Kedoshim

📜 The Story

God tells Moses to speak to the whole nation and say, 'You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.' This message is not just for the leaders. It is for everyone, young and old. God asks all of us to be holy in our everyday lives.

The parsha is full of mitzvot (commandments) about how to treat people. Honor your father and mother. Keep Shabbat (the Sabbath). Do not worship idols. Leave the corners of your field and the fallen grain for the poor. Do not steal or lie. Pay a worker on time. Do not curse a deaf person, and do not put something in a blind person's way to trip him. Judge fairly. Do not gossip. Do not hate someone in your heart. Do not take revenge or hold a grudge. And here is the famous verse: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

There are more special mitzvot too. Do not plant two kinds of seeds together in one field. Do not wear clothing made of wool and linen mixed together, called shatnez. When you plant a fruit tree, do not eat its fruit for the first three years. In the fourth year the fruit is holy, and from the fifth year you may eat it. Stand up to honor older people. Love the stranger, because we were strangers in Egypt. And use honest weights and measures when you buy and sell.

Later in the parsha, God strongly warns against idol worship, like the worship of Molech, and other evil ways. The people of Israel must stay away from bad influences and stay a holy nation.

Kedoshim teaches that holiness is not only about big things in the Temple. It is also small things we do every day, like speaking kindly, helping someone who is weak, and being fair to everyone.