We call ourselves a holy people
and our congregation is a KAHAL KADOSH - a holy community.
There are holy acts, which we may
confine in our minds to lighting candles, saying kiddush, reciting a motzi on Shabbat and
holidays, or participating in an aliyah to the Torah.
The Torah reading for this
Shabbat, Kedoshim, provides us with a different framework for holiness in our
actions that we might not even consider at first.
A divine declaration
in Leviticus Chapter 19 verse 1 sets the tone for this broadening of the scope
of the term holiness. "You
shall be holy, for I, your Eternal God, am holy." It is stated in the plural,
KEDOSHIM TIHIYU, but the rules that follow are sometimes in plural, and
sometimes in singular. Either way,
each command is directed towards each of the Israelites in the original
setting. And, every
proclamation of a "holy
act" in Leviticus 19 is also directed towards each of us.
We learn from this section of the
Torah that the term "holiness" can be applied to respecting our
parents and elders, keeping the Sabbath, and not turning anything material into
an object of veneration or worship.
In this context of holy deeds, we
are commanded to provide for people in need, to refrain from spreading rumor,
and to refuse to be a mere bystander when a person is being attacked or abused
verbally or physically without cause. We are called upon to judge people
fairly, no matter whether they are rich or poor, and to be honest in our
dealings with all people. If we
want to be holy, we cannot let hatred or disgust towards a fellow community
member fester to the point that we will do something drastic that we will
regret later. We are told,
instead, to talk to him or her privately and offer gentle feedback that can provide
growth and healing. Keeping
grudges and taking revenge for any reason do not fall into the realm of holy
behavior. What follows to end this
passage is the command that might encompass all of these acts of holiness:
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
This passage in the Torah
could serve as the basis of a personal inventory of what we do that could be
called holy. Coming to
Temple on Shabbat or having Shabbat dinner at home, staying in touch with a
parent or grandparent, donating to a food or clothing bank or serving a meal at
a soup kitchen, stopping a friend or colleague from playing fast and loose with
the truth - all of these things that we might do on a regular basis are
actually holy. And so is any
type of consideration and kindness we show to other people - even holding a
door open for someone. Yes, that,
too, is holy.
The news this week
has given us way too many negative reports by which we can infer what to do
that would constitute a holy, constructive and positive course of action. Even when emotions are high, law
enforcement officials and protestors have the opportunity to act with
restraint, remembering that the people on the other side of the imaginary
dividing line are also created in the divine image. Political officials like the one who pleaded guilty
today for making passage over a bridge next to impossible near a very large
city on the east coast might take a moment to understand that such a decision
to engage in subterfuge and dishonesty will bear dire consequences for months
and years to come.
You may have heard about
the new ads that were cleared through legal action to be featured on buses in
New York City. Created by a group sponsored by pro-Israel activist Pamela
Geller, the ad declared "Killing Jews is Worship because it draws us close
to Allah - that's my Jihad, what's yours?" This ad parodied an earlier series of ads
sponsored by the Council of American-Muslim Relations which defined jihad in
what was likely its original meaning - internal struggle towards a resulting
personal faith, somewhat like a word that we could translate as "struggle
with God." That word is
Yisrael. On Wednesday of
this week, the New York Metropolitan Transit authority banned all political ads
from the buses as a response to this attempt at defining Islam from the
outside. Whether we agree or
disagree with Geller's intentions, we know how it feels to be defined by
others, especially when we hear people calling Jews any number of names that we
don’t want to hear or referring to Israel as an "apartheid
state." Leviticus 19
directs us to stop the rumors and move towards more direct learning about our
fellow human beings of other faiths.
Sometimes an attempt at making a
positive statement can have unexpected and far-reaching results. It was reported this week that,
about a year ago, a young Israeli Arab, who lives in northern Israel, wanted to
use social networking to convince other Israeli Arabs that the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) are not some “army of evil” and that its soldiers are not as
bloodthirsty as they tend to be portrayed in Arab propaganda films. Instead of
hearing back from the Israeli Arab audience he was targeting, he began
receiving messages of peace and love from young Arab men and women from across
the Arab world. The messages appear on a facebook page set
up by this young man, called "M" in the online article. One young woman from Saudi Arabia
filmed a green Saudi passport in her post. Her voice plays in the background,
against a street scene in Jeddah, with a message for the people of Israel: “Good
evening. I am a young woman from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. I am a member of one
of the better-known tribes of the Hijaz, and I am showing you Darajeh Square, a
famous landmark in Jeddah. I’d like to send a message
of peace and love to Israel and its dear citizens. I know it is surprising that
a Saudi Arabian citizen sends a message to the people of Israel, but it is a
basic principle of democracy that everyone is free to voice an opinion. I hope
the Arabs will be sensible like me and recognize the fact that Israel also has
rights to the lands of Palestine.”
A young man from Iraq
shot a picture of his passport along the Tigris River. “I want to send a
message of peace and love to the dear Israeli people,” he says. “I decided to
shoot this video and tell you, ‘True, we are two countries that do not have
friendly relations, but that doesn’t matter. I believe that
the number of people who support Israel here will grow consistently.’”
One Egyptian police officer
took it a step further by including his police cap along with his passport in
the shot and wrote in Arabic, “We love, love, love Israel and its army.” He
even added a picture of a heart with a Star of David in the middle of it.
In a world where leaders or
borders may try to keep new ideas out and thwart the possibility for peace and
cooperation, it is still possible for ancient ideas, like loving our neighbors
as ourselves, to transcend obstacles placed in the way. I find this story of M from
northern Israel greatly inspiring and hopeful.
And it is one of the best
examples that I have seen in recent days of telling one's positive truth, a
holy act in and of itself, and having it grow into something greater that
spread holiness to faraway places.
That is what
Leviticus 19 is trying to teach us.
We don't know how one holy, kind act will take on a life of its own. That is why we have to do it in
the first place. It is like
a seed that can grow.
In the coming days, may we
plant such seeds of holiness, consideration, respect and peace.
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