Voices of WRJ: K'doshim

by Renee Roth Holiness. This parashah is all about holiness and rules for keeping us holy. “You shall be holy, for I, your G-d, Adonai, am holy. “ According to The Torah, A Woman’s Commentary, all of the following commandments are set in the context that God is holy and that we are to strive toward holiness in every aspect of our lives. The entire community is gathered and addressed; men and women- YEAH, we are included! And then, we have a long, long, list of rules that we need to follow about how we are to be holy. Respect your mother and father, keep the Sabbath, and no idol worshipping. When you make a sacrifice, make it good so it can be eaten that day, or the next day, but if it goes 3 days, you have to burn it because it will be offensive by then. And if you do eat it after the prescribed time, you’re going to be cut off from your kin. Leave the edges of your field and don’t pick your vineyard bare - leave that for the poor and the stranger. Don’t steal and don’t lie to each other, and don’t swear using G-d’s name. Don’t defraud other Jews (Israelites). Pay laborers on the day they work. Don’t insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, and be afraid of G-d. Don’t make unfair decisions; don’t favor poor people or show deference to rich people. Treat everyone the same. Don’t profit from other people’s misfortune. Don’t hate your family in your heart. Don’t hold a grudge against your people. Love your fellow Jew (Israelite). And follow my rules. Don’t let your cattle mate with a different kind (how are you going to watch out for that?). Don’t mix up your field with different kind of seeds. Don’t wear clothing with different mixes of materials (I may have to get rid of some clothes in my closet). G-d is trying to keep things in categories. When you plant fruit, you need to wait a while before you eat the fruit. This is a good way to protect crops! Don’t eat anything with in it blood. Men - don’t shave your sideburns. And no gashes in your skin or marks on yourselves, which means no tattoos. And don’t let your daughter be a prostitute. And keep Shabbat. No believing in ghosts, either. Welcome the stranger and respect them, rise up when old people are around and show respect to them. Don’t cheat when you are measuring stuff. And don’t give any of your children to Molech. (He is a god of the Ammonites, who are Israel’s neighbors to the east.) No running around naked in front of your family, and definitely no adultery. With anyone. And follow all of G-d’s rules. When studying this portion, I know that I have heard most of these rules many times before. They appear a few times in the Torah. A lot of our practices and programs in our congregations and sisterhoods are based on some of these rules. Have you noticed special railings or ramps in your temple to make your bima more accessible to someone who may have trouble with stairs? Those stairs are stumbling blocks to someone who may not be so sure footed, and railings make our Torah accessible to all. Have you ever thought of a program called Gleaning? Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Some farmers even practice leaving their edges bare for the poor, as prescribed in Leviticus. Your sisterhood can gather together to collect sweet potatoes on a lovely afternoon to donate to a food bank. Great exercise, great bonding, incredibly holy! As we are planning our new calendars for next year in sisterhood, please remember to have a new member coffee or other event to welcome new members. Remember how you were welcomed as a stranger, and ASKED to be a member of your sisterhood or women’s group. You will be happy you did, and you will be more holy! And when you have that event, be sure to pay the caterer on the day the food is delivered - you get holiness points for that, too! Renee Roth is a member of the WRJ Board of Directors, and has served as President of the Southwest District. She lives in Dallas, Texas, and is a member of Temple Shalom.