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Dedicated in memory of Alice Setton

Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim April 24, 2021 12 Iyar, 5781
Rabbi Sacks on Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
TORAH
ARTSCROLL 636 Kedoshim contains the the ethic of love. The initial and have no reason, at any rate
HERTZ 480 two great love commands most basic principle of morality none that we can
of the Torah. The first is, is clearly stated in the Torah: understand. What have they
“Love your neighbour as
HAFTORAH yourself. I am the Thou shalt love thy neighbor as to do with the self-evidently
thyself.” He adds: “The biblical moral commands of the love
ARTSCROLL 1173 Lord” (Lev. 19:18). Rabbi “love of one’s neighbor” is a of neighbor and stranger? Is
HERTZ 509 Akiva called this “the very special form of love, a the chapter simply an
great principle of the unique development of the assemblage of disconnected
Bar Mitzvah Torah.” The second is no Judaic religion and unlike any commands, or is there a
of less challenging: “The to be encountered outside it.” single unifying strand to it?
Shmuel Yehaskel stranger living among you Much has been written about The answer goes deep.
must be treated as your these commands. Who exactly Almost every ethical system
Times native-born. Love him as is meant by “your neighbor”? ever devised has sought to
yourself, for you were
strangers in Egypt. I am Who by “the stranger”? And reduce the moral life to a
Weekly Times the Lord your God” (Lev. what is it to love someone else single principle or
19:34). These are as oneself? I want to ask a perspective. Some connect
Shacharit: Sun. 8:30 am extraordinary commands. different question. Why is it it to reason, others to
Mon. - Fri. 7:45 am specifically here, in Kedoshim, emotion, yet others to
Many civilizations contain
Mincha 7:25 pm variants of the Golden in a chapter dedicated to the consequences: do whatever
concept of holiness, that the
creates the greatest
Rule: “Do unto others as
Shabbat Times you would have them do command appears? Nowhere happiness for the greatest
Friday Night 7:00 pm to you,” or in the else in all Tanach are we number. Judaism is
different. It is more complex
commanded to love our
Mincha negative form attributed neighbor. And only in one other and subtle. It contains not
to Hillel (sometimes
Candle Lighting 7:25 pm called the Silver Rule), place (Deut. 10:19) are we one perspective but three.
“What is hateful to you, commanded to love the There is the prophetic
Hashkama 8:00 am stranger. (The Sages famously understanding of morality,
do not do to your
neighbor. That is the said that the Torah commands the priestly perspective and
Main Sanctuary 9:00 am us thirty-six times to love the the wisdom point of view.
whole Torah. The rest is stranger, but that is not quite Prophetic morality looks at
Beit Midrash 9:15 am commentary; go and accurate. Thirty-four of those the quality of relationships
(Gym) learn.” But these are
rules of reciprocity, not commands have to do with not within a society, between us
Youth Minyan 9:45 am love. We observe them oppressing or afflicting the and God and between us
because bad things will stranger and making sure that and our fellow humans. Here
Gemara Shiur 6:35 pm he or she has the same legal are some of the key texts
happen to us if we don’t. rights as the native born. These that define this morality.
Mincha/SS 7:20 pm They are the basic ground are commands of justice rather God says about Abraham,
-rules of life in a group. “For I have chosen him, so
Shabbat Ends 8:34 pm Love is something than love). And why does the
command to love your neighbor that he will direct his
altogether different and
Latest Times for more demanding. That as yourself appear in a chapter children and his household
Shema/Shemoneh Esrei makes these two containing such laws as, “Do after him to keep the way of
commandments a not mate different kinds of the Lord by doing what is
Apr. 24 9:27/10:36 am revolution in the moral animals. Do not plant your field right [tzedakah] and just
life. Judaism was the first with two kinds of seed. Do not [mishpat].” God tells Hosea,
May 1 9:22/10:32 am civilization to put love at wear clothing woven of two “I will betroth you to Me in
the heart of morality. As kinds of material”? These are righteousness [tzedek] and
Next Shabbat chukim, decrees, usually justice [mishpat], in
Harry Redner puts it in
Emor thought of as commands that kindness [chessed] and
Ethical Life, “Morality is
Mincha 7:00 pm Kiddush is sponsored by Davida & Mark Yehaskel
Candle Lighting 7:32 pm in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of their son Shmuel