…alternative explanation for all these things. As I explained in Covenant and Conversation Acharei Mot – Kedoshim, the ethic of character. The key text of the holiness ethic is Leviticus 19: “Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” It is this chapter that teaches the two great commands of interpersonal love, of the neighbour and the stranger. The…
…Covenant and Conversation for the double parsha of Acharei Mot – Kedoshim, it was the Priests who taught the people the specific ethic of holiness. The key text of the holiness ethic is Vayikra 19: “Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” It is this chapter that teaches the two great commands of interpersonal love, of the…
…Prophet Jeremiah, says [in God’s name] in one of the loveliest lines in the whole of Tanach, a line we say in Musaf on Rosh Hashanah, zachartilach chessed neuraich ahavat kelulutaich lech tech acharei bamidbar lo zeruah says, “I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, how you were willing to follow Me across an unknown,…
…neureiyich, “I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal.” Leich teich acharei bamidbar be’eretz lo zeruah, “how you were willing to follow Me into an unknown, uncertain land.” Jeremiah is saying God loves the Jewish people because they had the courage to take a risk, to go into a place they’d never seen before with no…
…ghettoised and privatised, Shabbat was something you did at home, Pesach was something you did at home, Succot was something you did at home. Now, what is wrong with that? What is missing from Judaism when that is the case? The answer is to be found in the Ramban, on parshat Acharei Mot that we’re reading this week. There he…
…ideals into codes of action that shape habits of the heart is what Judaism and leadership are about. Never lose the inspiration of the prophets, but never lose, either, the routines that turn ideals into acts and dreams into achieved reality. Acharei Mot: Sprints and Marathons Great leadership happens when there is strong and independently minded followership. Hence, when it…
…thing, whereas in chutz la’aretz it’s a subjective state. Are you with me? So in chutz la’aretz, Shabbat is in galut. Ramban was not just talking mysticism when he says in his commentary to parshat Acharei Mot, “ikar kol hamitzvot leyoshvim b’eretz Hashem” (Ramban on Vayikra 18:25). Every mitzvah can only be fulfilled in its totality here, in Eretz Yisrael…
The nineteenth chapter of Vayikra, with which our parsha begins, is one of the supreme statements of the ethics of the Torah. It’s about the right, the good and the holy, and it contains some of Judaism’s greatest moral commands: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” and “Let the stranger who lives among you be like your native-born. Love…
Turning ideals into codes of action that shape habits of the heart is what Judaism and leadership are about. Never lose the inspiration of the Prophets, but never lose, either, the routines that turn ideals into acts and dreams into achieved reality….
Many of our instinctive reactions are benign. It is natural to have empathy, and with it the tendency to feel other people’s pain and come to their aid. We develop a strong sense of attachment that leads us to defend members of our family or community. But not all instincts are benign. Anger, envy, jealousy, fear, hate, and the desire…