LEVITICUS XVI:1-XVIII:30

DISOBEDIENCE AND REPENTANCE

The first transcendent event that the Torah relates is the disobedience of the couple: Adam and Chavah. They both eat of the one fruit that God had forbidden. There are numerous questions about this episode, which occupies a fundamental role in monotheism. What was the nature of this fruit?  The Torah does not mention the name of the tree from which it came. Therefore, the famous apple that Chava offered Adam  is probably an incorrect statement. Moreover, if God did not want that fruit to be eaten, why did He place that tree within the Garden of Eden? 

It is argued that the reason for the disobedience was so that Adam could assert his independence and thus show that obedience to God’s word was the result of a reasoned personal decision. For this reason, he deserved recognition and punishment according to his behavior, which obeyed the capacity to exercise free will. Perhaps the episode of primordial disobedience serves to teach the possibility of teshuvah, repentance. The Torah demonstrates that disobedience and sin have absolution through repentance. 

We read in the present Bible text about the disobedience of Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aaron, who used esh zarah, a strange fire, in the process of offering sacrifices. Their punishment was death, which according to tradition consisted of serefatneshama vehaguf kayam, their souls were cremated while their bodies were left intact. In this case there was no room for teshuvah, because the punishment was the ultimate penalty. 

The sages of the Talmud offer various explanations about the real nature of the sin of Nadav and Avihu. According to some, they dared to answer questions about faith in the presence of their teachers Moses and Aaron. According to a second opinion, they had begun the sacrifices in a state of drunkenness. A third answer points out that they were prey to excessive pride, because they considered that there was no woman who could be worthy of their attention. Assuming any of these explanations, the punishment appears to be excessively severe. 

The following expression in the text could shed light: bekorvatam lifnei HaShem vayamutu, “they died when they came near to God.” Closeness to God implies a greater responsibility. Whoever assumes a position of leadership simultaneously runs the risk of making mistakes with more harmful consequences than in the case of an individual. 

The case of Nadav and Avihu is followed by a description of the Day of Atonement, Yom HaKippurim, which will offer the possibility of resuming the path after sin. At the same time, a novel idea emerges. The death of the righteous also has a therapeutic effect, it produces recollection in society. The sons of Aaron who had perished were Tsadikim, people of unblemished trajectory who at a certain point in their exercise of ritual leadership disregarded a Divine command. 

Harav Soloveitchik points out that the death of a Tzadikconvulses society, produces widespread pain and sadness, while at the same time producing reflection and recollection: teshuvah. From that time, the 10th of Tishrei was set aside as a day in which abstention from pleasure and food rules, in order to concentrate on a process of recreation of the emotional and spiritual ingredient of the person. The entry of the Kohen Gadolthat day into the Kodesh HaKodashim, the holiest place in the Mishkan, along with fasting, was a kind of replica of the experience at Mount Sinai. Just as Moses was in the Presence of God and did not eat and drink, in a similar way this Kohen had an intimate encounter with God on Yom HaKippurim.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 2  POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 26 PROHIBITIONS

184. Leviticus 16:2 The Kohen must not enter the Temple at any time (only for the Service in the Temple) but one who is not a Kohen must not enter

185. Leviticus 16:3 The Temple Service on Yom Kippur

186. Leviticus 17:3,4 Do not slaughter the offering ritually outside the Temple courtyard

187. Leviticus 17:13 Mitzvah of covering the blood (after the slaughtering rite)

188. Leviticus 18:6 To have no pleasure with persons who are forbidden to the individual

189. Leviticus 18:7 Not having relations with one’s father

190. Leviticus 18:7 Not having intercourse with one’s mother

191. Leviticus 18:8 Not to have relations with the father’s wife, even if she is not his mother

192. Leviticus 18:9 Not to have relations with a sister, let her be her sister in any way

193. Leviticus 18:10 Not having intercourse with a son’s daughter

194. Leviticus 18:10 Not having intercourse with a daughter’s daughter

195. Leviticus 18:10 Not having relations with a daughter

196. Leviticus 18:11 Not to have relations with the sister of one son, the daughter of the same mother, and of a different husband

197. Leviticus 18:12 Not having relations with one’s father’s sister

198. Leviticus 18:13 Not to have relations with one’s mother’s sister

199. Leviticus 18:14 Not having relations with one’s father’s brother

200. Leviticus 18:14 Not to have relations with the wife of the brother of one’s father

201. Leviticus 18:15 Not having intercourse with a son’s wife

202. Leviticus 18:16 Not having relations with a brother’s wife

203. Leviticus 18:17 Not having relations with both a woman and her daughter

204. Leviticus 18:17 Not to have relations with both a woman and her son’s daughter

205. Leviticus 18:17 Not to have relations with both a woman and her daughter’s daughter

206. Leviticus 18:18 Do not have relations with 2 sisters, while they are both alive

207. Leviticus 18:19 Do not have intercourse with a woman during menstruation

208. Leviticus 18:21 Do not dedicate any son or daughter to the idolatry of Molech

209. Leviticus 18:22 A man should not have intercourse with another man

210. Leviticus 18:23 A man should not have intercourse with animals

211. Leviticus 18:23 A woman should not have intercourse with animals

KEDOSHIM

LEVITICO XIX – XX

WE CAN BE SAINTS

The Torah commands that we be “holy” because God is Holy. What does it mean that God is holy? And how can human beings, flesh and blood, with limited abilities imitate God?

The commentator Rashi states that to be holy means to be set apart. In the case of God, then, it would be that He is not part of the created universe. He is entirely different, totally removed from everything that exists. Can we then deduce that, in the human case, saint means to be a hermit, to live apart, in a kind of monastery?

Jewish tradition teaches otherwise. In fact, God himself said: Lo tov heyot haadam levadam: “It is not good for a man to be alone?” and therefore he created the woman, the man’s partner, so that they would not be alone.

We find that many precepts require the presence of a Minyan, an aggregate of human beings. To recite Kaddish and Kedusha,the presence of at least 10 men is required. Solitude apparently should not be the desideratum for the individual.

When we read our Bible text, we see that the following verses refer to the relationship with parents, to certain sacrifices, to leaving some portions of the harvest for the poor: Leket, Shikcha, Pe’ah. Do not steal, do not lie and do not swear falsely, the text continues. You have to pay the same day for the work of those who work by the day. Continuing with the reading of the text is the instruction not to curse the deaf and not to place a stumbling block in front of the blind, and perhaps above all to judge with the truth, with what is really just without taking into account the personal situation of the litigants. Do not hate your brother in your heart, counsel him for good when he is about to make a mistake.

Apparently, being holy has to do with your behavior with the other, with your brother, with your friend, with your neighbor. It is a transitive quality that requires the presence of another human being. It is a relationship and not a project of self-improvement.

One might speculate that holiness is obtained through perhaps the denial of personal pleasures or perhaps study to deepen one’s understanding of the Mitsvot. But from the above, holiness is not obtained by aiming one’s efforts upon oneself, perfecting and deepening one’s knowledge. These are not personal spiritual exercises.

Holiness is obtained when one relates fairly and positively to other human beings. By giving the right weight, we set out on the path of holiness.

By complying with the laws that regulate sexual activity, sainthood is obtained. Our text contains a list of such relationships that are prohibited, such as relationships with siblings and other close relatives.

It is interesting to note that besides Noah, the hero of the flood who is qualified by the Torah as Tsadik, holy, the only member of the Hebrew people who receives this appellation is Yosef, perhaps because he did not succumb to the advances of his master Potiphar‘s wife.

Holiness is likely to be a characteristic that the person receives, the transformation of the individual because he practices and fulfills a healthy and just relationship with his neighbor.

Our text proclaims that one should not hold a grudge against another but rather practice Ve’ahavta lere’acha kamocha: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and Rabbi Akivaconsidered this to be the “great motto” of the Torah.

In other words, if you love your neighbor as yourself, your whole being will enter a process of growth and transformation to become a saint, or at least an aspirant to holiness.

What does it mean, then, according to this reflection, that God is holy? We can speculate that the fact that God created a human being with whom He shares the consciousness of the existence of the universe and of what it contains, is a manifestation of God’s Holiness. God shares with us the universe and even asks us to perfect it. Because only the human being possesses the “Divine breath” that God infused into the first man that gives him the characteristic of appreciating what exists and that includes a moral compass to guide his life. “The human being is the only creature with whom God can play chess.”

And that morality compass probably precedes the giving of the Torah, which in turn regulates and legislates how that morality should be expressed in different situations. 

From this point of view, ethics and morality have been part of the DNA of the human being since its creation.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 13  POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 38 PROHIBITIONS

1. Leviticus 19:3 Fear father and mother

2. Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn toward idolatry in thought, nor verbalizing, even witnessing

3. Leviticus 19:4 Do not make an idol for personal use or for others

4. Leviticus 19:6,8 Not to eat meat left over after the time prescribed for it

5. Leviticus 19:10 Leave part of the field sown for the poor

6. Leviticus 19:9 Do not harvest to the edge of the field

7. Leviticus 19:10 Leave ears of grain for the poor

8. Leviticus 19:9 Do not gather ears of grain that have fallen during the harvest

9. Leviticus 19:10 Leave a Vineyard Boundary for the Poor

10. Leviticus 19:10 Not harvesting the boundaries of the vineyard

11. Leviticus 19:10 Leave the fallen grapes on the ground in the vineyard for the poor

12. Leviticus 19:10 Do not gather the fallen grapes from the vineyard

13. Leviticus 19:11 Do not steal

14. Leviticus 19:11 Do not deny possession of an object belonging to another person

15. Leviticus 19:11 Do not swear falsely about an object of value

16. Leviticus 19:12 Do not swear falsely

17. Leviticus 19:13 Do not retain property of others

18. Leviticus 19:13 Do not commit theft

19. Leviticus 19:13 Do not delay the payment of a wage laborer

20. Leviticus 19:14 Do not curse a Jew, neither man nor woman

21. Leviticus 19:14 Do not lead an individual into error by giving him equivocal counsel

22. Leviticus 19:15 Do not pervert righteousness, in a civil trial

23. Leviticus 19:15 Do not give special honors in judgment to an eminent individual

24. Leviticus 19:15 The judge must make a correct judgment

25. Leviticus 19:16 Do not slander (gossip)

26. Leviticus 19:16 Do not remain indifferent to another’s blood

27. Leviticus 19:17 Do not hate another Jew

28. Leviticus 19:17 Reproach a Jew for not behaving properly

29. Leviticus 19:17 Thou shalt not put another Jew in an awkward situation

30. Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge thyself

31. Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not bear a grudge

32. Leviticus 19:18 Loving Another Jew

33. Leviticus 19:19 Do not mate animals of different species

34. Leviticus 19:19 Do not sow seeds of different species together in the Land of Israel, likewise with trees of different species

35. Leviticus 19:23 Do not eat the fruit of the tree for the first 3 years

36. Leviticus 19:23, 24 Laws About the Fruit of the Tree in the Fourth Year

37. Leviticus 19:26 Do not eat or drink like a glutton

38. Leviticus 19:26 Not practicing divination

39. Leviticus 19:26 Thou shalt not conjure (magic)

40. Leviticus 19:27 Thou shalt not remove the hair from the sideburns of the face

41. Leviticus 19:27 Thou shalt not destroy the ends of thy beard

42. Leviticus 19:28 Thou shalt not make a tatu on thy flesh (skin)

43. Leviticus 19:30 Respect the Temple

44. Leviticus 19:31 Do not act like a spiritualist (kind of magic)

45. Leviticus 19:31 Do not practice Yidon (a kind of magic)

46. Leviticus 19:32 Honoring Torah Scholars

47. Leviticus 19:35 Do not deceive with measures

48. Leviticus 19:36 Create exact scales, weights, and measures

49. Leviticus 20:9 Curse neither one’s father nor one’s mother

50. Leviticus 20:14 To incinerate the person who has been sentenced to die by fire

51. Leviticus 20:23 Do not follow the behavior of idolaters