אתר השבת

Firstly there is an old Torah joke about this double portion

Achrei Moass  means "after death" and

Kedoshim means "holy"

So like the old joke goes -  "after you die ... everyone says how holy you WERE!"

Truth is that is NOT the objective.

We read a lot of this portion on Yom Kippur. Is it too "heavy" for a regular Shabbos?

What? Can this be "too heavy" for us in the middle of this Pandemic Crisis? Can anything be?

After 9/11 a lot of people "pulled together". Now WE ARE PREVENTED FROM BEING TOGETHER!

Yes, some people are sending food for the overworked "front liners".

Others are bringing food to the elderly or underprivileged.

Some people even drop off food for Rabbi A in quarantine! 

Yes in the portion at the beginning  G-d reminds us "my sanctuary dwells in your midst", and

the next portion mentions we are here to Be Holy or Become Holy

BUT ARE WE BECOMING HOLIER? I see different approaches in the following:

Rabbi David Aron of Israelite proposed the idea this week of "different kinds of selfishness"- that

create  different objectives of individuals - who are all wanting to be closer to G-dliness - that is, holiness.

Rabbi Neria's writings on this portion proposed the idea of "universal holiness" as the objective of:

Yom Kippur

These two portions - and -

Every Jewish person - that is to change the world.

Are these ideas "too heavy" for today.? Do We ALL JUST WANT TO SURVIVE THIS!? Is that enough?

I believe the G-dly objectives today can be learned from the wisdom in this double portion.

Acharei means after

Moass means the death of ... The children of Aron ... priestly leadership

The portions come in the middle of "sacrifices   temple worship  ... etc...

Rav Neria - wrote - that after the "Yom Kippur closeness" to Hashem -

not only must we BE HOLY - but the Torah implies is a Promise:

That there will always be an "after acharei moass" - after the destruction "we" will be here -

but who will "we" "be" then? 

Shabbat Shalom - health love and goodness to all

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

 - draft on all cases   ...  dvar  like neria (closeness to hashem - like YK andy:every day, like rebb shlomo