Parasha: Kedoshim · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

וכי תבאו אל הארץ, "and when you arrive in the country, etc." This verse contains three commandments. 1) The arrival in the land of our ancestors. We understand this in accordance with Ketuvot 110 that הכל מעלין לארץ ישראל, a father may force all the members of his household to migrate to the land of Israel as opposed to leaving the land of Israel. 2) One must plant fruit-bearing trees in order to enhance the stature of the land. 3) One has to observe the years of ערלה before one is entitled to eat or use the fruit of these trees.

The introduction of the verse with the letter ו at the beginning of this paragraph indicates that one's migration to the land of Israel should not be motivated purely by self-gratification but it should be accompanied by a love for the land G'd has given us as an inheritance, the land G'd has chosen for His name to dwell in. Mount Zion bears His name. The Torah commands us to plant these trees so that we should not think all we have to do in the Holy Land is to simply it make it our home without civilising the country. You have appreciated that the words אל הארץ, to the land, etc., imply that the Torah speaks about spiritual values connected with this land.

Perhaps we may look at the verse homiletically and view in the expression עץ מאכל, "a fruit-bearing tree" an allusion to Torah students who are also referred to as נטעים, "saplings" on occasion. The Talmud Shabbat 118 quotes Rabbi Yossi as sayings: "I have had marital relations on five occasions and I have planted five saplings." [in my text of the Talmud the word is not saplings but ארזים mighty cedars. Ed.] He referred, of course, to the five Torah scholars whom he fathered as a result of these unions and who are all enumerated by name in the Talmud. We have a verse in Isaiah 65,22 which describes the lives of "My people are like the life of a tree." The Zohar writes something similar on the commandment in Deut. 20,19 where the Torah prohibits destroying fruit-bearing trees in order to conquer a town one has laid siege to sooner. The words not to "destroy its trees" are understood as referring to Torah students. The air in the Holy Land helps in the acquisition of wisdom and purifies one's soul as we know from Baba Batra 158. The reason Torah students are compared to fruit-bearing trees is that they provide spiritual food for their listeners. You may wish to read about a story about Rabbi Akiva in Massechet Kallah Rabbati chapter 2 which described the venerable Rabbi teaching an orphaned child how to read. The father of this child had encountered great difficulties in the hereafter until the day his son was able to read and recite prayers. This paved the way for his father's progress in the hereafter.

שלש שנים יהיה לכם ערלים, "for three years shall it be unto you as 'uncircumcised;'" the meaning of ערלים is אטומים, shut, impenetrable; during the first three years a Torah student studies he does not dare open his mouth to give forth of his newly acquired wisdom just as most babies do not speak intelligently during the first three years of their lives. (Tanchuma Kedoshim 14). One normally starts teaching the child Torah in his fourth year so that he can recite the most simple prayers. Prayers such as Keriat Shema, Modeh Ani are called here קדש הלולים. In the fifth year the fruit of the tree is permitted to be eaten, compare the Mishnah in Avot 5,24 that a five year old child is old enough to start learning the written Torah. He begins to qualify for the description "a fruit-bearing tree."

The Torah immediately follows with the prohibition לא תאכלו על הדם, "do not eat it with blood!" This is a hint that one should not make the consumption of physical food a totally secular experience as if one's life were bound up in the act of eating, much as the life of an animal is bound up in its blood. לא תנחשו, "do not practice divination." If one were to eat blood one identifies with the concept of the נחש, the original serpent, Satan the seducer. Isaiah describes the mystical dimension of this when he wrote (Isaiah 65,25) "and the bread of the serpent is dust." According to this it is the serpent's nature to try and consume man who is made of dust, or to reduce man to a totally materially oriented creature. לא תעוננו, "do not practice soothsaying." We find a reference to this in Job 7,9 כלה ענן וילך, "just as the cloud once it has disappeared is gone forever, so man, once he has died is gone forever." This verse describes people who spent their lives chasing only the physical, the tangible, ignoring life's spiritual aspects. The Torah exhorts us not to exhaust our existence in our physical needs and pleasures.

לא תאכלו על הדם, "You shall not eat with the blood;" Bereshit Rabbah 21,7 say that the reason that this commandment appears next to the prohibition of ערלה is an allusion to Adam who had eaten from the tree of knowledge before its period of being ערלה had expired. [the other trees had been expressly permitted by G'd so that that prohibiton was overridden. Ed] According to the Midrash, all Adam had to do was to wait until the advent of the Sabbath. He would have been permitted to recite the benediction over wine; [according to the view that the fruit of the tree of knowledge were grapes. Ed.] This is the mystical dimension of the statement in Sanhedrin 38 that אדם מושך בערלתו היה, that "Adam was pulling at his ערלה." The word refers to the as yet not permitted fruit; Adam was too impatient. This is why the Torah writes next to the commandment וערלתם ערלתו, "do not eat with the blood," i.e. "do not eat of the fruit of the tree which is still ערלה because of the blood," i.e. all bloodshed in the world originated when Adam ate from that tree prematurely. We may extrapolate from this that had it not been for Adam's failure at the time there never would have been such a prohibition as the one described in our paragraph. Neither plants nor animals would have become restricted to man at all, either temporarily or permanently.

לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם, "Do not round off the corners of your head, etc." In this instance the Torah addresses the Israelites in the plural, whereas when speaking of the beard (in the same verse) it addresses the individual, i.e. in the singular. This teaches that the first admonition in the verse applies even to people who cannot apply the second half of the verse to themselves seeing they do not have a beard. We could easily have made such a mistake as women who do not have beards also are not subject to the prohibition of rounding the corners of their heads compare (Kidushin 38). Should you ask why we have arrived at such an apparently arbitrary distinction, i.e. that the males are included in both prohibitions whereas the women are exempt from both, the answer is that the males become subject to the second prohibiton as soon as they are old enough whereas the women as a rule never become subject to the second prohibition. Nature did not endow them with hair in that area of their faces.

ושרם לנפש לא תתנו בבשרכם, "And you shall not make an incision on your flesh in mourning of someone who died." The reason the Torah emphasises the word נפש is to make plain that though the incision is an injury to one's body, the reason for it is the departure of someone's נפש, someone's soul. The Torah is careful to describe this as לא תתנו בבשרכם, "do not give it on your flesh," to explain that the incision will not leave an injury on one's soul but only on one's flesh. The reason that the incision does not leave permanent damage on one's soul is that the body is considered the sheath of the soul, and man is very excited and hasty when he loses a dear relative to death (Shabbat 43). The Torah therefore continues with a different kind of bodily defacement which leaves a deeper and more permanent mark, i.e. וכתובת קעקע לא תתנו בכם, "and do not tatoo yourselves;" you will note that in this instance the Torah did not use the restrictive word בבשרכם, to show you that tatoos are considered as injuring not only the body but also the soul. The reason tatooing leaves an injury also on one's soul is that it is something which requires great care, is not performed hastily like the incision called שרט. It is only natural then that it leaves a far deeper impression on one's personality than the hastily performed incision. We are told in Baba Batra 16 that a person is not "seized" i.e. held totally responsible, for things he does at the time when he experiences deep mental anguish.

The Torah concludes the verse with the words אני השם. The reason for this is explained by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Zohar volume 3, page 247. The word אני refers to G'd's throne which we are in the habit of referring to as His שכינה, His Presence. The tetragram i.e. the name י־ה־ו־ה on the other hand, is a reference to He who sits on that throne. With the expression אני השם G'd indicates that He is punctilious regarding the honour due to Him as well as the honour due to His throne. The relationship between man's body and his soul is similar to the relationship between G'd's throne and His essence. Seeing man has been created in the image of G'd, He does not want us to injure either our bodies or our souls.

אל תחלל את בתך, "Do not profane your daughter, etc." G'd commands the father of a daughter not to make her into a sex-object even by merely displaying her beauty and enjoying the compliments paid to her beauty. The honour of a daughter is not in the admiring glances she receives by men ogling her but by her presiding in her domain inside the home. Even though a father displays his daughter in order to facilitate finding a suitable husband for her, G'd still commanded that from the girl's point of you it is a profanation for her; such displays may eventually lead to the daughter engaging in harlotry even at the instigation of her father. Once the father uses his daughter's physical charms to attract a husband and thereby a substantial dowry for himself, he may become tempted to use her earnings from illicit sex for himself instead. He may be exploiting the natural sexual desires which are kindled when the girl knows she is on display and admired. The next step in such permissiveness may be the spread of harlotry in the land until the land becomes so permeated by this sin that it will spew out its inhabitants. Eventually, the whole sin will be debited to the father who first ignored the prohibition in our verse. Read what I have written on Leviticus 18,2 in connection with the verse כמעשה ארץ מצרים. I have explained there that the sense of vision and the fantasies it conjures up is stronger than the will-power seated in one's brain and that this is why one must not feed the sense of vision with anything liable to arouse one's libido or someone else's libido either.

את שבתתי תשמרו, "You shall observe My Sabbaths, etc." Why did the Torah repeat here a commandment already written at the beginning of our Parshah (19,3)? Here is how Torat Kohanim explains this: "I might have thought that the commandment to build the Holy Temple supersedes that of not working on the Sabbath. The Torah therefore repeats that you must observe "My Sabbaths" to teach us that the Sabbath legislation takes precedence even over the commandment to build the Holy Temple." The words of Torat Kohanim do explain why the subject of building the Temple and the subject of Sabbath observance appear side by side; they do not, however, address the question why the Torah could not then have dispensed with mentioning this commandment in 19,3? Or, the commandment of building the Holy Temple should have been written in verse 3 instead of here.

I believe that the commandment to observe the Sabbath is connected to what was written before rather than to the commandment to build the Holy Temple. Whereas the Torah commanded the father not to desecrate his daughter by instructing her to practice harlotry, the fact remains that some girls engage in that profession without being urged by their fathers to do so. When they do that they do not only desecrate their own name but they bring shame on the name of their fathers as well even though the father was quite innocent in the matter. This is why the Torah commanded the father to keep strict control of the movements of his daughter so that she will not prostitute herself. The Torah blames the father, i.e. the person who begot the child for the eventual misdemeanours of the child. The fact is that there are three separate causes which may be to blame for the delinquency of children. 1) If at the time of conception the father was bent on the physical pleasure of the union with his wife instead of being motivated purely by the desire to fulfil G'd's commandment to be fruitful when they had marital relations. As a result, the child born from such a union may inherit a tendency to engage in sex for gratification of a biological urge. 2) The cause may be the mother; if the deeds of the mother are not morally good, "the lamb will tend to become like the sheep which has given birth to it" (compare Ketuvot 63). 3) If both father and mother had forbidden thoughts at the time they conceived the child. The classic example is King Chiskiyah and his wife (the daughter of the prophet Isaiah) who produced two great sinners from that union (compare Sanhedrin 104). The tragedy of that incident is the fact that though both father and mother were pillars of piety they nonetheless produced such issue.

The words את שבתותי תשמרו are addressesd to possibility number one, similar to something the Zohar explains on Isaiah 56,4: לסריסים אשר ישמרו את שבתותי, "as to the eunuchs who have chosen to observe My Sabbaths" (volume 2 page 89). The "eunuchs" referred to are the righteous people who make eunuchs of themselves by refusing to have marital relations with their wives except on Friday nights, and who, as a result, produce only morally elitist children by ensuring that they are all born with holy souls. Thus far the Zohar on that subject. The lesson we derive from that is that if someone wants to make sure that the children he sires are of that holy level, he must first learn how to control his libido and put it exclusively into the service of performing G'd's commandment to be fruitful. In other words, "do not have relations with your wife except on Friday nights." When you have achieved this level of conduct you may be certain that your daughter will not engage in harlotry or anything similar to it. Concerning the second reason we have listed which may be to blame for a child turning out to be delinquent, namely that its mother had sensual thoughts which the daughter inherited, the Torah writes ואת מקדשי תיראו, "and revere My Holy Temple." This is a warning to be afraid to violate the sanctity of the Temple, i.e. to ensure that a daughter will never become a סוטה, a wife suspected of infidelity who can clear her name only by drinking the מים המאררים, the waters described in Numbers chapter 5 which have to be drunk on hallowed ground and which bear within them a deadly disease if the suspected woman drinking them had been guilty of the suspicion her husband cast on her. Finally, (verse 31) concerning the third reason which may be responsible for even the most elitist fathers and mothers producing children they will be ashamed of, the Torah writes אל תפנו אל האבות ואל הידעונים, "do not turn to the ghosts and to familiar spirits;" these phenomena are manifestations of different kinds of spiritual impurity whose natural tendency is to stick to people's souls much like leeches stick to their bodies.

The word אבות is from the root אבה, in the sense of Deut. 23,6 where G'd is depicted as not willing to listen to Bileam. The word ידעני contains an allusion to ידוע, something one knows, is familiar with. A person should not claim that seeing he is familiar with these kinds of phenomena that he is immune to them. As soon as one establishes the kind of intimacy with such phenomena that enable one to claim that one knows all about them, one has already become victimised by these spiritually negative phenomena and their manifestations.

אני ה׳ אלוקיכם, "I am the Lord your G'd." The Torah writes these words as the reason for prohibiting contact with these forms of soothsaying. Seeing that G'd, i.e. something divine, dwells inside every Jew, contact with such manifestations of Satan and what he represents would result in the divine within us leaving us. We would lose whatever sanctity we had possessed and become part of the evil represented by these forces. Anyone who does not take care of these three commandments will only have himself to blame if his daughter profanes herself or the father himself took the first step by displaying her.

מפני שיבה תקום, "You shall rise in the presence of an aged person, etc." Kidushin 32 explains that the word שיבה refers to someone advanced in years, whereas the word זקן refers to someone who has acquired wisdom. The word תקום means to rise as a sign of respect, והדרת פני. The wording in the Talmud is difficult as in order to correspond to what the Talmud says the Torah should have written: מפני שיבה ומפני זקן תקום והדרת. Perhaps the Talmud intended to distinguish between different signs of recognition to be accorded to physical maturity, old age, and to spiritual maturity, i.e. זקנה. In the former case it suffices to rise from one's seat momentarily, whereas in the latter case one is to remain standing for longer; the idea is that זקנה, spiritual maturity, rates a greater degree of recognition than שיבה, mere physical old age.

We may also take our cue from Bereshit Rabbah 65,9 where we are told that Abraham asked to look old in order that he could be told apart from his son Isaac who resembled him greatly (based on Genesis 24,1 ואברהם זקן). When the Torah says to rise on account of a man aged in years, this is the way to be מהדר, to lend distinction to someone like Abraham who was advanced in years.

There may also be an allusion here to the statement in Bereshit Rabbah 12,6 that one of the consequences of Adam's sin was that he lost in "height," i.e. that the wicked do not attain their full height or that they shrink in height. G'd therefore commanded Adam to be sure to repent his error and to mend his ways so that he could attain his full stature. Our sages said in Yevamot 50 that if one possesses the necessary merit one is granted the full number of years allocated to him (70 or more) at birth; if one has not lived in accordance with G'd's commandments one forfeits some of these years and dies before one has completed the normal lifespan of 70 years. The word קומה therefore does not represent physical height but spiritual height. The measure of the verse then is: "if you want to reach a good old age, attain the spiritual height you are meant to attain!" The verse challenges each individual to develop to his full spiritual potential as much as it directs us to display honour for people who have attained old age. Inasmuch as Kohelet 12,1 has already told us that old age is frequently accompanied by afflictions so that one curses those years, the Torah suggests that the way to head off these frequent by-products of aging is to תקום, rise to one's spiritual stature מפני, on account of what might otherwise befall one in old age. Once one reaches that stage, one becomes totally dependent on G'd's personal and beneficial providence.

The words והדרת פני זקן may even allude to one's own old age; our sages (Sukkah 53) are on record as saying about themselves: "hail to our youth which has not shamed our old age;" they referred to the kind of old age in which one can recall that one had led an exemplary life already from one's youth so that no one could point to a "skeleton in one's cupboard." The Torah therefore advises young men to lead the kind of lives now that would not make it necessary for them to ever be ashamed of their younger years. We are taught in Chagigah 14 that when a righteous person departs this life they compliment Abraham in heaven on the fact that this righteous person was a descendant of his. On the other hand, when a wicked person dies not only does no one compliment Abraham, but he is pained by the failure of that person to have become a penitent before he died. When the Torah speaks of "enhance the face of the old man," the reference is to Abraham who feels chagrined that not all of his descendants are true to his example. The Torah continues to warn us of what is in store in the hereafter by writing ויראת מאלוקיך, "and you shall fear your G'd." This refers to the fear of the punishment to be meted out when the soul comes up for judgment. אני השם, "I am the Lord." This refers to the reward for one's exemplary lifestyle, i.e. that one qualifies for life in the hereafter. Alternatively, these concluding words of our verse may illustrate both fear and love. G'd is telling us that He is to be both feared and loved. G'd's very name is the epitome of love, He is the root cause of all love.