The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Kedoshim

The Rebbe says:

1. The first three Mitzvos (commandments) mentioned in this week’s Torah portion are:
1) “You should be holy”.
2) “Every person should fear his mother and father”.
3) “You should observe my Sabbaths”.

2. Everything in Torah is perfectly exact. Therefore, if the Torah puts these three Mitzvos consecutively one after the other, they must be connected to each other. Let us try and find out how they are connected to each other and what lessons they are coming to teach us.

3. The Rebbe now sets out to explain each of these three Mitzvos and their connection with each other, beginning with the first one (“You should be holy”):

The Hebrew words for the commandment, “You should be holy”, are “Kedoshim Tea’hi’you”. The word, “Kedoshim”, simply translated as “holy”, connotes separation, as it says at the end of this week’s Torah portion, “You should be holy (Kedoshim) unto Me, for I, G-d, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the nations, to be Mine”. In other words, the Jewish people must separate themselves from the rest of the nations of the world, as it says, “Then I (Moses) and Your people (the Jewish people) will be distinguished from every other nation on the face of the earth”.

Now, you only need to separate and distinguish between two things when they are similar to each other; if you have two completely opposite objects you do not need to distinguish between them. Bearing this in mind we can understand that when Hashem tells us to separate ourselves from the rest of the nations of the world, He cannot be referring to Torah and Mitzvos because gentiles have no connection with Torah and Mitzvos to begin with. Hashem must be referring to something in which we are similar to the rest of the nations of the world, and Hashem commands us to separate ourselves; even here we must be holy and different.

Hashem is referring to eating, drinking, doing business, and other such actions that we do which look the same as the rest of the nations of the world, and Hashem is telling us that even in these things we must be holy and different than the rest of the world.

Furthermore, Hashem tells us that even though He is asking us to be different and holy in mundane activities, especially during exile in a doubled and redoubled darkness, we have the strength to do this “for I, G-d, am holy”. Since we are connected to Hashem, Who is holy, we can be holy.

4. The Rebbe continues on to the second commandment (“Every person should fear his mother and father”):

The purpose and virtue of a Jewish person is not only that he separates himself and makes himself holy, but that he educates his household in this way, as it says regarding Avraham Avinu (Abraham our forefather), “Abraham will become a great and powerful nation… For I have known and cherished him because he instructs his sons and his household after him to keep the way of G-d”.

This is where the second commandment of this week’s Torah portion comes in. “Every person should fear his mother and father” hints at this abovementioned idea. A mother and father are the first educators in a child’s life and the Torah is instructing them that they must seek to instill in their children a feeling of distinction and Jewish pride so that their children will walk around feeling lucky to be a member of the Jewish nation.

To be sure, the exact wording of this commandment is, “Every person should fear his mother and father”; the mother is mentioned before the father. This is because a mother is the mainstay of the household and it is incumbent upon her to instill these feelings in her children.

5. The Rebbe continues on to the third commandment (“You should observe my Sabbaths”):

The Torah now comes and tells us how we can engrain in our children, and surely in ourselves, this feeling of distinction: “You should observe my Sabbaths”.

Observing the Shabbos is a symbol of our complete faith in Hashem and how He constantly creates and manages the world. This faith is unlike that of the rest of the nations of the world who think that Hashem created the world and then left it in the hands of the heavenly hosts (the sun, the moon, and the stars); in the hands of “nature”. As it says, “Thus said the L-rd: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them”.

In other words, the faith of the Jewish people connects them to Hashem Who is higher than “nature”, while the rest of the nations of the world only connect to “nature”.

Therefore, when we “observe the Shabbos”, which means, when we observe and guard the connection between the Jewish people and Hashem Who is higher than nature, through knowing that we are not ruled by the laws of nature but are under Hashem’s constant direct supervision even in the mundane aspect of our lives, we implant in ourselves and in our children the feeling of distinction- “You should be holy”.

6. The Rebbe now finishes off by telling us the certain outcome of this:

Later on in this week’s Torah portion the Torah says, “You should observe my Sabbaths and you should revere My sanctuary”. The Torah is teaching us that when we “observe the Shabbos”, which as we explained earlier means, when we observe our complete faith in Hashem and be a holy people even in our mundane activities, we will cause all of our actions to be a place where Hashem can rest, which is the ultimate intention of the creation of the world, and Moshiach (the Messiah) will take us out of this exile now!

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg, Taken from Likutei Sichos volume one, first Sicha.