Torah just for Jews – or for the entire World?

Acharei Mot-Kedoshim    Lev. 16:1 – 20:27
Haftarah  Ezekiel 22,1-16,  Amos 9,7-15,  Ezekiel 20,2-20

Led by Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s review on this week’s Parashah, we establish a unique linkage to the topic which we have been contemplating on ever since the start of Corona and its devastating effects on especially the ultra religious Jewish communities across the Globe.  We have been delving for the reason Why Kosher observing Jews die in the same Plague caused by China’s total disregard for ’Biblically unclean foods’ in their dietary habits? And all the evidence that is unfolding weekly thru our Parashiyot Reviews and the amazing reports coming in from all over seem to confirm the same Resolve:  That it all turns around the need for both the World and the Jewish Sages to realize where and how Torah fits into this End Time scenario – the Climax of the Ages.

There has of late been a strange Phenomenon in the World of millions of non-Jews turning to Torah observation and Jewish religious customs. If this is ‘The End Time’ like religious commentators of all faiths and even seculars proclaim, then this Phenomenon may well be the precursor to the Time for Reawakening amongst both Jews and these Torah restorers (who are generally anti-Rabbinic) to the Scriptural Proclamation that the Torah is meant for ALL humanity and that Judah is the Divinely Mandated Lawgiver (Mechoqeck) for guidance in Torah until G-d Himself will take over the Universal rule over the Nations thru His Nation which He is now preparing as the Light of His Torah (His Will) unto the World.

This week’s Parashah is yet another confirmation, from yet another intriguing perspective and confirming also that the current World wide Corona Plague may well be the dreadful Tool that will bring both sides on their knees to this Realization.

 

The Ethic of Holiness

Acharei Mot – Kedoshim 5780; By Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks; http://rabbisacks.org/

DISCLAIMER – the authors and promoters of the articles and videos that we place here are mostly not connected in any way to KOL HATOR and may well not share our views and interpretations. We do however thank them for their insight and pointers that confirm our understanding and often broaden our insight.

Kedoshim contains the two great love commands of the Torah. The first is, “Love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:18). Rabbi Akiva called this “the great principle of the Torah.” The second is no less challenging: “The stranger living among you must be treated as your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:34).

These are extraordinary commands. Many civilisations contain variants of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you,” or in the negative form attributed to Hillel (sometimes called the Silver Rule), “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary; go and learn.”[1] But these are rules of reciprocity, not love. We observe them because bad things will happen to us if we don’t. They are the basic ground-rules of life in a group.

Love is something altogether different and more demanding. That makes these two commandments a revolution in the moral life. Judaism was the first civilisation to put love at the heart of morality. As Harry Redner puts it in Ethical Life, “Morality is the ethic of love. The initial and most basic principle of morality is clearly stated in the Torah: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” He adds: “The biblical “love of one’s neighbour” is a very special form of love, a unique development of the Judaic religion and unlike any to be encountered outside it.”[2]

Much has been written about these commands. Who exactly is meant by “your neighbour”? Who by “the stranger”? And what is it to love someone else as oneself? I want to ask a different question. Why is it specifically here, in Kedoshim, in a chapter dedicated to the concept of holiness, that the command appears?

Nowhere else in all Tanach are we commanded to love our neighbour. And only in one other place (Deut. 10:19) are we commanded to love the stranger. (The Sages famously said that the Torah commands us thirty-six times to love the stranger, but that is not quite accurate. Thirty-four of those commands have to do with not oppressing or afflicting the stranger and making sure that he or she has the same legal rights as the native born. These are commands of justice rather than love).

The prophetic voice is about how people conduct themselves in society. Are they faithful to God and to one another? Are they acting honestly, justly, and with due concern for the vulnerable in society? Do the political and religious leaders have integrity? Does society have the high morale that comes from people feeling that it treats its citizens well and calls forth the best in them? A moral society will succeed; an immoral or amoral one will fail. That is the key prophetic insight. The Prophets did not make the demand that people love one another. That was beyond their remit. Society requires justice, not love.

Above all the ethic of holiness tells us that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. God made each of us in love. Therefore, if we seek to imitate God – “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” – we too must love humanity, and not in the abstract but in the concrete form of the neighbour and the stranger. The ethic of holiness is based on the vision of creation-as-God’s-work-of-love. This vision sees all human beings – ourselves, our neighbour and the stranger – as in the image of God, and that is why we are to love our neighbour and the stranger as ourself.

I believe that there is something unique and contemporary about the ethic of holiness. It tells us that morality and ecology are closely related. They are both about creation: about the world as God’s work and humanity as God’s image. The integrity of humanity and the natural environment go together. The natural universe and humanity were both created by God, and we are charged to protect the first and love the second.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks

 

 

KOL HATOR Commentary

It is important to note the original vs translated meanings of the key words used in these two main passages pointed out by Rabbi Sacks, concerning “love”. The Love that G-d projects towards His entire Creation, like that of the love of a Father, is the ‘love’ that He expects of His followers towards ALL of His Creation.

This must then obviously also apply to His Torah. Through the exile experience of both Houses of Israel which now needs reconciliation, the friction between the two factions has been eternalised. Initially it was between the two national Houses of the SAME nation, the 2-Tribed Kingdom of Judah vs the 10-Tribed Kingdom of the House of Israel. After the exile of 10-Israel, they lost all their Israelite identity amongst the Nations. The rise of Christianity drew them back into a related Judaic Christian religion which, due to Torah rejection by the nations, became a vehemently anti Jewish culture for 2000 yrs.  Judah, on the receiving end of persecution for observing the Torah, retracted into self-protection mode, forgot about their 10-Tribed brothers altogether and built up a natural resistance and avoidance of Christianity which drove the persecution against them. Resultantly, Christianity rejects (in variant  grading) Torah and Rabbinism,  while Judah has hoarded the Full Torah for themselves only – contrary to the message in this Parashah and the Desire of G-d

Today, what remains, is the SAME Family Feud, with both sides having withdrawn into rejection of the other. The Divine Requirement is that they reconcile in Peace, to become ONE Nation again which will serve as His Torah Light unto the Nations in His Universal Kingdom Rule. This makes the Order on them even greater in this End Time approaching the Final Restoration. This is entire Divine Objective is covered in 7 chapters (42 – 49) of the Book of Isaiah which deals with the Preparation of His Servant, the Light unto the Nations. Ref. Who is ‘The Servant of G-d?”

Lev. 19:18

יח  לֹא-תִקֹּם וְלֹא-תִטֹּר אֶת-בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ, וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה.

18 Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

 

51 Translations   https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Leviticus%2019:18

בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ – the children of thy people

Translated by Jewish Sources as:

• the children of thy people MEMR, OJB
• your people CJB

Other translations:

• the sons/children of your own people
• Your community, Your people
• Members of your community
• descendants of your people
• fellow citizens

לְרֵעֲךָ – thy neighbour,  your neighbor

 

Lev. 19:33, 34

לג  וְכִי-יָגוּר אִתְּךָ גֵּר, בְּאַרְצְכֶם–לֹא תוֹנוּ, אֹתוֹ.	33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong.
לד  כְּאֶזְרָח מִכֶּם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם הַגֵּר הַגָּר אִתְּכֶם, וְאָהַבְתָּ לוֹ כָּמוֹךָ–כִּי-גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם, בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.	34 The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

 

51 Translations https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Leviticus%2019:34

אֶזְרָח – stranger  meaning: citizen, subject, native

Translated by Jewish Sources as:

• Stranger  MEMRE
• Foreigner  CJB

Other translations:

• Stranger, alien, immigrant, foreigner,
• Resident foreigner, outsider

גֵּר – home-born

Translated by Jewish Sources as:

• Home born  MEMRE
• Home born among you  OJB
• Native born  CJB

Other translations:

• one born among you, home born. Native born,
• one of your citizens, fellow citizen,

גֵרִים – strangers

Translated by Jewish Sources as:

• Strangers  MEMRE
• Foreignrs  CJB

Other translations:

• Strangers, Sojourners

 

The following Scripture hit me powerfully while listening to Rav Riskin’s commentary on this same Parashat Kedoshim:

 “And you shall observe My decrees and My laws which a human being shall perform and he shall live by them; I am the Lord.” (Lev. 18:5)

Lev. 18:5

ה  וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת-חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי, אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחַי בָּהֶם:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה.

5 Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and Mine ordinances, which if a man (human being) do, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

 

Observations of Jewish and translated versions of this Text:

Ref. 51 Translations  https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Leviticus%2018:5

הָאָדָם – a man

Translated by Jewish Sources as:

• a man  MEMRE, OJB
• A Person  CJB

Other translations:

• A man, person, whoever, anyone, person who obeys,
• By dong so, the one who obeys, those who follow.

 

For Rav Riskins full commentary, ref. ots.org.il/shabbat-shalom-acharei-mot-kedoshim-5780/

 

For further promotions of the KOL HATOR Awakening Call for Judah to reconsider their restricting of sharing the Torah with the entire World, ref. to the Facebook Page of ‘OvadYah Avrahmi’.