Parashat Acharei Mot/Kedoshim

Holiness: Coming to a Community Near You – Parashat Kedoshim opens with the famous line of God telling Bnai Yisrael: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). The Torah could have easily stopped there, and left holiness up to our imagination. The entire chapter of Leviticus 19, however, goes on to list different ways in which we can act in holy fashions and bring holiness into our communities.

Leviticus 19:14 states that we should not put a stumbling block before the blind. Rashi, the 11th century French Torah scholar, understands this verse to mean that we should not put a stumbling block “before someone who is blind in a particular matter.” When might we be tempted to do so? Whether we are asked to take part in a business deal or to give advice to a friend, let us not take advantage of a person’s lack of knowledge about the matter at hand.

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