(Leviticus: 16:1-20:27)

(Haftara: Amos 9)

(Sfirat Haomer)

(Pirkay Avot 2)    

1. 1. [16:11] From this pasuk (“and for his household”), we learn that the High Priest (Kohen Gadol) must be married. Why must the Kohen Gadol be married?

2. [18:5] “And keep my chukim (commandments that seem to be above reason—putting on tefillin) and my mishpatim (logical and reasonable commandments—don’t steal) that when a person does them, he will live through them, I am God”. Name at least one philosophical teaching and one halachic (legal) teaching that we can learn from this pasuk.

3. [18:25] “…and the land will be impure and I will bring its sin against it…” . It seems that the impurity of the land is a result of sexual offenses. Why do sexual sins seem to be worse here than idolatry and injustice and insensitivity to suffering and other sins?

4. [19:2] What does it mean to be “holy”?

5. [20:17] When the Torah criticizes the sin of incest with one’s sister, it calls it “chesed”—the same word as “kindness”. Why would the sin of incest with one’s sister be called “chesed”?

Commentary

[19:2] “Speak to the whole community of the children of Israel and say to them, “You, all be holy…”

The holiness that the Torah requires of the Jew is not a holiness that is distanced from people and separated from the world, rather one should be involved with people, and at the same time live a life of holiness.

–Torat Moshe

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Gad Eliahu ben David and Kochava–Eli Zucker

And to the memory of Sarah Bella bat Yitzchak Kummer, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer