Holy Scrollers Preview - Parashat Kedoshim 4/22/11

Holy Scrollers Preview
Parashat Kedoshim
Lev. 19-20
Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg


Because we do not have double Torah portions this year, this week we have the pleasure of delving into Parashat Kedoshim and spending some quality time with it. (On non leap years, we would be studying it together with last week’s Parasha, Acharei Mot.)

This Parasha is really uplifting and edifying for about the first chapter or so. We have laws that express the core Torah values of protecting the most vulnerable in our society. In chapter 19, we learn that to be a holy community, we need to feed the hungry and provide for the poor, refrain from placing stumbling blocks in the way of the disabled, and treat the elderly with respect.

And then we get to chapter 20. Here we learn that to be a holy community, we need to refrain from incest and adultery and other proscribed sexual acts. Violation of these sexual prohibitions results in the death penalty in most cases. In verse 13 we have the law prohibiting sexual relations between men. This prohibition first appeared in last week’s Parasha, but this week we discover the penalty, which is death.

The Etz Hayim commentary is quite helpful here, I think. Although we are a Reform congregation – not Conservative – the explanation still resonates: “Conservative Judaism tends to give the tradition the benefit of the doubt when it baffles us but does not morally offend us. When the tradition asks us to do something that does offend us morally, Conservative Judaism claims the right to challenge and, if necessary, change the tradition, not because we see our judgment as superior to that of the Torah but because our judgment has been shaped by the values of the Torah and we are in effect calling the Torah to judge itself.” (page 697 comment below the line on verse 19)

I would like to spend some time on this question of how we handle those parts of Torah that create moral conflict for us today. Do we agree that parts of the Torah can be used to critique other parts? How do modern secular values play into these judgment calls? Should they? Can we see modern secular values as rooted in Torah, or is this wishful thinking?

I would also like to look at the larger question of holiness and distinction. The words “kadosh,” “holy,” and “l’havdil,” “to set apart” come back again and again in this Parasha. We are to be holy, and God has set us apart from other peoples. Do we see ourselves as striving for holiness as individuals? As a community? Does this set us apart from other people?