Parsha Kedoshim

Parashat Kedoshim
Nissan 26, 5771 ~ April 30, 2011
by Dan Cohen

Parsha Kedoshim – David Brooks, Melinda Gates and The Golden Rule

In honor of Baby Girl Davies.

Think about it…“What if Leviticus Rhymed?”

A great resource for understanding this week’s parsha can be found at http://www.g-dcast.com/kedoshim/. This week, they feature Beth Jacob’s own Elana Jagoda and her song on Parsha Kedoshim with animation and a sing-along tune. Hope you enjoy.

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A quick summary from Chabad.org to set the stage better and faster than I ever could.

The Parshah of Kedoshim begins with the statement: “You shall be holy, for I, the L‑rd your G‑d, am holy.” This is followed by dozens of mitzvot (Divine commandments) through which the Jew sanctifies him- or herself and relates to the holiness of G‑d.

These include: the prohibition against idolatry, the mitzvah of charity, the principle of equality before the law, Shabbat, sexual morality, honesty in business, honor and awe of one’s parents, and the sacredness of life.

Also in Kedoshim is the dictum which the great sage Rabbi Akiva called a cardinal principle of Torah, and of which Hillel said, “This is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary. That phrase is:

“and you shall love your fellow as yourself” (19:18)

(Mark Zitter reminded me that Hillel added…Now go study)

Commonly referred to in grade school civics as The Golden Rule, this is not Donald Trump’s message of “he with the gold, rules.” Instead, it is the Torah urging to us to think first of our divine connection to others. When we are intentional in our actions, we are conscious of our interconnectedness as humans.

Author David Brooks recently published “The Social Animal.” It’s a great read. In a New York Times column in 2008 that previewed much in the book, he said,

“Over the past 30 years, there has been a tide of research in many fields, all underlining one old truth — that we are intensely social creatures, deeply interconnected with one another…”

He goes on to add that in field after field of cutting edge research, findings show we are all connected at every level of our being. Brooks added:

Geneticists have shown that our behavior is influenced by our ancestors and the exigencies of the past. Behavioral economists have shown the limits of the classical economic model, which assumes that individuals are efficient, rational, utility-maximizing creatures. Psychologists have shown that we are organized by our attachments. Sociologists have shown the power of social networks to affect individual behavior. What emerges is not a picture of self-creating individuals gloriously free from one another, but of autonomous creatures deeply interconnected with one another.

I like to think about these modern developments in social science and compare them to the wisdom of our elders.

“A soul might descend to earth and live seventy or eighty years for the sole purpose of doing a favor for another--a spiritual favor, or even a material favor.” - Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov

The picture we are left with is that whether it’s the word of G-d, the wisdom of our elders, or the cutting edge of neuroscience, they all point to one thing, our unique calling to serve each other. We have available to us an opportunity to know great joy in recognizing that we are all in this together, in empathizing with a fellow human and then acting accordingly. That is my big takeaway from Kedoshim.

This notion of connectedness is found in many of the mitzvot outlined in the rest of the parsha. In the first Aliyah, right out the gate, in Chapter 19:9 and 10, we are told:

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not fully reap the corner of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest….you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.

Here, the Torah has set forth the original communal philanthropy program. The Torah recognizes that food is essential for every individual regardless of financial standing and shows us a path to help in ways that honor the dignity of both the donor and the donee. We are also shown that thinking first of others, sometimes even before they know of our help, can provide a pathway to meaningful engagement with our higher spiritual selves. Later in the first Aliyah verse 19:14 we see:

You shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person.

A while back Rabbi Dardik was discussing the verse above and how we might interpret it. The mitzvah can extend far beyond the literal translation, even to a person who was not blind at all, but simply unaware.

We owe it to ourselves to help the “blind” person achieve all that they may become -- not just to avoid obvious danger. I owe so much gratitude to those in the Oakland community who have opened my eyes to the beauty of our religion, to great Kosher wines, and to the opportunities that come with doubling down on a commitment to building our community. I am not alone.

In their book, “Give Smart. Philanthropy that Gets Results,” authors Thomas Tierney and Joel Fleishman provide a transcript from a speech given by Melinda Gates at the launch of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In her remarks, she spoke of the recognition that every life in the world has fundamental value. That a child in California has the same inherent value as one born elsewhere in the world or even one born into the Gates family. This is the core of what drives the mission of their family’s philanthropy.

Remarkably, the family with the greatest wealth accumulated in our Common Era internalized one of the fundamental truths of the Torah. We serve G-d and each other best, when we acknowledge our interconnectedness and when we love and value others as ourselves.