verses what we have.
Through the above verse we learn two important things: Heal the past and prepare for the future, but most importantly, focus on the present. Dani Friedenberg’s father said it perfectly: “Don’t learn from your mistakes, learn from everyone else’s."
Every aspect of the Torah during the forty years in the wilderness was preparation for Israel. The problem emerges when we don’t count the Omer, when we don’t learn from our past and when we don’t learn from the nations before us.
As Hashem tells us, “The people who lived in the land before you did all these disgusting perversions and defiled the land. Do not cause the land to vomit you out when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was there before you” [iv].
Through the merit of the Omer, we rectify what we individually perverted, and we cleanse ourselves to be a fit vessel to receive the Torah at Sinai. The month of Iyar is known as the month of healing. The letters Aleph-Yud-Yud-Hay serve as an acronym for “Ani HaShem Rophecha,” which means, “I am HaShem your healer” [v]. These are the words that HaShem spoke to the Jewish people after the splitting of the sea. Through the merit of this month, we strive to grow out of our “baggage” from Egypt and we begin anew, with G-d’s love and security saying, "All the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt, I will not visit upon you" [vi].
This week I will try to: learn from the past, prepare for the future and live in the now. I will realize that the nations that were kicked out of Israel were kicked out for defilement of the land (why were we kicked out?). I will start healing that which is broken, and I will let go of my past for the sake of my future.
[i] Vayikra 18:3
[ii] Ibid. 18:24
[iii] The counting is intended to remind us of the link between Passover, which commemorates the Exodus, and Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah. It reminds us that the redemption from slavery was not complete until we received the Torah.
[iv] Leviticus 18:27-28
[v] Exodus 15:26
[vi] Ibid.
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