Acharei Mot-Kedoshim; Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27 by Rabbi Denise Eger
This double portion contains within it a section known as the Holiness Code. God tells the children of Israel—“You be holy, for I Adonai your God am holy” (Lev. 19:1). What does it mean to be holy? The word Kadosh (K D SH) means to set apart or make separate. Just as God is separate, unique, and distinct, so we the People Israel are also separate and distinct. The sanctity of God is extended to us by our covenant with God and by the commandments in the Torah, which help us to maintain our sacred way of being in the world.
There are many specifics mentioned in these two parshiot that are in part the means to create kedusha, holiness in our world and lives. No one mitzvah is the fast-track to holiness. Rather each of these specifics, whether leaving the four corners of the field for the poor, or being fair in your weights and balances, or not placing a stumbling block before the blind, contribute to an attitude of sanctity and a life filled with ethical behavior and living.
One way to think of the commandments (the mitzvot) and specifically these based around ethical behaviors and decision-making, is that our traditions tries to get us to overcome the base human urges and reactions. People can be very cruel. They can be cruel and think it is funny. Just watch any reality television show. The entertainment value of Bam Magera painting his father blue while he sleeps, (See M TV) or the tears that flow from the Big Brother House in the cruel words that are used between contestants are just a couple of examples of the ways in which we human beings can ignore the call to holiness. A show like, “Date My Mother” debases the mother and daughter as well as the fellow seeking a date. All you have to do is listen to how they speak to one another, the ridiculous situations they put each other in, and the comments made towards each other based on looks, attitude and other factors.
From a Jewish perspective, these shows hardly fit our call to be holy. They do not foster the basis for holy and sacred relationships. They appeal to our baser nature and could hardly be called uplifting.
In this portion we read the ultimate advice in holiness, “Love Your Neighbor As Your Self,” (Lev. 19:18). The true measure of holiness is how we treat our neighbors. The executives of M TV, Showtime, HBO, the Networks, would do well to reconsider the kinds of programming they are feeding us. They keep holiness far from our lives by infusing their shows with such vindictive and hurtful rhetoric. Love Your Neighbor may make for poor television viewing but it makes for a much better society.
Perhaps we can and should insist that this be our guide. Certainly God calls us to this.
Posted by Lee at May 1, 2006 09:38 AM
