Parashat Kedoshim

Torah Portions

Kedoshim (“Holy”) opens by instructing the Israelites to be holy. It details dozens of laws regulating all aspects of life, including observing Shabbat, loving one’s neighbor, and leaving portions of a field for the poor. It ends by detailing punishments for certain types of idolatry and sexual misconduct.

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יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God יהוה, am holy.

Leviticus 19:1-2

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow [Israelite] as yourself: I am יהוה.

Leviticus 19:18

You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your God: I am יהוה. When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. The strangers who reside with you shall be to you as your citizens; you shall love each one as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I יהוה am your God. You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I יהוה am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:32-36

Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: This portion was stated in an assembly because most of the essential principles of the Torah are dependent upon it. Rabbi Levi said: Because the Ten Commandments are included in it. “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2), and it is written here: “I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:2). “You shall have no [other gods before Me]” (Exodus 20:3), and it is written here: “Do not make molten gods for yourselves” (Leviticus 19:4). “You shall not take [the name of the Lord your God in vain]” (Exodus 20:7)…

Vayikra Rabbah 24:5

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…

Ramban on Leviticus 19:2:2

14) "and before the blind man do not place a stumbling-block.": before one who is "blind" in a certain matter. If someone asks you: "Is that man's daughter fit for (marriage into) the priesthood? Do not tell them that she is "kosher" if she is not. If they ask you for advice, do not give them advice that is unfit for them. Do not say: "Leave early in the morning," so that robbers should assault them. "Leave in the afternoon," so that they fall victim to the heat. Do not say to him "Sell your field and buy an ass," and you seek occasion against him and take (procure) it from him…

Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 2 14

CARE FOR THE STRANGER (19:33–34) Every law collection in the Bible advocates care for the foreigner who resides in the land of Israel (for example, Exodus 22:20; 23:9; Deuteronomy 14:29; 24:14, 17). These admonitions frequently remind the reader that our ancestors were once strangers in the land of Egypt and that we should remember the vulnerability of the outsider. Elsewhere in the Bible, the stranger is mentioned alongside the widow and orphan.

The Torah; A Women's Commentary, Leviticus 19:33:1

§ The Sages taught in a baraita: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall rebuke [hokhe’aḥ tokhiaḥ] your neighbor, and do not bear sin because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). Why does the verse specify “in your heart”? One might have thought that the verse means: Do not hit him, do not slap him, and do not ruin him due to hatred. Therefore the verse states “in your heart.” This teaches that the verse speaks of hatred in the heart.…

Arakhin 16b:4-7

“You shall guard my statutes. You shall not breed-together two different kinds of your cattle. You shall not sow together two different kinds of seeds in your field. You shall not wear a garment woven of both wool and linen.” (Vayikra, 19:19)
“In your field” means the abundance that man sows and then uses to influence his surroundings. In this God is warning man to take care that there is no admixture of evil, God forbid, in all the influence that he puts forth. “Your cattle” means reception. Wherever man receives good, as in eating and the like, it shall not be mixed (with evil).

Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Leviticus, Kedoshim 8

Anyone who willingly, as a conscious act of defiance, performs the deeds associated with an ov or a yid'oni is liable for karet. If witnesses were present and warned him, he should be stoned to death. If he performed these actions inadvertently, he must bring a fixed sin offering.
What do the deeds associated with an ov involve? A person stands up and offers an incense offering of known content. He holds a wand of myrtle in his hand and waves it while whispering a known incantation in a hushed tone…

Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 6:1-2

1) (Vayikra 19:1) "And the L–rd spoke to Moses, saying (Vayikra 19:2) Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: Holy shall you be." We are hereby taught that this section was stated in the presence of all. Why so? Because most of the major tenets of Torah are inherent in it. "Holy shall you be": Separate yourselves (from arayoth.) "Holy shall you be, for holy am I, the L–rd your G d." If you sanctify yourselves, I will consider it as if you had sanctified Me, and if you do not sanctify yourselves, I will consider it as if you had not sanctified Me…

Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1 1

GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: From where is it derived that with regard to one who pursues another in order to kill him, the pursued party may be saved at the cost of the pursuer’s life? The verse states: “You shall not stand idly by the blood of another” (Leviticus 19:16); rather, you must save him from death. The Gemara asks: But does this verse really come to teach us this? This verse is required for that which is taught in a baraita: From where is it derived that one who…

Sanhedrin 73a:2

דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל SPEAK UNTO ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — This (the addition of the words כל עדת) teaches us that this section was proclaimed in full assembly because most of the fundamental teachings of the Torah are dependent on it (contained in it) (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1 1; Vayikra Rabbah 24:5). קדשים תהיו YE SHALL BE HOLY — This means, keep aloof from the forbidden sexual relations just mentioned and from sinful thoughts. [It is evident that this is the meaning of קדשים תהיו because] wherever you find in the Torah a command to fence yourself in against such…

Rashi on Leviticus 19:2:1-3:2

THOU SHALT SURELY REBUKE THY NEIGHBOR. Perhaps you suspected him of something which was not so. The meaning of and not bear sin because of him is that you be punished because of him.

Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 19:17:2

קדושים תהיו, seeing that most commandments are designed to sanctify you and to be observed by you.

Rashbam on Leviticus 19:2:1

חקתי תשמרו ‎את YE SHALL KEEP MY ORDINANCES — These are they: “Thou shalt not cause two kinds of thy cattle to gender etc.”, (and the other ordinances laid down in this verse), for by the term חוקים are meant those enactments of the King for which no reason is given and those that precede are not of this character.

Rashi on Leviticus 19:19:1

לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך, if he has done something evil to you, do not behave as if you continue to love him, all the time setting an ambush for him in your heart. (compare Jeremiah 9:7) Such an attitude is unhealthy, but הוכח תוכיח, rebuke him for what he has done and as a result you will restore harmonious relations. ולא תשא עליו חטא, in your heart.

Rashbam on Leviticus 19:17:1-3

The Gemara cites other statements made by Rabbi Ile’a in the name of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon. And Rabbi Ile’a said in the name of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon: Just as it is a mitzva for a person to say that which will be heeded, so is it a mitzva for a person not to say that which will not be heeded. One should not rebuke those who will be unreceptive to his message. Rabbi Abba says: It is obligatory for him to refrain from speaking, as it is stated: “Do not reprove a scorner lest he hate you; reprove a wise man and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8).

Yevamot 65b:6

דבר אל כל עדת...קדושים תהיו; after the presence of G’d had manifested itself among the Jewish people, sanctifying them for eternal life, as had been the meaning of the verse in Exodus 19,6 “you shall become for Me a nation of priests a holy nation,” and taking into consideration G’d’s statement in Leviticus 11,45 “I have led you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your G’d and your becoming holy,” G’d had in the meantime separated the Jewish people from impurity through the legislation concerning forbidden foods, skin eczemas…

Sforno on Leviticus 19:2:1

When one person wrongs another, the latter should not remain silent and despise him as [II Samuel 13:22] states concerning the wicked: "And Avshalom did not speak to Amnon neither good, nor bad for Avshalom hated Amnon."
Rather, he is commanded to make the matter known and ask him: "Why did you do this to me?", "Why did you wrong me regarding that matter?" as [Leviticus 19:17] states: "You shall surely admonish your colleague."
If, afterwards, [the person who committed the wrong] asks [his colleague] to forgive him, he must do so…

Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 6:6

"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", Leviticus 19:9. Harvesters Resting (Ruth and Boaz), Jean-François Millet, 1851-1853

Readings

May 10, 202512th of Iyyar, 5785

Torah

Leviticus 19:1-20:27

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 M

Haftarah

Amos 9:7-15

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