Kedoshim-Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe Bernhard

Closeness to God

Parashat Kedoshim
Leviticus 19:1-20:27
Haftarah: Amos 9:7-15

May 3, 2008 / 28 Nisan 5768

Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe Bernhard
Adat Ari El, Valley Village, CA
Vice President, Board of Rabbis of Southern California

This week's Torah portion, parashat Kedoshim, is oen of the most glorious pieces of religious literature. Combining ritual and ethical laws in a tight literary structure designed to heighten its impact, these chapters from Leviticus enumerate the fundamental code fo Jewish practice, all flowing from the opening verse, "Be holy for I the Lord your God am holy."

Though there is much to reflection, and each verse merits attention, the one commandment I would like to examine is Leviticus 19:16 and it reads in part:

"Do not stand by the blood of your fellow. I am the Lord."

This translation reads quite literally because the Hebrew phrase "lo ta'amod al ..." is built around the verb "la'amod" which means to stand (similarly we use the word Amidah for the "standing" prayer). However, the phrase need not be translated literally since, as with many phrases, there can be many other understandings beneath the surface.

In his commentary on Leviticus, Professor Baruch Levine notes three ways different commentators have understood this phrase. The first translation is "to stand aside, to stand by," and it has the sense that one ought to pursue one's livelihood in a manner that endangers another.

Each of these readings has a different nuance about how one should approach ethical living. The first says that a person is obligated to react and help when they see something bad happening to another. The second warns against participating in activities that one knows will harm another. And the third calls upon people to actively refrain from living in a way that causes such harm. Whereas the first one is reactive and the second passive, this last one is proactive and thereby challenges us to live life in a way that reduces harm to others before it even happens.

There are many ways in which we engage in our world. Sometimes we must be reactive to events around us, others require a more passive response. And still a third, a perhaps ideal, way is to actively engage in a way of life that is principled from the very beginning, though that is not always possible.

In any and all cases, the demand for ethical action is clear and forms the core of what makes us a holy people. We search out different ways of bringing a sense of God to the people, but if they do not affect how we treat others, if they do not change how we consume the resources of our world, if they do not translate into actions that bring tikkun/repair to our world, are we honestly fulfilling our mission to become a nation of priests? Rather than bring God closer to the people, perhaps we need to act in a way that brings us closer to God.