Art by Rivka Korf Studio
A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT FROM RABBI MORDY
This week’s Parsha gives us a host of ethical and practical laws. It tells of laws relating to Shabbat, to acting in fairness in business, to honoring one’s parents, to, famously, the cardinal law to “love one’s fellow as oneself,” which is referred to by our sages as the great principle of the Torah. But there is something puzzling in the name of the Parsha that tells us these laws; the name is “Kedoshim,” meaning “you shall be holy.” Holy? Doesn’t that usually refer to someone alone in meditative state of “holiness?” Or perhaps someone deep in prayer, maybe secluded and isolated from society? But laws relating to business and honoring ones parents, or how we treat our fellow man—how do these bring one to a state of holiness? This is the lesson of the Parsha. A quintessential tenet in Judaism is that holiness, spirituality, are not things that we should associate with a certain time of day or specific location. Sure, there is Yom Kippur, and there is Shabbat which has a weekly specialty, but our task is to infuse holiness in the mundane. We are at work? Let’s ensure that is a holy experience. We are interacting with someone at the store or in the street? This too is something with the potential for holiness. Can it simply be a passing mundane event not worthy of a footnote? Sure it can, but our job, our responsibility, is to elevate everyday life by acting in a refined, kind, honorable and respectful manner. And that all adds up to holiness, something we need more of in the world—especially now. Good Shabbos!