Parshat Kedoshim with Rabbi Eliezer Berland Shlit”a

CHIDUSHIM ON PARSHAT KEDOSHIM BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A, INCLUDING INSIGHTS ON ALMOST ALL THE MITZVOT WHICH APPEAR IN THE PARASHAH:

 “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I, HASHEM YOUR GOD, AM HOLY”

The Ramban asks what is the meaning of, “You shall be holy”?  That everyone is obligated to be holy.  The mitzvah is only to bring children!!  And not for entertainment; anyone who wants entertainment should go to Yaffo Street.  There they have entertainment houses.  We’ll work out a discount for him, give him a free pass.  But a wife isn’t for entertainment and not for pleasure.  The wife is the other part of a person.  This is his crown, “A woman of valor is her husband’s crown.”  And a man needs to relate to his wife like a crown which is decorated with diamonds, with gemstones!  We put it in a special safe.  You need to guard your wife in a special safe, and not to turn this into entertainment, to matters of abomination, shameful things.  Because of shameful things, an entire tribe was wiped out – the tribe of Binyamin.  Rachel saw the “son of my affliction” – the tribe of Binyamin being killed.  And Yaakov called him “Binyamin,” because he saw the six-hundred men who would come out of it -- and among them was Shaul – that they were completely righteous, that they would reestablish the tribe of Binyamin.  A person needs to know that his wife isn’t for entertainment, and not to do shameful things with her.  This is only for the completion of the soul, and therefore, you need to learn with her every day for an hour.

Therefore, Moshe called to all Am Yisrael, as is written in our parashah, and said to them: “Speak to the entire congregation of the Children of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your God, am holy’” (Vayikra 19:2), for everyone is obligated to be holy.  No one can say, “I’m exempt from being holy.  It’s difficult for me.”  There’s no such thing as “difficult.”  It’s a positive mitzvah like all the mitzvot!  Therefore, “Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel” – now we’re going to obligate every Jew to be holy, every Jew to be pure!  Tomorrow at six in the morning, Shacharit begins, and everyone is obligated to be here without exceptions.  There is no exemption.  At five, everyone gets up out of bed.

“A MAN SHALL FEAR HIS MOTHER AND FATHER”

A man needs an intelligent woman, a sharp woman.  A man must have a sharp woman, because if not, the children just come out stupid.  Because the child is in the woman’s stomach for nine months, for two years he nurses from her milk; then, he nurses from her intellect.  90% of the intellect, he receives from the woman – 90%.  Therefore, “a man shall fear his mother and father.”  The first thing: “his mother,” because a person receives his intellect from his wife.  A person needs his wife to be sharp, an understanding woman, a woman who knows, [that] she reads the parashah.  By us, girls learn the parashah every week, know the parashah by heart, know the parashah, what is written in the parashah.

“YOU SHALL NOT COMPLETE YOUR REAPING TO THE CORNER OF YOUR FIELD, AND THE GLEANINGS OF YOUR HARVEST YOU SHALL NOT TAKE.  YOU SHALL NOT PICK THE UNDEVELOPED TWIGS OF YOUR VINEYARD”

Here we learn the laws of kilayim (forbidden crossbreeding). “You shall not complete your reaping to the corner of your field, and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not take.  You shall not pick the undeveloped twigs of your vineyard.”  Because you need to leave peah – this is leket, shich’chah and peah [types of sheaves left in the field for the poor].  And Ruth would gather two stalks.  She didn’t consent to more than two.  Therefore, when Boaz saw that she behaved this way, he asked, “To whom does that young woman belong?”  What is the meaning?  What?  He sees?  How does he see women at all?  It’s forbidden to see a woman at all!  Rather, he heard that she does strange things; she only takes two.   Everyone takes bags-full; she takes two.  So who is that strange woman?  So says the Gemara in Shabbat 113b, “You shall not complete…to the corner of your field,” “Do not steal; do not deny.”  She would only take two.  She decided the halachah like Beit Hillel.  According to Beit Shamai, it’s permissible to take three, because they go for the benefit of the poor, and he [Hillel] goes according to the benefit of the owner, because the owner doesn’t need to lose.  With three, one is already obligated in tithes – this is already theft.  With two, one is exempt from tithes.   If it’s three at one time, one is obligated in tithes.  If one takes this, it’s both theft and eating without giving tithes – death at the hands of Heaven.

“LOVE YOUR FELLOW AS YOURSELF”

When the convert came to Hillel, and Hillel said to him that the whole Torah on one leg is “Love your fellow as yourself,” then the convert understood; he understood the point.  This was a wise convert.  He understood that Hillel really hit the target, said to him exactly the right thing, that he doesn’t know how this is done.  No one knows how this is done.  Everyone screams, “Love your fellow as yourself.”  Everyone screams – we will love everyone.  Only we will love everyone.  The more a person says that he loves everyone, the more he hates everyone.  The more he talks, the more this shows that he only hates.  Therefore, he talks so much.  So the convert understood the depth of the matter, that a person is really further from this than from all the mitzvot.  He’s far from this mitzvah, because this is the most difficult mitzvah, because a person is egotistical, and he wants good food to be prepared for him and that his wife will speak nicely to him.  He wants that everyone will speak nicely to him, and that everyone will honor him, that everyone will bow down to him, and everyone will kiss the dust of his feet.  Like Haman HaRasha, [who said], “All of this is not worth anything to me,” [even though that apart from Mordechai] everyone was bowing down to him.  Everyone is an aspect of Haman HaRasha.  So the convert understood how far he is from this, that he understood how far he is from this.  Hillel said to him, “This is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary; go and learn.”  Start to learn Torah, start to learn Torah; start to love others.  Start to be humble.  Don’t insult your wife.  Don’t insult.  If she insults you, you don’t need to answer everything, that a fiery flame will come out of this.  The rest is commentary, go and learn.  You want to begin to fulfill, “Love your fellow as yourself?  “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” -- this is easier.  “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” is easier than “Love your fellow as yourself.”  Only what you hate, don’t do.  Whatever you hate when they do it to you, don’t do to someone else.  We still haven’t said to you to love someone else, but we say this to you beforehand, before we say to you, “Love your fellow as yourself.”  So we say to you before that something which you hate, don’t do to someone else.  You don’t love to be insulted, don’t insult someone else.  You don’t like it when then they talk to you not nicely, don’t talk to someone else not nicely.  You want your wife to honor you, you should also honor her.

Simply start beforehand with this.  We’re still not talking about love.   Love is already a level if you’re really the true Tzaddik.  Beforehand, don’t do things that are not right, don’t do the wrong thing.  If a person doesn’t work on love, he doesn’t work on loving the other and this isn’t daily work by him, to love the other, to love his friend, and at home, to love his wife – the biggest test.  A person can walk in the street and blemish the eyes a thousand times.  And when he comes home, he gives two slaps to his wife.  At home, it’s a test.  The Ari says that the test of “Love your fellow as yourself” is with your wife; there is the mitzvah.

So a person has a moment, “I love the other person; really I love him.”  Within a second, this turns around on him, because a person is the contamination of the serpent.  The serpent poisoned everyone, and everyone is full of contamination.  A person says that the main thing is to love the other person.  He says the truth; he’s not lying.   He loves for one second, a fleeting thought of love: “Yes, I love him; I really love him.”  He turns around now for a single second, and it appears like it was a year ago that he loved him. “Yes, there really were moments that I loved him – really!”  Yes, one second amongst the millions of millions of seconds there are in the year, a billion seconds.   So he also had a second of love.  But a person is all hatred, all jealousy, all wants.  Guarding the eyes doesn’t help him.  Guarding the brit doesn’t help him.  Nothing helps him.  Like Avraham ben Rabbi Nachman says in “Sasson V’Simcha.”  He says that gratuitous hatred is not relevant to guarding the eyes, not relevant to holiness.  He says that gratuitous hatred is worse than everything.  This is like what the “Sefat Emet” says, that Lashon HaRa (evil gossip) is worse than immorality, worse than bloodshed, worse than everything.  Lashon HaRa is equivalent to everything.  When a person wants to speak about someone Lashon HaRa – this is what burns in him 24 hours, to feel like he is the greatest Tzaddik, the most holy.  He’ll speak about guarding the eyes, the holiness of the brit.  He’ll speak.  He’ll speak and sell Yosef, he’ll sell out the other person.  He’ll accuse falsely, make up falsehoods about the other person, and put out slander about the other person, and build up theories and delusions about the other person.  Since he doesn’t have inner work, he doesn’t have any reality of humility or lowliness, [because he needs] for this [to be] his vitality, that his vitality will be the opposite.  I am totally “Baruch Hashem.”  Like Rabbi Nechuniya ben Hakana said, “I thank you Hashem, my God and the God of my forefathers, that you made my portion amongst those who sit in the study hall.”  What do I have?  Baruch Hashem, I came here, they didn’t throw me out.  I previously transgress a lot, and, Baruch Hashem, they didn’t throw me out; they still accept me.

So the vitality of a person is, “And I, in Your great kindness, come to Your house; I will prostrate myself to Your holy sanctuary in fear of You.”  The vitality of a person is “And I, in Your great kindness” – they still accept me in the study hall, still allow me to enter the study hall.  Who I am?  What am I?  What am I even?  This is inner work.  This is work that a person needs to work, work with himself in hitbodedut, between him and himself, that really, everyone is greater than me.  He is greater than me.  In the end he says, in the end, it suddenly occurred to me an idea.  If I would do such a thing [as this person did], and they would be scorning me in every city, and so I would become known, Hashem have mercy, I wouldn’t even come to any synagogue, I would sit at home.  If he can still come to the synagogue, and how much they are laughing at him, then he is already certainly greater than me.  So this is complete Divine service that a person needs to know, he needs to [feel like Rabbeinu said about Rabbi Natan, that he feels like he is a piece of mud].   What, should I silence mud?  If there is a person who merits to be born with this, he also needs to work on this.  If he doesn’t work on this, it won’t help him!

“YOU SHALL NOT ROUND OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR SCALP AND YOU SHALL NOT DESTROY THE EDGE OF YOUR BEARD”

“You shall not round off the edge of your scalp and you shall not destroy the edge of your beard” – from here we learn that you need to go with peot, and the Ben Ish Hai says to go with thick peot, and this is what enraged Haman.  It is written, “Mordechai was crowned with his religion,” so what enraged him?  The peot.  The peot enrage the most, that he is with peot.  We would come all the time to borders, both in Rome and in Johannesburg, they asked us, “What are peot?”  We said, these are radar; with these, we immediately receive all the transmissions.  A person knows what to learn; all of this is in the merit of the peot.  Because a person grows from the peot, not the peot from the person.  When a person is three years old, he already attains having the merit to reach the peot on high.  “I will ascend betamar (on the date tree),” because in the year, I will ascend betamar [5642/1882], there was supposed to be the redemption already.  “I will ascend the date tree, I will take hold of its branches”; betamar – 5642.  This was the redemption mamash.  Then they built the moshavot (agricultural settlements) – Zikhron [Yaakov], Rishon [Letzion], Matula, Rosh Pina, Kvar Tavor, Yesud HaMa’ala.  They built some twenty moshavot, and they were all there with peot; the officials of the baron sheared a bit off each time.  Within a year, nothing was left.  Therefore, the baron really died.  He died a strange death, because he didn’t make sure that they didn’t cut off the peot.  Because the Jew is only peot.  Without peot, it’s not a Jew.  He has no connection to Judaism.  All the Divine service is just to go with peot, all day and all night.  Now it’s parshat Kedoshim.  “You shall not destroy the edge of your beard” – we were by Kluger, and the Baalat HaBait there asked, “Where is it written in the Torah that you need to go with peot?”  All the gentiles ask, because they also want to convert.  Therefore, according to Rabbi Meir, it’s possible to betroth a gentile woman.  You see a gentile woman, you say to her, “Behold, you are betrothed to me,” and when she converts, she is then betrothed.  And a gentile man can betroth a Jewish woman, “And you shall observe My Sabbaths.”

“AND YOU SHALL HONOR THE PRESENCE OF A SAGE”

“In the presence of an old person shall you rise and you shall honor the presence of a sage and you shall revere your God – I am Hashem,” for already at the age of sixty, this is called “an old person.”  For one who is sixty, you need to rise already.  Sixty – wisdom.  Rav Yosef made a festive meal at the age of sixty, because if you die before sixty, this is death at the hands of Heaven.  A person who has already reached the age of eighty can live until 120, if the body doesn’t collapse, if there isn’t a collapse of [the body’s] systems.

THE SHIUR UNDERWENT SOME EDITING, AND IF THERE IS AN ERROR, IT SHOULDN’T BE ACCREDITED TO THE RAV SHLIT”A, CHAS V’SHALOM, RATHER, TO THE WRITER.

ARTWORK BY R' YEHOSHUA WISEMAN:

WWW.YESHOSHUAWISEMAN.COM