May 1st: Acharay Mot/Kedoshim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Kedoshim is one of the most profound portions in the Torah—in particular, the “Holiness Code” of Leviticus 19. “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
What follows can be understood as a working definition of Holiness. It involves a number of mitzvot which call on us to (1) treat God with respect, and (2) treat human beings with respect and fairness. Its pinnacle is in verse 18 where we are told: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Leviticus 19 also reminds us that God is watching and that God cares. The phrase, “I am the Lord” appears seven times in just the first eighteen verses. Among the most poignant reminders involves not oppressing people who are disabled: “You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear/respect your God: I am the Lord.” The deaf may not hear the insults, and the blind may not see the stumbling block until it is too late. They may not be aware, but there may be an audience who may be entertained. The Torah wants us to know, however, that among the onlookers is God, and God is not laughing. The Lord wants us to remember that what we do counts.
This question of fearing or respecting God is an interesting one. Many have interpreted the Hebrew word yir’ay as fear, but the Hebrew does not mean “terrified” or “scared witless.” The Hebrew is more in line with a healthy fear or respect—the kind one should have with fire, or a weapon, or nuclear energy. So, though some religious thinkers like to portray God as angry and fearsome, the Jewish position has been one of appreciation for God’s power and presence. As we read in Proverbs (9.10), “The beginning of wisdom is yir’at Adonai, the fear/respect of the Lord.”
The ideas of respecting God and respecting people are pretty obvious, but there is another kind of respect represented in Kedoshim. Look at the section about proper and decent sacrifices: “When you sacrifice an offering of well-being to the Lord, sacrifice it so that it may be ratzon, accepted on your behalf.” (19.5) The Hebrew is “lir’tzon’chem,” literally “to your ratzon.”
Ratzon is an interesting word. It is often translated as “will,” as in God’s Will. In this context, we should sacrifice the offering so that it will in line with God’s Will—will be acceptable to God. Worship should be done decently, respectfully, and with the right intention and motivation. The whole point of a gift is to establish or develop the relationship, and this word reminds us that the sacrifice is more than just presenting the foodstuff and reciting some phrases. As one can imagine, the word ratzon is used frequently when speaking about our relationship with God.
However, this time, the Torah adds the second person plural possessive chem to the word, making it “for your ratzon.” The 1999 Jewish Publication Society translation renders it “so that it may be accepted on your behalf,” but I think there can be something deeper here. Rather than focusing on what it acceptable before God, perhaps we can consider the notion of self-respect—of offering the sacrifice in a way that honors the worshipper and his/her best self.
We all have, I suspect, sometimes been slipshod in attending to duties or obligations. Sometimes, this is fine: not all duties require the utmost attention or perfection. But, if we never bring our all to our tasks—never approach our best work, we may not be respecting ourselves and our potential and our ideals. Ideals are certainly not always met, but there is something definitive and noble about the ideals to which we aspire. Self-respect means holding ourselves to higher standards and to working toward personal quality. Not every day is a successful day, and there are plenty of reasons why every moment is not one of ideal actualization, but there is something to be said for knowing the potential that exists and for striving toward it.
In the case of our sacrifices—our worship, perhaps the lesson is this: bringing our best to God involves knowing what our best is and then learning how to bring it forth. That is self-actualization. That is self-respect and self-love. As the poet Marge Pierce mused, let us love our neighbors as ourselves, and let us love ourselves as we love our neighbors, for we are all of God.