… as Yourself Kedoshim Source Sheet for 5/11/24

(1) יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God יהוה, am holy. (3) You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I יהוה am your God. (4) Do not turn to idols or make molten gods for yourselves: I יהוה am your God. (5) When you sacrifice an offering of well-being to יהוה, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your behalf. (6) It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the day following; but what is left by the third day must be consumed in fire. (7) If it should be eaten on the third day, it is an offensive thing, it will not be acceptable. (8) And one who eats of it shall bear the guilt for having profaned what is sacred to יהוה; that person shall be cut off from kin. (9) When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. (10) You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I יהוה am your God. (11) You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. (12) You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am יהוה. (13) You shall not defraud your fellow [Israelite]. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning. (14) You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am יהוה. (15) You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kin fairly. (16) Do not deal basely with*deal basely with Others “go about as a talebearer among”; meaning of Heb. idiom halakh rakhil be- uncertain. members of your people. Do not profit by*profit by Lit. “stand upon”; precise meaning of Heb. idiom ‘amad ‘al uncertain. the blood of your fellow [Israelite]: I am יהוה. (17) You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kin but*but Exact force of we- uncertain. incur no guilt on their account. (18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow [Israelite] as yourself: I am יהוה. (19) You shall observe My laws. You shall not let your cattle mate with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; you shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material. (20) If a man has carnal relations with a woman who is a slave and has been designated for another man, but has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there shall be an indemnity; they shall not, however, be put to death, since she has not been freed. (21) But he must bring to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, as his guilt offering to יהוה, a ram of guilt offering. (22) With the ram of guilt offering the priest shall make expiation for him before יהוה for the sin that he committed; and the sin that he committed will be forgiven him. (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*forbidden Heb. root ‘-r-l, commonly “to be uncircumcised.” for you, not to be eaten. (24) In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before יהוה; (25) and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit—that its yield to you may be increased: I יהוה am your God. (26) You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice divination or soothsaying. (27) You [men] shall not round off the side-growth on your head, or destroy the side-growth of your beard. (28) You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am יהוה. (29) Do not degrade your daughter and make her a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry and the land be filled with depravity. (30) You shall keep My sabbaths and venerate My sanctuary: I am יהוה. (31) Do not turn to ghosts and do not inquire of familiar spirits, to be defiled by them: I יהוה am your God. (32) You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your God: I am יהוה. (33) When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. (34) The strangers who reside with you shall be to you as your citizens; you shall love each one as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I יהוה am your God. (35) You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. (36) You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I יהוה am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt. (37) You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My rules: I am יהוה. (1) And יהוה spoke to Moses: (2) Say further to the Israelite people: Anyone among the Israelites, or among the strangers residing in Israel, who gives any offspring to Molech, shall be put to death; the people of the land shall pelt the person with stones. (3) And I will set My face against that party, whom I will cut off from among the people for having given offspring to Molech and so defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name. (4) And if the people of the land should shut their eyes to that party’s giving offspring to Molech, and should not put the person to death, (5) I Myself will set My face against that party’s kin as well; and I will cut off from among their people both that person and all who follow in going astray after Molech. (6) And if any person turns to ghosts and familiar spirits and goes astray after them, I will set My face against that person, whom I will cut off from among the people. (7) You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I יהוה am your God. (8) You shall faithfully observe My laws: I יהוה make you holy. (9) If anyone insults either father or mother, that person shall be put to death; that person has insulted father and mother—and retains the bloodguilt. (10) If a man commits adultery with a married woman—committing adultery with another man’s wife—the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. (11) If a man lies with his father’s wife, it is the nakedness of his father that he has uncovered; the two shall be put to death—and they retain the bloodguilt. (12) If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed incest—and they retain the bloodguilt. (13) If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death—and they retain the bloodguilt. (14) If a man takes a woman and her mother [into his household as his wives], it is depravity; both he and they shall be put to the fire, that there be no depravity among you. (15) If a man has carnal relations with a beast, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the beast. (16) If a woman approaches any beast to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast; they shall be put to death—and they retain the bloodguilt. (17) If a man takes his sister [into his household as a wife], the daughter of either his father or his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; they shall be excommunicated*excommunicated Lit. “cut off.” in the sight of their kinsfolk. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister, he shall bear the guilt. (18) If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual condition and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow and she has exposed her blood flow; both of them shall be cut off from among their people. (19) You [males] shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is laying bare one’s own flesh; they shall bear their guilt. (20) If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, it is his uncle’s nakedness that he has uncovered. They shall bear their guilt: they shall die childless. (21) If a man takes the wife of his brother [into his household as a wife], it is indecency. It is the nakedness of his brother that he has uncovered; they shall remain childless. (22) You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My regulations, lest the land to which I bring you to settle in spew you out. (23) You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. For it is because they did all these things that I abhorred them (24) and said to you: You shall possess their land, for I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I יהוה am your God who has set you apart from other peoples. (25) So you shall set apart the pure beast from the impure, the impure bird from the pure. You shall not draw abomination upon yourselves through beast or bird or anything with which the ground is alive, which I have set apart for you to treat as impure. (26) You shall be holy to Me, for I יהוה am holy, and I have set you apart from other peoples to be Mine. (27) A man or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit shall be put to death; they shall be pelted with stones—and they shall retain the bloodguilt.

(2) ואהבת לרעך כמוך THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS THYSELF —Rabbi Akiba said: “This is a fundamental principle of the Torah” (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 12; Talmud Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:3).

(7) How can one train himself to follow these temperaments to the extent that they become a permanent fixture of his [personality]?
He1Having established personality development as a mitzvah in the previous halachah, the Rambam begins his explanation of how this mitzvah is fulfilled. should perform2repeat - and perform a third time - Thus, a person's deeds will shape his character traits.
In this process of personal change, the stress is on the repetition of an act, and not on its quantity or intensity. In his Commentary on the Mishnah, Avot 3:15, the Rambam writes that giving a thousand coins to one person at one time is not as effective in stimulating feelings of generosity as giving a single coin one thousand times.
As mentioned in Halachah 4, though the Rambam's explanations in this chapter parallel those of the fourth chapter of Shemonah Perakim, the texts differ in stressing actions (as the opening lines of that chapter imply), or on character development, which is the theme of our text.
For this reason, the two texts also perceive the process of causation differently. In Shemoneh Perakim, the Rambam states: "These actions [good actions] are produced as a result of these [the good] traits," while here he sees the traits being produced by the actions.
Nevertheless, the two texts do not actually contradict each other. Both statements are true. Our deeds reflect our personalities, and they also help shape those personalities. Generally, this means that a person's behavior will reinforce and strengthen the character traits that motivated those very deeds. However, this chapter - and more particularly, this halachah - deals with a person who has made a commitment to change and refine his character. Therefore - based on his intellect and the directives of the Torah, rather than his spontaneous feelings - he chooses to perform deeds that will bring about this process of inner change. - repeat - and perform a third time - the acts which conform to3reflect and are motivated by... the standards of the middle road temperaments.4described in Halachot 4 and 5. He should do this constantly, until these acts are easy for him and do not present any difficulty.5A trait possessed by a person produces activities naturally and spontaneously. However, if one has not acquired a trait as yet, certain actions will be foreign to his nature, and one must trouble himself to perform them.
For example, a liberal man gives charity naturally; the miser must force himself to give. The action for each is the same, but not the inner feelings. Then, these temperaments will become a fixed part of his personality.6If the miser continues to give frequently, he will find that he no longer feels like a miser, but has become liberal in heart as well as in hand.
Since the Creator7The Rambam uses the term yotzer - literally "the One who forms" - (which appears only one other time in the Mishneh Torah: Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1:7).
The Rambam describes God as the Creator with reference to the Divine qualities he describes in these halachot. Before the existence of the world and man, there would be no purpose for God to reveal these qualities, for until man's creation, no one could learn from or emulate them.
[The word yotzer may also be used because of its connection to the word yeitzer, meaning drive or inclination. (See Rashi, Genesis 2:7.)] is called by these terms and they make up the middle path which we are obligated to follow, this path is called "the path of God."8As stated in the commentary on the previous halachah, "the path of God" involves controlling our emotions by using our intellect, so that our behavior is, to the extent that is possible for man, an objective response to a situation. In this manner, our behavior bears a resemblance to God's transcendence of worldly matters. This is [the heritage] which our Patriarch Abraham taught his descendants,9See the Midrash Tanchumah, Shofetim 15:
And what are the ways of God? Righteousness and justice, as it is stated: "And they will keep the path of God to do righteousness and justice" (Genesis 18:19). as [Genesis 18:19] states: "for I have known Him so that he will command his descendants...to keep the path of God."
One10Since the path of God is mentioned in the context of Abraham's service, it appears that walking in those ways is not synonymous with the performance of the 613 commandments - for they had not been given in Abraham's time. Rather, it must refer to ethics, qualities like righteousness and justice, which are mentioned in that verse. who follows this path brings benefit and blessing to himself, as [the above verse continues]: "so that God will bring about for Abraham all that He promised."11The Rambam concludes his description of the obligation to develop our characters with the assurance that, ultimately, this course of behavior will bring us benefit and blessing.