How much time in your day-to-day living do you spend thinking about Hashem, how to get closer to Him or what He really wants from you? This week’s parsha brings us to the quintessential command for living – holy you shall be. So simple to say; not so simple to implement or even to understand on its deeper levels.
There are many ways that we can think about being holy.
Simplistically, one might say it is to be religious, to be part of the
community that lives life to a higher standard. Many of these standards,
mitzvos and laws, are set down in this week’s parsha, Parshas Kedoshim.
There are many fascinating structural elements to this parsha,
such as the frequent repetition of Ani Hashem, that are intriguing to
explore. One of these interesting elements can be found in the thrice
repeated prohibition regarding Ohv and Yidoni, which seems to most often be
translated as ghosts and familiars.
If this gave you pause, that is not surprising. Most of us
knew that there was a prohibition against necromancy; that in itself is not odd.
What is interesting is how it flows in and out of the parsha that is generally
subdivided into multiple, brief topics. This prohibition is mentioned in 19:31,
20:6, and 20:27 – the last pasuk of the parsha. Allowing for the concept that
there are no extra words in the Torah, there is then a question of what
distinguishes each of these perakim.
Interestingly, when set one after another, the three verses
read as follows:
19:31 – Do not turn to ghosts or to familiars, do not seek
to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
20:6 – And the soul that turns to ghosts or familiars, to go
astray after them, I will set My face against that soul and cut him off from
his people.
20:27 – A man or a woman that is within them [meaning divines
through] a ghost or familiar shall be put to death. They shall stone them with
stones. Their blood shall be upon them.
From this perspective, there appears to be a progression
from commandment not to do so, to the consequence of seeking such “guidance,”
to the punishment for the one who performs those actual rituals of “communication.”
And the verses go from no punishment, to
a punishment that is generally considered spiritual, to a punishment that is
physical – to death. One might deduce from this progress that the man or woman
mentioned in verse 27 has gone beyond negating holiness to being one who
destroys the holiness of others.
But one still needs to ask why these pesukim are not set one
after the other since they are so obviously related. Rabbi Shimshon Rafael
Hirsh provides interesting insights, both on 19:31 and 20:6, on deeper concepts
that might be drawn from these prohibitions in each of their locations. Verse
19:31 follows a restatement of keeping Shabbas, but, more significantly, it
precedes the commandment “You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall
fear your God: I am Hashem” (18:32). Rav Hirsh points out how this is the “complete
positive opposite.” Perhaps we should understand from here that a person who
seeks guidance from ghosts and oracles and familiars should do far better to
seek that guidance from those who have lived and experience a great deal of
life, particularly those who have steeped themselves in Torah.
Similarly,
20:6, which describes those people who actually turn to this guidance, comes
immediately after Hashem reiterates His feelings about those who turn to Moloch.
The worship of Moloch was hideous and included the burning of children. It is
also interesting, however, to note the name of this false god and how it so
closely reflects the term Melech, king. Hashem is Malachei Hamelachim, and this
avoda to Moloch represents the absolute dismissal of Hashem’s reign. Many people
turn to idolatry because, perhaps, they have trouble with the distance Hashem
needs to keep in order to give us free will. This is the same drive that leads
someone to consult oracles and ghosts. Rav Hirsh points out that “The belief in
the imaginary power of oracles is closely related to that of the power of
Moloch, a power of ill-luck or providence apart from God. It is seeking pronouncement
on the desirability of taking action or abstaining from it, and of one’s fate,
from other imaginary sources.”
The
third reference follows the verse “And you shall remain holy to Me, for I, God,
am holy and I have separated you from the nations to be Mine” (20:26). Hashem
chose us, and it is up to us to make a relationship with Him. That is the very
purpose of being kadosh. If we feel the need to seek out ghosts or familiars,
oracles and divination [as some translations go], then we, as a nation, have
lost our purpose.
When we hear that the Torah bans necromancy and communing
with the dead, as the wording is often put in the modern modes of language,
many of us laugh a bit inside. Who would do such a thing? It is so obviously a
contradiction to what we believe. And yet it is so strongly repeated in the Torah
because it is a natural inclination in man. But one that has such a desire can
react to it by following the path of his elders and learning Torah and
connecting to God, or that person can follow the path of ultimate destruction
and destroy his or her relationship with the Divine. It is up to us to choose
the path, to have the strength to be holy even when we face the vast unknown.
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