Two Minute Torah Podcast

Aharei Mot-Kedoshim 5769 by Rabbi Kenneth L. Cohen

The Volozhin Yeshiva

Leviticus Chapter 19:1-4

Shalom! My name is Ken Cohen. I am the Campus Rabbi and Director of American University Hillel in Washington, DC. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah; a project of the College Department of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Our talk today is based on Parshat Aharei Mot-Kedoshim. We will be looking at the first verses of Leviticus/Vayikra 19.

2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy. 3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and ye shall keep My sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. 4 Turn ye not unto the idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821) understands these verses as one unit, addressing the religious needs and abilities of three types of Jews.

God tells Moses: "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them…" Speak to all the congregation. Speak to the entire nation. The learned and the simple. The saints and the sinners.

"Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy." This is a call to holiness--addressed to those Jews who are full of Torah and Mitzvot—these are the tzadikkim.

The text goes on to say: "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and ye shall keep My Sabbaths." This is for those who are not saintly, those who might not keep all the commandments, but who respect the basic ones. These Jews, too, have holiness.

The third portion reads: "Turn ye not unto the idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God." This is addressed to the simple Jews who are neither Torah scholars, nor keep the commandments. If they refrain from idol worship and to acknowledge that God alone is One--they, too, have a measure of holiness.

Thus we learn that all of Israel has a share in God's kingdom—the saintly, the marginal and even the sinners.

May the merit and memory of Reb Chaim Volozhiner be a blessing for all of us.

Shabbat shalom.