Parshat Kedoshim

• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Kedoshim
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"איש אמו ואביו תיראו ואת שבתותי תשמורו"

"Our Father, O Merciful Father! Have mercy upon us and instill within our hearts understanding... and guide us upright to our Land..."

In many places we describe HaShem as our merciful Father, a matter that highlights God's relationship to us as procreator. In a similar sense, our parents, as our procreators, have a deep partnership with God as our Sages say, 'three partners are involved with the (formation) of man: God, his father, and his mother'. Therefore, it is not surprising that our Sages say that the honor due to our parents is compared to the honor due to God. Indeed, in this week's parsha  the word for awe - 'tirau' is used in context of the type of relationship incumbent upon us towards our parents.

Maharal explains that the term 'awe' is exclusive to God or beings close to God in some respect, for 'awe' refers to relating towards something transcendental and superior to oneself, and ultimately the only being that is truly superior and transcendental is God. In this way, Maharal explains why R. Shimshon the Amsonite homiletically explained the meaning of the word 'et' throughout the Torah to include something, but when he arrived at the verse "'et' HaShem you shall have awe", he was not able to continue. Maharal explains that he was not able to continue because explaining the word 'et' as adding something to the awe towards God, would entail that another being deserves to be given awe, which is not so, since only God is ultimately superior, as we just explained. However, R. Akiva was able to continue this homiletic, by saying that this 'et' includes Torah scholars, that because of their Godly state are deserving to be awed of. Nevertheless, even though parents are compared to God in some sense, our title quote, which juxtaposes the awe towards parents to the observance of Shabbat, highlights according to our Sages, that this comparison is limited.

If one's parent commands one to desecrate the Shabbos, or any other commandment commanded by God, one is not to obey them. In a similar sense, just as Shabbat super-cedes Honoring Parents, so too Settling the Land of Israel super-cedes some aspects of Shabbat on a rabbinical level. In addition to what we mentioned in our last issue that one may command a gentile to write a contract of purchase for land in the Land of Israel, we find that one may also depart on a ship for the Land of Israel even on Friday, knowing that the ship will continue to sail on Shabbat, a matter that is otherwise strictly forbidden on a rabbinic level for the observance of Shabbat. Our Sages, 'whose awe is compared to the awe of Heaven', saw with their great vision that the value of coming to the Land is so great that it so-to-speak overrides their own honor in their rabbinic ruling to not sail in a ship after Wednesday.

In Hebron all these ideas come together. This is Hebron, the genesis of Israel's connection to the Holy Land, and with that the place of honor and awe towards our Godly parents, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzhak and Rivka, Yakov and Leah.

Real Stories from the Holy Land #67:
 'Once, I was supposed to deliver a dvar Torah before Maariv on Shabbat, but just then my metal glasses broke, and while I tried to find a solution to my problem I missed the time I was supposed to deliver my talk. Then I remembered that that week's parsha was Ki Tisa, which mentions Moshe's 'coming late', and the 'breaking off' (vayitparku) of metal ornaments of Israel in regard to the sin of the Calf...' 

Sources: Orah Haim 248, 4