Shabbat Shalom Weekly

Torah Portion:  Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

Rise For Wisdom
by Adam Lieberman

In this week’s Torah portion, God gives the Jewish people certain laws that will lead to them having a more fulfilling life. One of the laws is: “In the presence of an old person shall you rise…” (Lev. 19:32)

A LIFE LESSON

Rising in the presence of any person is certainly a sign of honor and respect. So what is about a person who’s achieved “old age” that God tells the Jewish people that he should be so revered?

Perhaps it’s because there’s nothing in the world quite like experience. When a person gets older, he’s lived a set of experiences that all the money in the world couldn’t buy.

Your brain records everything that it’s ever exposed to. There are literally billions of pieces of data right now stored in your brain – everything you’ve ever seen, smelt, and heard. This is why if you saw someone on the street that you haven’t seen in ten years, you’ll still be able to recognize instantly who he is. In fact, you’ll even know if he’s gained or lost weight since the last time you saw him!

The thing to realize is that all decisions you’ll ever make are based upon all your previous life experiences. Therefore, an older person — no matter who he is or what he’s done with his life — simply has more life experiences on which to base his decisions, opinions, and actions.

This certainly doesn’t mean that older people always know the right answers or can give the best advice. However, elderly people will have something that someone younger just can’t have. And that’s a unique perspective and powerful insights that more years living in this world has given them.

God wants us always to remember just how valuable an elderly person’s observations and advice can be. It’s so worthy, in fact, that when you’re “…in the presence of an old person shall you rise.” And even if you don’t physically stand up for him, don’t compound this by not listening to what he has to say with open ears and a wide open mind. His advice could just give you the fresh perspective you’ve been missing.

 

Creating Holiness
by Rabbi Ari Kahn

As Parashat Kedoshim begins, Moshe is instructed to assemble the entire community for a public reading of a specific set of laws. The stated purpose of this assembly is to achieve holiness. This exercise should be considered in light of a statement found in the previous parasha which serves as the backdrop or background for what will follow: In order for the enterprise we call “Judaism” to be sustained in the Promised Land, a different standard of decency will be required. Israel is a holy land, and it will not tolerate certain behaviors; its delicate constitution will literally “vomit out” indecency.

The specific laws that are to be read at this public gathering bear a striking similarity to the set of laws which were transmitted publicly, to the entire nation, at the foot of Mount Sinai – laws that came to be known as the Ten Commandments. Traditionally, the Ten Commandments, as a legal corpus, are considered the framework of Judaism’s religious, social and moral system. Far more than ten utterances of specific legislation, they are principles of law – principles that are expanded upon and applied in various ways in Parashat Kedoshim.

And yet, as important as the Ten Commandments are in defining Jewish mores and practice, there is another set of laws, introduced at the very dawn of creation, known as the Seven Noahide Laws. The existence of this universal corpus explains the seemingly odd fact that Judaism is not, nor has it ever been, a proselytizing religion. The Seven Noahide laws were given to all of mankind as a means to perfect humanity, while the more demanding and arduous strictures and limitations called for by Jewish law were never seen as obligatory for all of mankind.

Careful consideration of the Seven Noahide Laws reveals a fairly obvious correlation to the Ten Commandments. The Noahide Laws include creating a just legal system with a functioning judiciary, and the prohibition of idolatry, murder, theft, sexual immorality, blasphemy and eating the limb of a live animal. With the exception of latter, the “overlap” with the Ten Commandments is unmistakable. What is most striking, though, is what is not included in the Noahide laws: Honoring one’s parents and Shabbat observance.

Although shemirat Shabbat (Sabbath observance) has become a benchmark for the Jewish religious experience, had non-Jews been ordered to commemorate the seventh day, and thus acknowledge God as the Creator of the universe, we would not have been surprised. Similarly, had the commandment to honor one’s parents been bestowed upon all “Noahides,” we would have no trouble grasping the universal importance of this law. Nonetheless, Noah and his descendants were not required to observe the Sabbath or to honor their parents.

Keeping this anomaly in mind, it is surely no coincidence that the very first laws that are to be read publicly at the assembly designed to create holiness in the Jewish polis, the laws that immediately follow the commandment to “be holy,” are precisely the elements of the Ten Commandments that do not bind the Noahide: “Man shall have reverence for his mother and father, and guard my Sabbaths; I am God.”

The context makes it clear: It is these particulars that are the core of holiness. Considered together, we may say that they reflect a perspective that is unique to Judaism: While all the other laws deal with the present, only these elements deal with the past – Shabbat as a testimony to the creation of the universe, and reverence for parents who brought us into the world.

The Torah demands decency of the non-Jew; refraining from not taking another’s life, spouse or physical possessions is basic decency. However, the Torah does not require that the common man cultivate historical consciousness, a sense of where we came from or why we are here, who created us, who brought us into the world and who nurtured us. The laws that are unique to the Ten Commandments require us to keep a constant eye on the past, and this is a uniquely Jewish requirement that creates a uniquely Jewish perspective and experience.

Modern man, so full of hubris and an exaggerated sense of importance, looks at the past as being quaint, naive, and barely relevant. Perhaps this is collateral damage of belief in an evolutionary process in which one’s ancestors were primates. In contrast, the elements of the Ten Commandments that are uniquely Jewish requirements teach us to look to the past as we move forward. Thus, no matter how sophisticated we become, the Sabbath remains relevant – perhaps even more than ever in a world of constant digital access and stimulation. The Torah teaches us that no matter how smart and important we think we have become, we must respect and cherish the previous generation, especially those who nurtured us, cared for us, gave us their unconditional love – and made our progress possible. The result of this perspective is a life steeped in holiness.

For a more in-depth analysis see: http://arikahn.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/audioessaysvideo-parashat-kedoshim.html

Ask The Questions
by Nesanel Yoel Safran

From This Week’s Torah Portion

From Passover’s tradition of asking questions, we can learn from the Torah’s way of learning is through questioning and we should never be afraid to ask a sincere question.

In our story, sisters learn that sometimes it pays to ask.

“Come on Cindy, hurry up, we don’t want to miss our train!” Megan called out. The two sisters, clutching their suitcases, rushed through the revolving door of the busy train terminal, excited to be spending Passover with their out-of-town cousins. Memories of last year’s Passover with Uncle Jack’s lively impression of the plague of croaking frogs jumping all over Egypt as he told the Seder story, and of Aunt Rebecca’s delicious, golden, matzah-ball soup – not to mention all the fun trips they all took together – were fresh in the girls’ minds.

“Two round-trip tickets to Parkwood, please,” Megan asked the man at the ticket counter, who without looking up, wordlessly scooped up the money she’d placed down under the glass window of his ticket booth and slid back two printed cards together with their change.

“Okay, let’s go!” Megan said, as she placed the tickets into her carry pouch.

“Shouldn’t we ask him which track we have to go to and how to get there?” Cindy asked her older sister, tugging the sleeve of her sweater.

Megan thought a moment, glanced up at the ticket seller, then said, “What for? We took the train last year and we found it, didn’t we? I’m sure we can figure it out – and besides, he doesn’t look like the type who enjoys being asked questions … I’d feel kind of silly, asking, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, but it’s something we need to know, so, why not ask?” Cindy insisted, but Megan had already tugged her away from the line and the next customer had already taken their place.

After a good bit of meandering around, the kids finally found the track number that was printed on their ticket and boarded the train.

“Hey Megan,” Cindy said as they sat down. “Are you sure we’re on the right train? I mean, I don’t remember it being on this part of the tracks last year. Maybe we should ask the conductor before the train starts to go?”

By now, Megan was getting annoyed. “Will you cut it out! Of course, we’re on the right train. Why shouldn’t we be? This was the train number printed on our ticket. If you want to go make yourself look like a jerk by asking him a stupid question – be my guest. But I’m not going to.”

Cindy sat down. She certainly didn’t want to look like a jerk. Who would? But still, it just didn’t seem like they were on the right train. And what would be so wrong with asking? How else are you supposed to find something out if you don’t ask about it?

“LAST CALL — ALL ABOARD!” the conductor shouted out from the front of the train, as the doors slid closed and the engine began to rev.

“I don’t care — I’m asking!” Cindy said, springing up from her seat, ticket in hand. Megan looked on, amused, as her sister approached the conductor, certain that the man would simply smile condescendingly and wave her back to her seat.

So she was especially surprised when the conductor quickly grabbed Cindy’s ticket, stared at it and then pushed a button to re-open the train doors. Cindy, looking distressed, waved at her to come.

“This train isn’t to Parkwood,” Cindy sputtered, “it’s coming from Parkwood and heading out-of-state. We must have looked at the wrong side of our round-trip ticket.”

“Wow, I guess it’s a good thing you asked after all!” Megan gasped.

“You don’t know how good, young lady,” the conductor added. “Because from this stop on, it’s an express train. That means once the train starts it doesn’t stop for another three and a half hours. And since it’s the last train of the day, you’d be stuck way out there all night.”

The sisters looked at each other, relieved that they just avoided a disaster as the man continued. “Now the both of you get hoppin’ to track 17 like you’re supposed to. You should still be able catch your Parkwood train – if you rush. And from now on, if you’re not sure about something, instead of trying to play smart —be smart and ask.”

Discussion Questions

Ages 3-5

Q. How did Megan feel at first when Cindy wanted her to ask about things?
A. She felt silly and embarrassed to ask.

Q. How did she feel in the end?
A. She felt glad that her sister had asked a question and saved them from making a big mistake.

Ages 6-9

Q. What life lesson do you think Megan learned from Cindy that day?
A. She, unlike Cindy, had felt that it was better not to ask a question if you were unsure about something, if it meant feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed. But after seeing how Cindy’s asking saved them from a serious problem, she realized her sister was right.

Q. Why do you think it can be hard to ask questions?
A. To ask a question is to admit there is something we don’t know and that can be uncomfortable to admit. But the truth is, no one knows everything and one of the best ways to learn things is not to be afraid to ask.

Ages 10 and Up

Q. What is the difference between a sincere and an insincere question?
A. A sincere question comes from a place of not knowing or not understanding something and being open to learning something from the answer or arriving at the truth. An insincere question is when one really has no interest in learning anything but is rather asking to either flatter or, worse, to mock.

Q. Who do you think is a better student: one who questions things or merely accepts what he is taught? Why?
A. Someone who questions what he’s taught (as long as the questions are sincere) is showing more real interest in the subject and once his questions are answered will be more committed to what he’s learned than one who merely unquestioningly accepts.

 

Quote of the Week

“A person should always see the world as if his actions can tip the scale” — Rabbi Adin Steinstalz