Parashot Acharei – Kedoshim
SAN DIEGO — This week’s double Torah portion, Acharei and Kedoshim, leaps off the scroll with relevance to the pandemic of our times, COVID, or if you prefer, kaf, bet, dalet—the equivalent our English letters, K, V, D, forms the root for the word Kavod. What’s honor have to do with these parshiot? Plenty.
And what’s COVID have to do with kavod? Plenty. Kavod, כָּבוֹד KVD, a word of strength and importance, refers to “glory,” “respect,” “majesty,” and “honor.” Other uses of kavod can refer to wealth (Gen. 31:1, the first use of kavod in the Bible), reputation (Gen. 45:13), the quantity of something, or splendor, all of which could be summed up in the word “dignity.” Another very important application is found in the fifth commandment, commanding us to “honor” (kavod in verb form) our fathers and mothers.
Has COVID come to teach us the need for more kavod, to love our neighbors more than we do, to refine ourselves? As the cartoon floating around social media says, “Now that I’ve cleared your calendars, let’s talk – God.” Are you filling your time reflecting more on COVID or kavod? One might add fright and a pause to your life, the other faith and fuel in your life.
Kedoshim begins with, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus,19:1-2) This is followed by many mitzvot from observing Shabbat, respecting our parents, giving charity, being honest in business, to loving our neighbor and a stranger. Ours is a religion of holiness, of love, of honesty, of honor, of kavod. In Vayikra Rabba 13:3, we learn that mitzvot were given to us to refine our characters, essentially to help us live optimally, and I’d assume this includes living in health – physical, mental, and spiritual.
Indeed, with shelter-at-home time, we have opportunity to reflect on what is genuinely essential and matters, what is at the depth and meaning of our lives, and what is fleeting and doesn’t really matter at all. This week’s Torah readings point to the very clear, ultimate, meaning of being holy, of living life with dignity, Kavod ha briyot, honoring other human beings. As we care for our own health, give kavod to our parents and find proper ways to care for their health and wellbeing, demonstrate proper precautions in not spreading illness to our neighbors, we are actually adjusting our lives to the Torah’s authentic teaching in this week’s readings and adding kavod to the pandemic of COVID.
We learn to “love your neighbor like yourself,” VeAhavta LeReacha KaMocha, what Rabbi Akiva called the Klal Gadol Ba Torah, a great rule in the Torah. We are taught that while we are to love and protect ourselves, we are also expected to love our neighbor in all areas as well. The Rambam (Mada 6:3) teaches that we should speak in praise of our neighbors, be careful with his/her honor and their property.
COVID-19 gives us the opportunity act with kavod in these matters, but also with our own health and the health of all those around us as well.
What about offering kavod to those healthcare professionals sacrificing their own wellbeing to care for us? Why wait to offer kavod ha’emet, honoring those who have passed? The two Torah readings this week are teaching us to act with kavod to all, now and always. “Kedoshim tih’yu, ki kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheikhem, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” may well sum up our responsibility in this world now and always – to promote health, to fill our world with what is holy and to be holy in order to do so.
With the help of Hashem, when we read these parshiot next year, we’ll focus on other aspects of life with strengthened kavod, with no COVID, with the honor, dignity and holiness He asks of us in these, and every parasha.
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Michael Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly d’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family worship. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com