Parshiot Acharei Mot—Kedoshim

Distinctly sanctifying His name

By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of May 1, 2009/ 7 Iyar 5769

Over the course of one week, Jews around the world commemorate the destruction that was the Holocaust, pay tribute to all the fallen soldiers who gave their lives for the State of Israel, and celebrate Israel’s independence. In the aftermath of the Pesach holiday, a celebration of our first redemption, it is a roller coaster of emotional turns.

In a sense, the three dates are classic examples of a concept which is perhaps unique to the Jewish experience –– the sanctification of G-d’s name, also known as “Kiddush Hashem.”

We begin mourning over the tremendous destruction of Jewish life and Jewish lives, as we contemplate numbers we cannot comprehend, numbers that have yet to begin to show signs of recuperating. And we think of those who died with a “Kiddush Hashem” whose sole “sin” was having been born a Jew.

We express our everlasting debt of gratitude to Jews who, on a different side of “Kiddush Hashem,” took their Jewish identity into battle, on the front lines, to create and preserve a country that has arguably done more for humanity in its short life-span than any other nation in the history of the world ever accomplished in sixty years of existence. And we celebrate the existence of this little country, whose presence in this world has opened a heightened respect, in civilized countries, for the once-hated and vilified Jew. Anyone who does not appreciate the lifestyle we live, as Jews, crediting the State of Israel for giving every Jew a landmark we can be proud of and always call home, is not a very good student of history.

The second half of this week’s “double parsha” begins with the commandment of  “Kedoshim tihyu” ––  that you, the Jewish people, should be separate and distinct from the nations of the world (some will translate “to be holy”), “for I,” G-d says, “am ‘Kadosh.’”

It is this separation, this uniqueness, which marks the difference between us and the rest of the world. “Different” need not translate to “superior.” That is an arrogant approach to Jewish “chosenness” which is an ingredient for bad PR.

But distinction can be marked by different behavior and different values and ethics, all of which are dictated to us in the Torah. Whether Jews are Torah-observant does not take away from the world’s perception of how Jews ought to behave.

No one will argue that Israel’s government is guided by religious Jews. But because everyone knows it is a Jewish state, it is held to a different kind of scrutiny in the global media.

Why?

Perhaps the concluding sections of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim can shed some light on the subject. Each parsha ends with a list of behaviors anathema to Jewish values and life before it gives its sum-up conclusion.

Vayikra 18:25-30 concludes: “The land became defiled, and when I directed My providence at the sin committed there, the land vomited out its inhabitants. You, [however,] must keep My decrees and laws, and not become involved in any of these disgusting perversions –– neither the native born nor any foreigner who settles among you. The people who lived in the land before you did all these disgusting perversions and defiled the land ... Keep My charge, and do not follow any of the abominable customs that were kept before you [arrived], so that you not be defiled by them. I am G-d your Lord.”

Vayikra 20:22-26 reaches a similar conclusion “Safeguard all My decrees and laws and keep them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to settle will not vomit you out. Do not follow the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, since they did all the above mentioned [perversions] and I was disgusted with them. I therefore said to you, 'Take over their land. I will give it to you so that you can inherit it –– a land flowing with milk and honey. I am G-d your Lord who has separated you out from among all the nations ... You shall be holy to Me, for I, G-d, am holy, and I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine...'”

The Jewish people represent G-d and all that is holy about G-d. It is a glorious task, not to be taken lightly, and a tremendous responsibility. The three commemorative days are a snippet of what we are all about. How do we make the remaining 362 days of the year into days in which we model “Kiddush hashem” and demonstrate our distinction through the values of the Torah we espouse through observance of its statutes?

This is the ultimate challenge and mark of the Jewish people.

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