Parasha: Acharei Mot · Aliyah: Seventh (Malchut)

אל תטמאו בבל אלה, "Do not defile yourselves with any of these things." Torat Kohanim comments that this refers to both some of them and all of them. This seems very strange as the Torah could have simply stated that we must not defile ourselves by sexual intercourse with even a single one of the categories mentioned in this chapter and we could have avoided any chance of misunderstanding. Another difficulty is the ending of the verse "for the nations whom I drive out on your account have become defiled with all these." In view of these words how can we interpret the first half to mean that defilement through involvement in only one of these forbidden unions is meant? The words בכל אלה are not clear; they appear to mean that every one of the Canaanite nations indulged in all of the abominable practices listed in this chapter.

We may have to resort to a kabbalistic approach in order to properly understand our verse. This involves knowing the reason why the Torah has not taken us into its confidence concerning the relative importance of one commandment when compared to another; nor has the Torah informed us about specific סגולות treasures or characteristics of individual commandments. On the contrary, when speaking about the Torah, Solomon says in Proverbs 5,6: "She does not chart a path of life, her ways are unstable, you do not know them." Our sages in Avot 2,1 tell us that we should not say that one particular מצוה is important whereas another is not so important. The Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1,1 as well as Devarim Rabbah 6 provide proof for this by saying G'd allocates the same amount of reward for fulfilling a "minor" commandment as He does for someone who fulfils a "major" commandment. We have good reason to believe that G'd considers some commandments as "major" and others as "minor." Why then did the Torah not provide us with a key to help us determine the relative importance of the commandments?

Presumably the reason is that the so-called "minor" commandments are as necessary in G'd's plans for our personality development as are the so-called "major" commandments. Each מצוה is a סגולה, a treasure of a unique kind. What does it matter that the reward for one kind of מצוה is greater or smaller than the reward for its counterpart seeing that each reward is something unique, contributes in a unique manner to our personality development to ensure our progress to becoming the most perfect human being? This is why G'd presented the commandments as if they were all of the same level of importance in order that the Israelites should perform all of them. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Kohelet 9,10: "whatever you are able to do with your might, do it!"

Another reason may be this. There are commandments the fulfilment of which may result in material wealth in this world, whereas others may result in longevity in this world. The performance of still other commandments may determine if someone will be blessed with children, etc., etc. G'd was afraid that if He revealed to us which commandment would bring which blessing in its wake some people who are interested only in a particular blessing would neglect performance of those commandments which promise blessings they do not particularly care for. This is why G'd decided to conceal these details to ensure that we endeavour to observe and carry out all the commandments. This encourages a person to perform a מצוה which has a unique benefit for his wellbeing though he does not know of this. This helps us understand why we sometimes observe people who are basically wicked and non-religious enjoy prosperity and peace of mind. They may have performed one of the commandments whose specific סגולה it is to bestow on him economic success and peace of mind in this world. The sins these people are guilty of do not prevent G'd from letting them enjoy the particular blessing they are entitled to on the basis of the מצרה they did fulfil. Whatever we have written thus far about the Torah keeping us in the dark about the relative importance of different commandments, applies only to the performance of positive commandments.When it comes to the severity of transgressing negative commandments, however, the Torah has made it plain by means of the penalties provided which transgressions are more serious than others. Some transgressions are of consequence only to man's life in the hereafter. This is why people guilty of them may enjoy a successful life in this world, not knowing that all this is at the expense of their share of the life in the hereafter. Other transgressions result in afflictions long delayed but in this life. Still others may result in relatively benign punishments; there are others in which the penalty is of a particularly harsh and cruel-appearing nature. You will find that many sinners were obviously guilty of sins for which the Torah threatened כרת, untimely death, and yet we find these sinners alive and well into ripe old age. How are we to explain this? Clearly, some people receive their due in this world whereas others receive it only after departing this life. It is a psychological fact that most people feel more concerned about what might happen to them in this life than about what awaits them in the hereafter.

We know that G'd is very strict with even the people closest to Him and does not allow them to speak an untruth or even something which may be interpreted as a lie. When Rabbi Akiva returned from his journey to the פרדס, the regions where the secrets of Torah are to be found, he warned his colleagues that when they approached an area that appeared like transparent stones of marble [like crystallised water Ed.], they should not mistakenly describe it as water (Chagigah 14). If such restrictions apply to humans, how much more so may we expect the Torah not to express itself in a misleading fashion?

This brings us to the explanation of our verse. The penalty the Torah threatens for violation of the sexual mores is expulsion from the Holy Land by the land itself, and is applicable only to the commission of one of the many detestable acts described in this chapter as I will demonstrate shortly. Other types of abominations of a sexual nature result in different kinds of retribution, each according to its specific transgression. G'd did not want to point out which one of the many forbidden sexual unions described in our chapter results in the sinner being spewed out by the Holy Land in order that a person should worry about this prospect when contemplating violation of any (i.e. all) of these prohibitions. This is in accordance with the psychology that one worries more about a penalty that has been spelled out than about one which is couched in vague terminology. Seeing each of the prospective violations might result in the sinner being spewed out of the country he has more reason to worry. The words אל תטמאו בכל אלה therefore means "do not defile yourselves through any one of these abominations." כי בכל אלה נטמאו הגוים אשר אני משלח מפניכם ותטמא הארץ ואפקוד עונה, means that there is a single cause, i.e. one of the many abominations, which was the reason the Canaanites lost their country. If that was so, it is clear that also the words אל תטאמו בכל אלה refers to a single sin and not the sin of violating all the abominations mentioned in our chapter.

The Torah also writes ושמרתם..ולא תעשו מכל התועבות, "be careful not to commit any of these abominations." This verse tells you that the inhabitants of Canaan were indeed guilty of engaging in all of these perverse practices, that from a moral point of view they may all be subsumed under the same heading. The only abominations which are not potentially subject to the penalty of the land expelling its perpetrators are the abominations the Canaanites did not become guilty of. This is why the Torah had to write the words: כי כל, "for all, etc." You may view the whole subject in parable form. You have a number of vessels in front of you, each one containing drinking water. You have become aware that a poisonous snake spit into one of the vessels but you do not know into which one. People will be scared to drink out of any of these vessels fearing it is the one containing the invisible poison. Although only a single sin causes expulsion from the country whereas G'd issued many prohibitions, it is a sad fact that man is inclined to commit such abominations and he is considered in law as someone who is by nature taking the law into his own hands instead of keeping his distance from abominations as a matter of nature. I have enlarged on this phenomenon in my book פרי תואר on Yore Deyah 110 where I explained that everyone who is considered as having a 50-50 chance of sinning is considered as a definite potential sinner. In halachah we call this כל קבוע כמחצה על מחצה דמי, that as long as there is at least one definitely forbidden object in front of us even if there are 100 permitted items, as long as we have not identified the forbidden item a person consuming one of these items is not given the benefit of the doubt that the chances that he ate the permitted items are overwhelmingly in his favour; he is considered as having had a 50-50 chance of having eaten the forbidden item. Once G'd had frightened the Israelite into considering that he might be guilty of expulsion if he indulged in forbidden sexual relations and that even the other prohibitions carry the כרת penalty he has every reason to refrain from committing such a sin.

ותטמא הארץ, and the land became defiled, etc. The Torah here intends to tell us something similar to what we have read in the Zohar volume 3 page 53 that the actions of Israel determine the amount of spirituality in our world both positively and negatively. Our sages in Avot 4,11 say that a spiritually positive force is created with the performance of every commandment, whereas a spiritually negative force is created due to a sin being committed. The Torah alludes to this concept when it wrote ואפקוד עונה עליה, "I punished it for its iniquity, etc." This is in line with Jeremiah 2,19 that "your wickedness caused you to be disciplined." Performance of sinful deeds keeps strengthening the accuser against us at the celestial court. Man will be paid in accordance with his deeds. Tomer Devorah chapter 1 describes this payment as the creation of a destructive "angel" who will in due course repay the sinner who had created him. This "angel" loses potency in direct proportion to the afflictions experienced by its victim, so that once the victim has experienced sufficient pain the "angel" expires by itself. G'd deals with everyone absolutely fairly, treating each person individually. The meaning of ואפקד עונה is that the sin itself and its effect is visited upon the sinner. I have already explained why the Torah uses the singular. According to our approach it is possible that the various destructive "angels" man creates due to his sins are activated one at a time and not simultaneously and that this is why the Torah describes the sin in the singular.

ועמדתם אתם, "and you shall observe, etc." The reason the Torah uses the word אתם, "you," after having already addressed the people as "you" by addressing them directly is, that this commandment is intended as a warning that the various statutes and ordinances not be disregarded by all the people who have been commanded to observe them. A person should not say that his only concern is that he personally should not be the cause of the particular commandment being ignored. By saying ושמרתם את חקותי, the Torah imposes upon each one of us the obligation to see to it that others observe these statutes. Seeing that such an obligation devolves only on the people with influence on the people, i.e. Moses and his court, the Torah added the word אתם to make sure that we understood who was being addressed here. It is the function of a Jewish court to ensure that the people observe G'd's commandments. In Torat Kohanim our sages said that the reason that Moses and his court are being charged with that responsibility is that they themselves were already in the habit of observing these commandments. This made them a natural for supervising observance of these laws by the whole nation. We have a similar approach to Song of Songs 4,12: גן נעול אהותי כלה גל נעול מעין חתום. "A garden locked up is my sister, a spring locked up a fountain sealed." Solomon used a well understood hyperbole to describe chaste behaviour by the Jewish people. The message is that the legislation about sexual prohibitions is not something new and strange to the Jewish people but that they had always excelled in chastity as part of their nature. The Torah may have alluded to this by reminding the people with the word אתם, i.e. "something that you are already used to."

האזרח והגר, "the natural-born Jew as well as the proselyte." Torat Kohanim explains that were it not for the extra letter ה at the beginning of the word אזרח I would have interpreted these laws as applying only to the males. The same is true about the letter ה at the beginning of the word הגר. As it is, the laws also apply to the wives of the natural-born Jews as well as to the wives of the proselytes. Thus far Torat Kohanim. The only reason that the Torah had to write something at all in order to include the women is the word אתם which is clearly masculine.

Another reason the Torah even mentions the proselytes is to tell us that if both the Israelites and the proselytes will adhere to these regulations on sexual chastity, then the deviations practiced by the local population will lose the power to make the land spew out its inhabitants. The tendency of the land to do this was limited to the period prior to the Israelites occupying it. In other words, it is entirely up to Israel and the proselytes if the land will or will not spew out its inhabitants.

You are no doubt aware of Exodus 23,33 in which the Torah warns not to conclude any treaties with the local inhabitants of the land of Canaan as they are apt to persuade you to sin against G'd. Maimonides as well as the author of the Semak remark that a Gentile who fails to observe the seven Noachide laws is not even allowed to dwell in the land of Israel for this very reason. This teaches you that if it had not been for their failure to accept the Noachide laws the land would not have spewed out anybody on their account. [Many of the prohibitions in our chapter do not form part of the Noachide laws. Ed.]

ולא תקיא הארץ אתכם…כאשו קאה, "so that the land will not spew you out as it spewed out, etc." The Torah was not content with the statement in verse 25 that the land had already spewed out its inhabitants on account of their sins. It stresses the urgency of the matter much as what has been described in Torat Kohanim about the patient who receives a visit from a doctor who warns him not to eat certain things. This is followed by another doctor who warns the same patient that if he fails to heed his warning he would die just as another patient who had failed to heed the warning had died already. The patient takes the second warning more seriously than the first warning. Our verse may be viewed as the second warning.

ושמדתם את משמדתי, "You shall observe My ordinance, etc." Here G'd issues a warning to observe the "security fence" erected by the sages so as to make it unlikely that one breaches one of the Biblical commandments concerning sexual mores. The word משמרת refers to such a "fence." The reason the Torah added the words לבלתי עשות, "not to do, etc," is to explain that the "fence" is designed to protect us from even inadvertently breaching the עריות legislation. Even though a person would not become guilty of the penalties provided for people who willingly violate the prohibitons in this chapter, they would still defile themselves. In order to avoid this, the Torah urges "observe My protective fence."

The Torah concludes the chapter with the words: "I am the Lord your G'd" in order to inform us that we are in danger of jeopardising this superior status even if we violate the commandments in this chapter only inadvertently. The abominations mentioned in this chapter are so serious that commission of any one of them even inadvertently creates a schism between the Israelite and his G'd. It makes it difficult for G'd's presence to remain amongst us. Such a presence can reside only amongst people devoid of abominable acts and concerned with maintaining their sanctity.