By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — On Mondays and Thursdays, the market days of times gone by, we read the Torah during daily minyan. We normally read the first three aliyot of the parasha of the approaching Shabbat.
On Thursday a member of our minyan nudged me during the Torah reading and said, “I think that some people need to read this morning’s reading in English!” I do not know to whom she was referring, but I do know to what she was referring.
Parashat Kedoshim is often called the “Holiness Code” because it contains numerous moral and ethical laws. These are the laws that we need to obey to become a “nation of Priests and a holy people.”
On Thursday we read many of these laws including, “You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another” (Lev. 19:12) and “You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery” (Lev. 19:13)
Some people believe that the Torah is an outdated document which has no bearing on life today. I beg to differ! In recent weeks we have learned of a number of major American and foreign companies that have been accused of the type of abuse the Torah is attempting to prevent.
Some examples: Toyota Motor Corporation was just fined by the U.S. Government for not revealing a defect in its automobile accelerator systems in a timely manner. (“You shall not deal deceitfully”). Goldman Sachs has been accused by the SEC of defrauding investors by not disclosing the full details behind a collateralized debt obligation they were offering. (“You shall not defraud your fellow.”) There have also been numerous reports of the types of Ponzi schemes fashioned by Bernie Madoff and his cohorts. (“You shall not steal.”)
Judaism has never been a religion that touts the virtues of poverty and asceticism. The opposite is true, we are encouraged to enjoy all of the bounty with which God blesses us. But there are limits. One is not allowed to profit through the use of illegal or immoral tactics. “You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.” (Lev. 19:35-36)
In this parasha the Torah enjoins, “You shall love your fellow as yourself.” According to Rabbi Akiva, this is the most important mitzvah in the Torah. We can easily see why. Perhaps if loving one’s neighbor as oneself was first and foremost in everyone’s mind, the other 612 mitzvot would not quite be as necessary!
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego