SPIRITUAL SEPARATENESS: PARSHAT KEDOSHIM

Shira Smiles shiur 2016/577

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein

           In Parshat Kedoshim, the Torah juxtaposes two groups of mitzvoth that seem to have nothing to do with each other, yet, because they are juxtaposed without so much as a spatial paragraph break, we are nudged into finding some reasonable connection between these groups of laws albeit the purpose of any mitzvah is beyond our mortal understanding. The first group of these laws deal with social and interpersonal relationships, from not cheating your fellow, to not putting a stumbling block in front of the blind, to judging your fellow righteously, and ending with the well known maxim, “You shall love your fellow as yourself.” These laws are immediately followed with the prohibitions against intermixing two plant species, mating two animal species to each other, and wearing clothing that combines wool and linen - shatnez.

            Without giving a full discussion, we will mention a mystical, Kabalistic approach cited by Rabenu Bachya that will nevertheless have a bearing on the rest of our discussion. Rabenu Bachya notes that all that Hashem created on earth, He paralleled in some way with a heavenly creation such as angels or, in current vernacular, energies. When we tamper with creation on earth after Hashem created all vegetation and all animal life “according to its kind”, when we try to admix these species, we are also tampering with the energies in heaven, and we cannot know those results.

            Hashem commanded everything to reproduce “according to its kind”. We can easily see how in the animal kingdom tampering with this law produces sterile results, writes the Ramban. Just observe the sterile mule born from a cross between a horse and a donkey. However, the Maharal challenges this reasoning, as it is obvious that Hashem wants us to improve ourselves (circumcision) and complete the process of creation, such as by processing wheat into bread or the production of clothing from fibrous plants. How are we to know what is permitted and what is not permitted?

            Vayomer Yehudah offers a guideline. We are meant to improve and perfect that which Hashem has created and to use it to benefit man. However, we are not permitted to change the essence of the species that Hashem created, each according to its kind. We must further take responsibility that any changes we make are truly for the benefit of mankind. For example, how are we to judge animal experimentation? How do searching for a cure for disease or creating a better beauty product measure up to this standard?

            There is a deeper level of connection, as proposed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. All these laws are meant to provide us above all with a respect for all human beings, and then by extension to every creature God created. Each is as God created it according to its kind. Man was created with the ability to overcome passions, urges for revenge, and other such feelings. Animals, on the other hand, need to use these instincts for self preservation. We need to respect them, but we also need to respect our higher calling to be holy.

            With ten utterances God created the world reminds us Rabbi Friefeld. These were not random utterances, but were stated to proclaim a divine system and order to the world. After all, each creation was meant to exist and prosper according to its own kind. As we work the world (as we were in fact commanded to do) we must bear in mind this basic paradigm of creation: There exists a symmetry and order to all the universe. Anything that disrupts that order and creates chaos is destructive and evil; anything which is consistent with the order of creation and creates harmony is good. The symmetry and harmony of the universe results in the achdut, the unity and harmony of all creation.

            Similarly, continues Rav Hirsch, our interpersonal relationships must also foster this sense of achdut within ourselves and between ourselves and others. Being insensitive to others disrupts that harmony and creates chaos, the opposite of the order Hashem envisioned for the universe He created. Along these line, Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon notes that these interpersonal laws are not about politeness, but about self discipline to do what Hashem desires of us so that the world can function in an orderly fashion.

            Taking this one step further, Rabbi Scheinerman, writes that ve’ahavta lere’acha kamocha does not mean one must love one’s fellow as one loves oneself, for that is unrealistic. What it does mean, however, is that we must relate to others with a “good eye”, that just as we wish good (a good job, health, an appropriate shidduch, etc.) for ourselves, we should wish the same for others. When we look beyond ourselves and wish good for others, we create a pipeline for blessings to flow from Hashem down to mankind on earth.

            This mitzvah of ve’ahavta lere’acha kamocha is immediately followed by the prohibition of shatnez. What is the connection between wanting good for another and shatnez?

            Based on the teachings of Rav Moshe Shapiro, Mima’amakim presents a fascinating discussion that explains this prohibition in light of our current discussion and in the context of the earliest human history. At the beginning of mankind, on the first night of Pesach, Kayin and Hevel each brought an offering to Hashem. Kayin, the farmer, brought seeds from the linen plant, while Hevel, the herdsman brought a heavy, unsheared sheep. They argued, Kayin killed his brother Hevel, and Kayin was punished to wander the earth. Our Sages suggest that based on this narrative, Hashem banned weaving linen and wool together.

            Rabbi Shapiro delves into the motivation behind the offerings of these two brothers. He notes based on the Maharal that this was the first conflict over the bechorah, the rights of the firstborn, considering that this occurred on Pesach, the night Hashem would reveal to the world that He considers Bnei Yisroel His firstborn. Neither brother was thinking strictly of God’s will, and certainly neither brother was thinking of the other. Each brought that which represented his domain and excluded the other, hoping that Hashem would choose him to represent the firstborn. Kayin especially could have sacrificed a cow, as Adam himself had done, and thus not have excluded his brother. (Indeed, Hevel could have done the same.) But because each wanted to benefit at the expense of the other, rather than praying for benefit for both of them, Hashem was “disgusted” at the disunity. Hashem would not tolerate the chaos that was created, the disruption to the harmony and system of the world even to the extent of fratricide. And He proclaimed that the bases of these two offerings, wool and linen, should never be mixed together in ordinary clothing.

            But while there needs to be love between man and his fellow man, one must also realize that at times there must be boundaries, says Rabbi Sternbach in Taam Vodaath. That’s why the mitzvah of loving your neighbor as yourself is placed alongside the laws of kilayim, intermixing of plant species, and shatnez. Just as species must be kept separate, so too must people be careful about the people they associate with. It is easy to be influenced by your environment, and even a tzadik, the righteous, must guard himself against evil friends and neighbors, for it is more common to learn from an associate’s bad habits than adopt their positive behaviors. While we accept and love others, writes Rabbi Salomon, we must nevertheless maintain appropriate boundaries that keep us separate and true to our individual values. Even when we love each other in positive ways, it is possible to err, adds the Shem MiShmuel. People can feel such a sense of unity that they fail to give each other the respect they deserve. After all, if we are all one body, one organ does not respect the other as an independent creation in spite of its unique contribution to the whole.

            Rabbi Zaitchik expands on this idea in Ohr Chodosh. It was this overwhelming sense of being one unified body that seems to be at the core of all the shortcomings that brought about the destruction of the Beit Hamikdosh. Among the reasons given for the destruction are not celebrating Shabbat appropriately and not giving due respect to the talmid chacham, the Torah scholar. In each case, the underlying problem is that people did not see distinctions, between the holy and the less holy, between the learned and the less learned. While we are all created in God’s image, we are not equal. We are all part of the whole, but we each have our own unique qualities, and it is important to recognize these differences and to use the free choice with which we are endowed and which makes us godlike to develop these unique qualities. To love another does not mean you are equal to each other, but that you respect and value the differences and uniqueness of each other. Just as each tree develops itself and produces its fruit according to its own kind, writes Rabbi Weissblum citing the Mesilas Yeshorim, so much each of us strive to develop and grow according to our unique characteristics and talents, and not try to copy someone else’s accomplishments which may not be suitable for us. Every individual has a responsibility to develop himself in his own, unique world.

            Every person has tremendous potential, writes Rabbi Meislish. Our mission, especially during this time of sefirah, is to tap into our individual greatness and see ourselves and others as separate, distinct human beings, each with a unique set of characteristics. It is this respect for the separateness and differences between us that creates the environment for ve’ahavta lere’acha komacha, for loving the other as myself. Whether in trees, in animals, and especially in human beings, respecting the unique qualities of each retains the order and peace in a potentially very chaotic world.