Kedoshim

May 8, 2016

Akiva Lane

 

The Parsha begins: “Kedoshim Tihu”, “You shall be Holy, because I Hashem, am Holy”.  The Parsha then enumerates many of the fundamental laws that we are expected to keep to maintain this level of holiness. For example:

·        Fear of father and mother.

·        Observe Shabbos.

·        No Avodah Zara

·        Leave the corners of the field for the poor.

·        Don’t steal.

·        Don’t swear falsely by Hashem’s name.

·        Treat workers honestly and fairly.

·        Don’t commit prohibited acts between men and women.

 

We are all familiar with these basic principles, and we know that these standards are crucially important for maintaining Holiness. The fourth item mentioned in the Parsha, however, listed after parents, Shabbos, and Avodah Zara, seems not as obvious.  Here are the four psukim that describe this topic:

1.     When you slaughter a peace-offering (Shlomim) to Hashem, you shall slaughter it to be acceptable for you. 

2.     On the day that it is slaughtered it may be eaten, and on the next day.  Whatever is left over by the third day shall be burned in fire. 

3.     And if it should be eaten at all on the third day it is an abomination (Pigul), it will not be favorably accepted. 

4.     Whoever eats from it shall bear his iniquity, for the sacred things of Hashem he has defiled.  That person shall be cut off from its people (chayiv Korase). 

 

Why is eating a Shlomim offering on the third day an abomination and destructive of holiness compared with Avodah Zara and Chilul Shabbos?  What are we to learn from the fact that Hashem puts this avera in the same list as the other requirements for Kedusha?

 

Let us attempt an answer by using an analogy.  Let’s say a husband says to his wife, “Tomorrow is our anniversary.  Would you like to go out for dinner to celebrate?”  The wife accepts the offer, and the next day she gets ready to go out.  But she doesn’t hear from her husband all afternoon and evening, and then at 11pm he comes through the door, and says, “I was so busy at work.”  It would be understandable if the wife would feel treated shabbily.  It would have been better if the husband had never suggested going out for dinner in the first place.

 

Social interaction often involves three steps. 

1.     Someone suggests a meeting.

2.     The other person accepts the meeting.

3.     The meeting takes place.

To suggest a meeting, have it accepted, and then to forget the meeting is an insulting and egregious error.

 

These three steps occur also with the Korban Shlomim.  Let’s say a person decides to bring a Korban Shlomim out of gratitude to Hashem.  He brings the Korban to the Bais Hamikdosh, and Hashem via the Kohanim accepts the Korban, and it becomes holy.  Those are the first two steps.  The third step happens when the person eats the Korban, often at a festive meal where he invites people to celebrate at a meal that must be eaten within the walls of Yerushalayim.   

 

However, let’s say the person is negligent and puts the Korban aside and forgets to have the meal, or eats it after the permitted time.  Our Parsha tells us that this is disrespectful and insulting to Hashem. 

 

To continue our analogy, imagine forgetting or ignoring a specially scheduled meeting with one’s boss, the head of one’s company, or the President of the United States.  Not eating the Korban in its schedule time is ignoring s specially scheduled meeting with the Creator of the Universe!

 

Our Parshah may be suggesting that missing a scheduled meeting with Hashem is damaging to Kedushah comparable to Avodah Zara and Chilul Shabbos. 

 

How does this apply to us today?  The activity that has replaced Korbonos is davening.  We have meetings scheduled with Hashem three times a day – Shachris, Minchah, and Maariv.  If we arrive at these scheduled meetings late, or our mind is not there, it might be similar to a husband showing up late at the anniversary meal, or spending the whole meal talking on his cell phone.

 

Hashem mentions this avera fourth in the list of things that are required for Kedushah.  Perhaps it is to remind us that we should be careful to be on time for our scheduled meetings with Hashem, and that He expects us to be mindful of the importance of these meetings.