"Parasha Ajarei Mot"
Parasha Ajarei Mot - Kedoshim Vayikra - Leviticus (16,1- 20, 27)
“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, Hashem, your God, am holy.” (Vayikra 19:2).
There are two kinds of holiness, the holiness that implies a departure from what is permitted by the Torah, “Sanctify yourself with that which is permitted to you,”
As the Ramban wrote, and there is also holiness, which involves a distancing from what is prohibited by the Torah, and that is also called holiness, as Rashi explained about the phrase in the verse. “They shall be sacred”: “Stay away from forbidden relationships and sin, because in everything Wherever you find a departure from adultery, you will find holiness", and Rashi cites several examples.
This estrangement is expressed through a separation from the nations of the world, which are free to behave in forbidden relationships, food and any pleasure, while we
we limit ourselves in everything that concerns sins.
We can even explain that the words “sanctify yourself with that which is permitted to you” indicate that the way we should sanctify ourselves with that which was permitted to us before the giving of the Torah is by distancing ourselves from it.
of this, because, for example, before receiving the Torah we had not received the command regarding forbidden relationships—such as, We see that Yaakov Avinu (our Patricia) married two sisters, and his sons married their twin sisters, and Amram married his aunt Yocheved, for there was no prohibition in that. But now that we have received the Torah and accepted the decrees of the Blessed Creator, we sanctify ourselves by not approaching forbidden relations, not eating what is forbidden, and not transgressing any of the forbidden things. of the other prohibitions of the Torah.
We learn this from the verses at the end of the parashah, which says: “And you shall be holy to Me, for I, Hashem, am holy, and I have set you apart from the peoples, that you may be Mine.”
What is the holiness with which Hashem sanctified us? The holiness referred to is the fact that He separated us from other peoples.
And about that verse, Rashi writes something shocking:
“If you separate yourselves from them, you belong to Me;
but if not, you belong to Nevujadnetzar and his comrades.”
This has been the case in every generation; every time Jews tried to approach the nations of the world, non-Jews oppressed them more and more. And sadly, that is the same situation today. Why?
What? Because Jews want to get closer to non-Jews.
Even here, in the holy Land of Israel, one finds the influence of the other nations of the world. That is "Nevujadnetzar." But who are "his comrades"?
They are all the oppressors who rise up against the People of Israel in every generation, for that very reason of wanting to get closer to non-Jews.
It is terrible that the Blessed Creator called Nevujadnetzar “My servant” and allowed him to destroy the Bet HaMikdash (the Great Temple) and the other cities of Israel.
However, of course, that was only at that time, when Israel distanced itself from Hashem and there was no real closeness between them.
There is a further level of holiness which is that of “separate from the nations in My Name.” This is what Rashi goes on to explain regarding what our Sages, of blessed memory, say:
“Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says: 'From where do we learn that a person should not say: “I am disgusted by pork,” “I am not interested in it”?
wear clothes with shaatnez,” but rather say, “I would like to eat pork, but what can I do if my Heavenly Father decreed that I cannot”? We learn this from what the verse says: “and I separated you from the peoples, so that you may be Mine,” “That is, that their separation from the nations be in My name, and that they turn away from sin and accept the yoke of the Sovereign of Heaven.”
In summary, we have three kinds of holiness: the first is “They shall be holy,” which involves sanctifying oneself with what is permitted.
The second is “And you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, and you shall observe My statutes and do them; I, Hashem, sanctify you,” That is, by fulfilling Hashem's statutes (accepting and fulfilling them without objection) “I, Hashem, sanctify you.”
And the third is “And you shall be holy to Me, for I, Hashem, I am Holy, and I separated you from the peoples, so that you may be Mine”, means that his distancing himself from them (from the
peoples) whether in My name, in the name of Heaven; this is holiness par excellence.
It is said that “one mitzvah begets another mitzvah”; in this same way “one holiness brings another holiness.”
The Torah requires a person to be of the “Sacred Ones” class at first, sanctifying himself with what is permitted, with common things, such as, for example, limiting his conversation on trivial topics with his wife, or limiting the food he eats or the wine he drinks.
He then requires the person to be wholehearted in his service to Hashem, as the verse says:
“and you will keep My statutes,” in the sense of “By My statutes you
you will guide” (Vayikra 25:3), which are the laws and statutes that illuminate a person's path; in this way, a person draws closer to the Blessed Creator.
Then the verse says: “And you will be holy to Me”, that is, they become part of the Blessed Creator himself, thereby recognizing the difference between Israel and the nations. This is the greatest sanctification of Hashem's Name, as we say in the Shabbat prayer:
“And all Israel will rest in him, who sanctify Your name. Name", which means that Shabbat is one of the highest levels of the People of Israel, and with it we sanctify Hashem. Moreover, the more we separate ourselves from the nations, the more they respect us; but when we try to copy their lifestyles, their hatred for us increases. (All this, as we have seen, is permitted by the Blessed Creator, since He is the one who wants us to be "holy or sacred." The word found in the Torah in verse Vayikra 19:2 is "Kadosh," which can also be translated as "set apart or separated."
May it be His will that we merit to approach and rise in the levels of holiness in the sense of “And they shall be holy to Me.” Amen, so be it!
Dedicated to the Refuge "healing" of all the sick in Am Yisrael and the world, also to all those who are experiencing situations of need, that they may have Parnasa and Hatzalacha "Good sustenance and success"
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