Portion 30 of 54 · Leviticus
קְדֹשִׁים
Kedoshim
The centre of the Torah, and it is mostly about wages, harvests, courtrooms and how you speak about people.
Start by reading it
Leviticus 19:1–20:27
2 chapters. About 10 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Amos 9:7–15
What happens
- 01
'Ye shall be holy' — said to the whole assembly, not to priests.
- 02
Leave the corners of your field and the fallen grapes for the poor and the stranger.
- 03
Do not withhold a worker's wages overnight. Do not curse the deaf or trip the blind.
- 04
Do not stand by while your neighbour's blood is shed. Love your neighbour as yourself.
The thing most people walk past
Holiness turns out to be about other people
The chapter that commands holiness fills itself with employment law, harvest practice, honest scales and refusing to gossip. Whatever holy means here, it is measured in how the vulnerable are treated.
One verse to carry
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Quoted by Jesus as one of the two greatest commandments, and by Rabbi Akiva as the great principle of the Torah. It is written here, in a chapter about paying workers on time.
A question to sit with
'Love thy neighbour as thyself' sits between a law about grudges and a law about crossbreeding cattle. What does that placement tell you?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.