Maureena’s Torah Reflections
Parashat Kedoshim. Leviticus 19:1-20:27
The first three lines of Parashat Kedoshim summarize the parasha for me.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Every one of you shall revere mother and father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:1-3).
Become holy in imitation of God. It is all a matter of “We will hear and we will do” (Dt. 5.27).
Eighteen times in this parasha, the phrase, “I am the LORD” is repeated. The word LORD is a translation of the four-letter tetragrammaton YHWH (mercy), a name for God which stands out in contrast with God’s other name, Elohim (justice).
The name Elohim first appears in the first chapter of Genesis describing the creation of the world. With the creation of the human person in chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis, the name LORD (YHWH), is added to God’s name. It is the LORD God who creates the human person.
We are to be holy like the LORD God. And this LORD God is our God: “I am the LORD your God,” which appears 9 times in this parasha.
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps. 63:1)
Prepared by Prof. Sr. Maureena Fritz nds
See all Weekly Torah reflections from Bat Kol International
Subscribe to Maureena’s Torah Reflections
“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies.”
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, No. 4