5784/2024
Parashat Kedoshim opens up with Hashem telling Moshe to command the Jews to be holy. The next Pasuk writes, “אִישׁ אִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו תִּירָאוּ”, Meaning that you should fear your mother and father. The Alshich, commenting on the juxtaposition of the two Pesukim, says: Hashem is commanding us to be holy. Why? In order that we can be Zoche to Olam Haba, by doing the right thing in this world. Therefore, the next Pasuk commands us to fear our parents, because they are the reason we are in this world, and therefore they are the ones who gave us the opportunity to become holy. As a result, we must not take them for granted and be ungrateful for our parents, and consequently, we must fear and respect them, so that we can thank them for giving us the opportunity to merit Olam Haba.
One can take the Alshich’s idea a step further. The Pasuk continues: “אִישׁ אִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו תִּירָאוּ וְאֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ”, that we must keep Hashem’s Shabbos. About the debate if the world was created in seven literal days or not, some would like to suggest that it is irrelevant, as the Torah is not here to teach us the history of what happened. Rather, it tells us stories so that we can learn lessons from them. The reason the Torah lays out the story of creation the way that it does is to teach that Hashem rested on the seventh day, and therefore, to emulate Him, we must also rest on the seventh day, by keeping Shabbos. Therefore, we should not take for granted that Hashem created the world for us, and in order to show our gratitude to Him, we should keep Shabbos, just like we must fear and respect our parents, to show that we do not take them for granted for putting us into this world. It is noteworthy that the whole topic of Kedoshim is emulating Hashem, as the first Pasuk tells us to be holy, because Hashem is holy, and we should strive to be like Him, and then the rest of the Parshah gives us ways to achieve that level of holiness that it refers to.
About being grateful to our parents, the Pasuk at the end of Parashat VaYeishev, when telling the story of the sar Hamashkim and sar Ha’ofim says that it was “יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת אֶת־פַּרְעֹה”. We all know that יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת means birthday, but if you take a closer look at the word, you will see that it does not actually mean “birthday”. Rather, it means the day one was caused to be born. Rashi comments on that phrase that a birthday is called a יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת because a child is born through the actions of others - they were caused to be born. Based on this comment, one of my Rebbeim, R’ Yakov Grun, suggested that really on one's birthday he should be giving his parents a gift, not the other way around. This is because we must realize that our parents and Hashem are the real reason we are here, and we should be grateful to them for that.
Lastly, as is evident from the entire Parashat Kedoshim, the idea of HaKarat HaTov is crucial to leading a proper life, and without it one cannot achieve a real level of Kedushah, as is commanded by Hashem in this week’s Parashah.