Addict Torah: Kedoshim 5784/2024

Addict Torah's Mission: To interrogate Torah deeply so as to create space, connection and safety for people with addictive patterns and behaviors that have led them to a crisis of the spirit to tell and shape their stories for the purpose of healing, growth, and a return to their whole selves.

Every Thursday at 12 Noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern

REGISTER HERE FOR THE WEEKLY LINK (for security purposes)
(And no, we won't give anyone your email address)
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYldeitqTIoHtI-pkfmXu8UYUUe8EA4FY4o

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 120

Our journeys have taken us to the center of Torah, where we enter into the mystery of the holy. Leviticus is the middle book and Kedoshim is the middle portion.

Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Vayikra vol. 2., p. 167

What does this injunction to be holy occurring at the beginning of the sidra imply? Our Sages stated: "'Ye shall be holy' - you shall be separate." Holiness therefore implies separation. Can, however, the Torah's intimate concern with regulating the everyday life of the Jew indicate withdrawal or separation?...the interpretation then of 'ye shall be holy' cannot imply withdrawal from life...

Martin Buber (source unknown)

One should, and one must, truly live with all, but one should live with all in holiness, one should hallow all that one does in one's natural life. One eats in holiness, tastes the taste of food in holiness, and table becomes an altar. One works in holiness; and he raises up the sparks that hide themselves in all tools. One walks in holiness across the fields, and the soft songs of all herbs which they voice to God, enter into the song of our soul. One drinks in holiness to each other with one's companions, and it is as if they read together in the Torah. One dances the roundelay in holiness, and a brightness shines over the gathering. A husband is united with his wife in holiness and the shekinah rests over them.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 693

What is holiness? The term can be applied to God, to good people, to a book, to a period of time, or to an animal offered as sacrifice. To be holy is to be different, to be set apart from the ordinary...To be holy is to rise to partake in some measure of the special qualities of God, the source of holiness. Holiness is the highest level of human behavior, human beings at their most Godlike.

Rambam on Leviticus 19:2, 2

(2) YE SHALL BE HOLY. “Abstain from the forbidden sexual relationships [mentioned in the preceding section] and from [other] sin, because wherever you find [in the Torah] a warning to guard against immorality, you find the mention of ‘holiness.’” This is Rashi’s language. But in the Torath Kohanim I have seen it mentioned without any qualification [i.e., without any particular reference to immorality, as Rashi expressed it], saying: “Be self-restraining.” Similarly, the Rabbis taught there: “And ye shall sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy, for I am Holy. Just as I am Holy, so be you holy. Just as I am Pure, so be you pure.” And in my opinion, this abstinence does not refer only to restraint from acts of immorality, as the Rabbi [Rashi] wrote, but it is rather the self-control mentioned throughout the Talmud, which confers upon those who practice it the name of P’rushim (Pharisees), [literally: “those who are separated” from self-indulgence, as will be explained, or those who practice self-restraint]. The meaning thereof is as follows: The Torah has admonished us against immorality and forbidden foods, but permitted sexual intercourse between man and his wife, and the eating of [certain] meat and wine. If so, a man of desire could consider this to be a permission to be passionately addicted to sexual intercourse with his wife or many wives, and be among winebibbers, among gluttonous eaters of flesh, and speak freely all profanities, since this prohibition has not been [expressly] mentioned in the Torah, and thus he will become a sordid person within the permissible realm of the Torah!

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 693

In Hebrew, this summons is phrased in the plural, implying that the capacity for holiness is not restricted to spiritually gifted people; anyone may attain holiness. God does not demand the impossible. The plural phrasing suggests further that holiness is most easily achieved in the context of a community. It is difficult for a person to live a life of holiness without others.

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 204

I love each and every Torah portion, and Kedoshim is one I feel especially fond of because it has the most uplifting, hopeful, and loving two-word phrase in it—kedoshim tiheyu (you will be holy). Think about this for a moment: no matter where you are, nor what your past and present are, you will be holy. We are all commanded and promised that we are and will become more holy. The Hebrew word for “holy” means “to elevate,” “to separate,” and “to connect.” So, the promise is that we will all separate ourselves from our negativity and use this energy for good. We will elevate and connect our everyday activities to serving God, others, and our souls. What could be more uplifting?

Rabbi Eric S. Gurvis, The Mussar Torah Commentary, p. 188-189

In Leviticus 19:9 we read, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.” We know this principle of pei-ah (פֵּאָה)4 as a cornerstone of our tradition’s expansive teachings on tzedakah (צְדָקָה, “righteous acts of providing for those in need”). Might we also view our acts of tzedakah through the lens of hakarat hatov? In my fulfillment of the sacred responsibility of tzedakah, can I see not only an extension of myself to others, but also an aspect of recognizing and acknowledging the good that I enjoy? The same could be said of the instruction in Leviticus 19:10, “You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Eternal am your God.” Again, the significance of our tzedakah may be deepened when we connect it with the middah of hakarat hatov: we may be best show our hakarat hatov for our blessings when we share them with others.

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 207

Do not place a stumbling block before the blind: When I see someone’s disabilities and do not take advantage of them, I am holy. When I tell the whole story, I am holy. When I ask people to do only that which they are capable of, I am holy. When I see all of my parts and being-ness and the whole person in front of me, I am holy. When I do not set unrealistic expectations of and for myself, I am holy.

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 208

Do not be a talebearer, and do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor: When I engage in uplifting speech, I am holy. When I walk away from malicious gossip, I am holy. When I do not use someone else’s foibles to make me seem or feel better, I am holy. When I take action to help another, I am holy. When I do not needlessly and recklessly embarrass others, I am holy. When I aid someone who is hurt, I am holy. When I visit the sick to bring them comfort, I am holy. When I help my enemy, I am holy. When I allow others to help me, I am holy.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 696

17. You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart The literal meaning of 'your kinsfolk' is 'your brother.'..while we can lose the status of being a friend or a neighbor, we can never stop being related to a brother, even if he hurts us. Therefore. we are forbidden to hate him. This is one of the rare instances when the Torah seems to command feelings rather than behavior.

Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Hidden Order of Intimacy, p. 242-243

we now approach the heart of the matter: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Reduced to three words, this is the great ethical commandment. From the center of Leviticus, it addresses us with a demand for radical empathy. How does this commandment of love belong in its context, in a text bristling with negative commandments? ... Suddenly, again, the burst of sunlight in a tangled forest of hatred, vengeance, gossip: the imperative of love. Of these words, R. Akiva says, “This is the great klal, the foundational principle of the Torah.”[58] The problem, of course, is that this noble principle is unrealistic. As Ramban and others say, it runs counter to human nature. We will always love ourselves more than anyone else. Ramban therefore limits the meaning of “love” to a concern for the well-being of the other. Perhaps this is the reason for the dative form, “Love for your neighbor”—le-re’acha. Wish him well, in the same way as you wish yourself well. Even this limited form of love, however, challenges human nature; you will still wish for more blessings for yourself. But, in this commandment, the Torah asks us to attempt to transcend our envy.

Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2., location 1662, Kindle edition

The Torah repeatedly demands that we integrate emotion and action. It calls upon us to cultivate an inner state and to manifest that state in concrete actions.

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 117

Decisions about what we eat and with whom we engage in intimacy must be made as part of our pursuit of holiness, which means our motives must be pure, our intentions clear, and the implications considered regarding our actions and their effects on the whole.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 701

5. Molech represents the demonic, destructive face of religion, the cult of death and human sacrifice...It is the polar opposite of everything the Holiness Code stands for. That may be why the Torah condemns it so vigorously.

Rabbi David Kasher, ParshaNut, p. 241

These laws, then, come to annul the Akeidah. They are there to tell us that, whether God intended Abraham to offer up his child or not back then, that chapter of our story is now closed. We can debate the meaning of that incident throughout the ages; surely there is some profound message in it for us. But we are not to take from it any call to action, any model of practice. And we are not to worship the god of the Akeidah. That god no longer exists. Perhaps that god never existed. We were in error, Abraham was in error, in placing a god of terror side by side – or even within – the God of mercy.

Rabbi Dr. Sue Reinhold, on Aharei Mot/Kedoshim, 2007

Three weeks ago we paused over our weekly cycle of Torah readings to read and study the Song of Songs, as we do every Pesach. Talk about spring fever! The Song of Songs practically defines spring fever – it is the single most intense and completely erotic piece of love poetry I have ever read – and those of you who know me know I have read a lot of poetry. The Song of Songs, well, as we might say today, it’s hot. These lovers have the hots for each other and for God. They have got it bad.

Cut to three weeks later. Here we are, knee-deep in Leviticus, wading through Leviticus, right in the middle of the Torah...Leviticus, well that’s not so interesting, it is all law and rules and can I please just have some of those cool Genesis and rich Exodus stories to interpret anyway? Much more my speed. There’s more poetry there. But, the mitzvah is to engage with all of Torah, not just with a part of it. So, I read through the parshayot, and thought, well this will be interesting. I’m a woman who was married to a woman. And I surely broke some Levitical code in the way I chose to have children.

The question that really jumped out at me and that I will try to answer today is: Why in the world are we reading about the intense physical and spiritual desire that literally undoes the speakers in the Song of Songs, then only a few days later in this annual cycle, we are handed a long and quite comprehensive list of prohibitions on certain forms of sexual behavior, which are not only listed, but repeated in these two Torah portions? It’s interesting.

I think it’s a whole package that is, when combined, a very important teaching going on here in the springtime, the time of growth, renewal, and fecundity. The Song acknowledges desire and its importance...pleasure is a gift. I would contend that desire – well, desire is an even greater gift. And yet these two portions following so quickly after we read the Song of Songs, are also part of a related teaching: teaching about boundaries, teaching about the sacred power of desire, and law about the way to best channel desire for the benefit of the self, for those around us, and for the benefit of all of Israel. Aharei Mot and Kedoshim are the halachic side of the Song of Songs. They are not perfect, and in fact they are a first draft to be later refined by Talmudic debate that goes on to this very day and will go on for a lot longer than that. And while the Song of Songs is undeniably sexy, very sexy indeed, the law laid down in Aharei Mot and Kedoshim, as imperfect as it is, well, it is life-sustaining, as long as we are not unthinkingly following it, but engaging with it, and so the law is therefore very sexy too...

The paradox here is that it is entirely possible that in search of holiness, one can become unholy, and in the search for transcendence of self, one can also become unholy. We had a discussion on this last year , when one of you commented on people who were trying to be so holy, they became unholy. This is the same concept here writ specifically on the subject of desire and sexual transgression. The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “if you push on something hard enough, you get its opposite.” The Song, the gorgeous expression of unbound desire, pushed on hard enough in certain directions, leads to transgression, pain, hurt, betrayal, abuse of power. This is why we have a check on our Spring fever here, why we are here taking a cold shower, as it were. The Levitical text is not countering the text of the Song. It is the first draft of the halachic side of the Song that was refined in Talmud and that continues to be refined today. And in this sense, I have come to appreciate, you know, that Leviticus is very sexy. Very sexy indeed. Because it sets down the law, imperfectly so, but in its own way, the law gives life. Richard Eliot Friedman’s commentary on the Torah translates Lev 18:5 as “And you shall observe my laws…which, when a human will do them, he’ll live through them!” and adds the comment that the law is a “path to life.” (p 374-375) What, indeed, can be sexier than that? A path to life.

Rabbi Dr. Sue Reinhold, on Aharei Mot/Kedoshim, 2007

What if the concepts of sexual transgression and shame are paradoxically linked with the idea of kindness, or grace? Does this not get to the point that these transgressions are done, mistakenly so, but done in a misguided attempt to do something holy? Rashi points out that “in Aramaic the Hebrew cherpah (‘a disgrace’) is rendered chisuda." (Rashi’s Torah commentary, p. 132) Chisuda, of course, shares the same root as the Hebrew word hesed – translated as grace, or kindness. Zornberg writes that “It is no etymological coincidence that incest and other sexual taboos are called hesed. This is the modality of expansiveness, impatient of limits and laws, eager to speak many languages, and know many other selves…[this] leaves us with the paradox of hesed as root for two contrary ideas, ‘grace’ and ‘disgrace.’…the radical possibilities in a paradoxical conception of hesed remain intriguing.” (p 51; fn25, p 387)

Indeed, the paradox here is that it is entirely possible that in search of holiness, one can become unholy, and in the search for transcendence of self, one can also become unholy.

Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Hidden Order of Intimacy, p. 236-237

“Be holy!” is translated by Rabbi Mordecai Yosef Leiner (known as the Mei Ha-Shilo’ach): “Be attuned!” That is, Be attentive to the radiations of the divine that are always waiting to illuminate human life. Being mezumanim, attuned in this way, means both avoiding distraction and opening oneself, standing in God’s presence, face-to-face, in hope of illumination. Being holy in this sense would mean clearing space, allowing access to the illumination. D. H. Lawrence wrote of “man in his wholeness, wholly attending.” Kedushah would then evoke expectation, alertness, aspiration. Rabbi Leiner cites Proverbs 3:3: “Let love and truth not abandon you!”—suggesting the receptive stance of the mystic in a world charged with the divine. “Be holy!” is immediately followed by a cascade of variegated laws—about life in the family, about the Sabbath, and idolatry, and sacrifice, and social responsibility in agriculture. Punctuated with the statement “I am God,” these laws form the superstructure on which many legal categories depend. At the same time, they themselves constitute the detailed injunctions that flesh out the meaning of the general principle of “Be holy!” An ideal of holiness is grounded in ritual and social practices. The sense of the divine runs like an electrical impulse through the text. Without the detailed practices, the ideal would remain undefined. But without the ideal, without the perspective of the klal, all the specifics would lack organic meaning.