In the Wake of Tragedy
Apr 28, 2007 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
In the immediate wake of tragedy, our response is appropriately silence. Aaron movingly illustrated this in the parashah from two weeks ago after he lost his sons, Nadav and Avihu. Following their shocking deaths, the Torah records Aaron’s response to Moses’ attempt at consolation simply as, “and Aaron was silent” (Leviticus 10:3). We cannot begin to imagine the sense of loss and disbelief that radiated from the depths of his soul when he learned his sons were destroyed by the God who ordained their service.
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The Saint and the Zohar
May 1, 2015 By Vivian B. Mann <em>z”l</em> | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
We often think of Jewish life in Spain in terms of the massacres of 1391 and the Spanish Expulsion in 1492. But the art made for the Church between those two dates presents a more nuanced view of Christian鈥揓ewish relations.
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Being Holy in the 21st Century
Apr 25, 2014 By Gerald C. Skolnik | Commentary | Kedoshim
If I were challenged to present a one-sentence, pithy articulation of the overarching responsibility of a Jew in this world, I would be hard pressed to find abetter phrasing than the second verse of this week鈥檚 Torah reading, Parashat Kedoshim: 鈥�Kedoshim tih鈥檡u, ki kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheikhem鈥�(Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy).
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Getting Out of Your Own Way
Apr 16, 2013 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
鈥淵ou shall not . . . place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God. I am the Lord.鈥� Taken literally, this is a verse about respecting the disabled. Taken figuratively鈥攁s the Rabbis give us ample precedent and license to do鈥攊t is about all of us.
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A Holy Tongue: Kedushah and the Ethics of Speech
May 1, 2015 By Marc Gary | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
A few years ago, my wife and I attended a retreat at Camp Ramah Darom in northern Georgia. The scholar-in-residence for the Shabbat was Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, a widely respected author of popular books on Jewish literacy and Jewish ethics. He suggested that all of us in attendance鈥攁pproximately 100 adults鈥攃ommit to one of the most difficult challenges we had ever faced: refrain from talking about other people for the duration of Shabbat. That is to say, for an entire day, we should speak not a word of gossip. I will not tell you whether we succeeded or failed in that challenge, but I will tell you that it was a very long 25 hours indeed.
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Aharei Mot-Kedoshim
Jan 1, 1980
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses:
Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud over the cover.
Filling Life with Life
May 5, 2012 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Kedoshim
“The deeds of the ancestors are a sign for their descendants,” said the medieval commentator Nahmanides. Sometimes it seems that the weekly Torah portion captures the situation of our generation with remarkable prescience. So it is with Aharei Mot-Kedoshim.
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