Kedoshim

(14) I will restore My people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; they shall till gardens and eat their fruits. (15) And I will plant them upon their soil, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them—said the LORD your God.

(7) Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before ה' at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; (8) and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for ה' and the other marked for Azazel. (9) Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for ה', which he is to offer as a sin offering; (10) while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before ה', to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel.

(20) When he has finished purging the Shrine, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, the live goat shall be brought forward. (21) Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated agent. (22) Thus the goat shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.

עזאזל AZAZEL — (The word is taken to be a compound of עזז "to be strong" and אל "mighty"). It was a precipitous and flinty rock — a towering peak, for it is said (v. 22) "[and the goat shall bear upon it their iniquities into] an גזר) "ארץ גזרה means to cut) — into a craggy land (Yoma 67b).

LOTS. We know what they are from the words of our sages. The Gaon says that Azazel is the name of a mountain. It is so called because of its might. God’s name is mentioned in Azazel as it is in ke-harere el (the mighty mountains) (Ps. 36:7) and in yakti’el (Joktheel) (II Kings 14:7) ...

If you are able to understand the secret that follows Azazel then you will know its secret and the secret of its name, for it has comrades in Scripture. I will reveal a bit of its secret to you in a hint. When you are thirty-three, you will understand it.

There is no doubt that sins cannot be carried like a burden, and taken off the shoulder of one being to be laid on that of another being. But these ceremonies are of a symbolic character, and serve to impress men with a certain idea, and to induce them to repent; as if to say, we have freed ourselves of our previous deeds, have cast them behind our backs, and removed them from us as far as possible.

(1) ה' spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God ה', am holy.

The Torah wrote here TO THE WHOLE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY, because no person is equal to another person, and each person has his own Torah according to his physical disposition and his ways, etc. And this is why each person is told individually to be holy, each according to his own value. This is not so with other mitzvot, for which all people are equal.

(3) You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I ה' am your God.

You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I ה' am your God.

The Sages taught: What is fear and what is honor? Fear of one’s father includes the following: One may not stand in his father’s fixed place, and may not sit in his place, and may not contradict his statements by expressing an opinion contrary to that of his father, and he may not choose sides when his father argues with someone else. What is considered honor? He gives his father food and drink, dresses and covers him, and brings him in and takes him out for all his household needs.

You shall keep My sabbaths and venerate My sanctuary: I am ה'.

And so too, the equating of one’s attitude toward his parents to his attitude toward God is a logical derivation, as the three of them are partners in his creation. As the Sages taught: There are three partners in the forming of a person: The Holy One, Blessed be He, who provides the soul, and his father and his mother. When a person honors his father and mother, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I ascribe credit to them as if I dwelt between them and they honor Me as well.

(23) When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. (24) In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before God (25) and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit—that its yield to you may be increased: I ה' am your God.

Cut away the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.

To whom shall I speak, give warning that they may hear? Their ears are blocked and they cannot listen. See, the word of the LORD has become for them an object of scorn; they will have none of it.

(1) ה' spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelite people thus: When a woman at childbirth bears a male, she shall be impure seven days; she shall be impure as at the time of her condition of menstrual separation.— (3) On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.—

VA’ARALTEM ORLATHO’ THE FRUIT THEREOF. ... Now the fruit of the first three years is not fit to be brought before the Glorious Name because it is small; neither does the tree in its first three years impart good taste or flavor into its fruit. Besides, most trees do not bring forth fruit at all until the fourth year. Therefore we are to wait with all of them [an equal period of time], and are not to taste of their fruit until we have brought of the planting which we have done, all its first good fruit to be holy before G-d ...

(26) You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice divination or soothsaying.

לא תנחשו ולא תעוננו, warned against these gentile practices the Jews would also engage in such practices as eating on the grave of the slain for the sake of protecting themselves against the vengeance by the spirit of the murdered person (particularly murdered witches). The Talmud Sanhedrin 63 lists a number of possible scenarios described by our verse.

From where is it derived that one who eats from an animal before its soul departs is in transgression of a prohibition? The verse states: “You shall not eat with the blood” (Leviticus 19:26), meaning, you shall not eat from the animal while its soul, which is referred to in the Torah as blood, is still within it.

The baraita adds: Another matter is derived from the verse “You shall not eat with the blood”: You shall not eat the meat of an offering while its blood is still in the bowl, as it has not yet been sprinkled on the altar. The meat of an offering may be eaten by the priests only after its blood is sprinkled.

The baraita continues: Rabbi Dosa says: From where is it derived that although in general, after a deceased person is buried, the mourners are provided by others with a meal, others do not provide the mourners with a meal after the burial of those executed by the court? The verse states: “You shall not eat with the blood,” which is interpreted to mean: You shall not eat a mourners’ meal after the burial of one who was executed.

Rabbi Akiva says: From where is it derived with regard to a Sanhedrin that killed a soul, i.e., that sentenced a person to death, that the judges may not taste anything that entire day that they sentenced him? The verse states: “You shall not eat with the blood.”

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: From where is the prohibition against the behavior of a stubborn and rebellious son derived? While the Torah states the punishment given to a stubborn and rebellious son, the prohibition against his actions, namely, stealing money from his parents in order to eat a gluttonous meal of meat and wine in the company of lowly men, is not explicit. The verse states: “You shall not eat with the blood,” which is interpreted to mean that one may not eat in a manner that is punishable by death. This concludes the baraita.

(31) They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmas to Aijalon, and the troops were famished. (32) The troops pounced on the spoil; they took the sheep and cows and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, and the troops ate with the blood. (33) When it was reported to Saul that the troops were sinning against the LORD, eating with the blood, he said, “You have acted faithlessly. Roll a large stone over to me today.” (34) And Saul ordered, “Spread out among the troops and tell them that everyone must bring me his ox or his sheep and slaughter it here, and then eat. You must not sin against the LORD and eat with the blood.” Every one of the troops brought his own ox with him^-l that night and slaughtered it there. (35) Thus Saul set up an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar he erected to the LORD.

YE SHALL NOT EAT WITH THE BLOOD. “This passage has been explained in many different ways in Tractate Sanhedrin.” This is the language of Rashi. Now the conclusion of that discussion in the Talmud is that all those interpretations [of the verse before us] are Torah-ordained, since Scripture included all manner of “eating with the blood” in one negative commandment. And if so, that which Scripture states in the case of Saul, Behold, the people sin against the Eternal, in that they eat with the blood, means that they transgressed one of the prohibitions included in this negative commandment, since they were eating of an animal [slaughtered properly] before its life had entirely left it ... while the people were inquiring of the satyrs or of witchcraft to know their way and what to do, and they were eating with the blood in order to perform that craft [mentioned above]. It is for this reason that Scripture there states, Then they told Saul, saying: ‘Behold, the people sin against the Eternal, in that they eat with the blood.’ And he said: ‘Ye have dealt treacherously,’ meaning to say: “Behold, G-d has wrought for you this day this great salvation, and you inquire of no-gods! It is treachery!” I will yet explain the prohibition against soothsaying and enchanting.

(19) The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of your God ה'. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

(28) However, no animal from the herd or from the flock shall be slaughtered on the same day with its young.

(7) Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.

(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow as yourself: I am ה'.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Rebbi Aqiba says, that is a great principle in the Torah. Ben Azzai says, “this is the book of the descent of man” is a more important principle.

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.” They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future generations. With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: Diphtheria.

Vespasian then said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: I will be going to Rome to accept my new position, and I will send someone else in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. But before I leave, ask something of me that I can give you. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Give me Yavne and its Sages and do not destroy it, and spare the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel and do not kill them as if they were rebels, and lastly give me doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok. Rav Yosef read the following verse about him, and some say that it was Rabbi Akiva who applied the verse to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: “I am the Lord…Who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25), as he should have said to him to leave the Jews alone this time.

There was another incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai and said to Shammai: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot. Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. This was a common measuring stick and Shammai was a builder by trade. The same gentile came before Hillel. He converted him and said to him: That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.

(4) He used to say: do His will as though it were your will, so that He will do your will as though it were His. Set aside your will in the face of His will, so that he may set aside the will of others for the sake of your will. Hillel said: do not separate yourself from the community, Do not trust in yourself until the day of your death, Do not judge your fellow man until you have reached his place. Do not say something that cannot be understood [trusting] that in the end it will be understood. Say not: ‘when I shall have leisure I shall study;’ perhaps you will not have leisure.

(13) Rabbi Shimon said: Be careful with the reading of Shema and the prayer, And when you pray, do not make your prayer something automatic, but a plea for compassion before God, for it is said: “for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment” (Joel 2:13); And be not wicked in your own esteem.

Rabbi Shimon says: Be careful in the reciting of Shema: Be careful with the reciting of the Shema more than with prayer. [This is] because the time of [the morning] prayer is large and wide, as it is up to four hours [from daybreak]; but the time of reciting Shema [in the morning] is short and precise - with the sunrise, according to the vatikin (punctilious ones). And this is [the reason] for the expression, "be careful" - as it requires great care.

And I think that the Mishna uses the word "careful" because in the morning, when it's time to say the Shema and the prayer, laziness overcomes us not to get up from bed: in summer - because the nights are short; and in the winter - because it's cold. This is why he said "be careful", cast laziness off and get up from your sleep.

"In the reciting of Shema and with prayer": Because they are the acceptance of the yolk of Heaven and service to Him, may He be blessed, therefore he warned about them more.

We learned in the mishna that Rabbi Eliezer says: One whose prayer is fixed, his prayer is not supplication. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of fixed in this context? Rabbi Ya’akov bar Idi said that Rabbi Oshaya said: It means anyone for whom his prayer is like a burden upon him, from which he seeks to be quickly unburdened. The Rabbis say: This refers to anyone who does not recite prayer in the language of supplication, but as a standardized recitation without emotion. Rabba and Rav Yosef both said: It refers to anyone unable to introduce a novel element, i.e., something personal reflecting his personal needs, to his prayer, and only recites the standard formula.

The Gemara cites a related story: The Sages taught: There was once an incident involving Aḥer, who was riding on a horse on Shabbat, and Rabbi Meir was walking behind him to learn Torah from him. After a while, Aḥer said to him: Meir, turn back, for I have already estimated and measured according to the steps of my horse that the Shabbat boundary ends here, and you may therefore venture no further. Rabbi Meir said to him: You, too, return to the correct path. He said to him: But have I not already told you that I have already heard behind the dividing curtain: “Return, rebellious children,” apart from Aḥer?