LEVITICUS
The Holiness Code
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(1—2) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to all the congregation of the children of
Israel:
This shows that this section was spoken to the entire
assembly of the people because most of the fundamental principles
of the Torah are to be found here.
You shall be holy.
This means; "Be separated from sexual immorality."
Wherever the Bible commands the people to put a barrier against
sexual immorality, it exhorts them to be "holy."
(3) You shall fear every man his mother, and
his father,
The Bible, of course, instructs everyone to love his
parents. This is the meaning of this text also. The Midrash, how
ever, teaches as follows: The text merely imposes this law on ish,
"a man." But how do we know then that the law also applies to a
woman and that she is likewise obligated to show "fear" of her
parents? We learn this from the Hebrew verb tira'u, "you shall fear," which is in the plural. In that case, why then does the Bible
single out ish, "a man"? Because the man has the ready possibility
to carry out a law like this, while the woman is at times under the
power and influence of others and may not always have the
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opportunity to carry out the law. In this verse, the Bible places
the mother before the father since it is normal for a child to fear his father more than his mother. Therefore the verse places first
emphasis on the mother. However, when it comes to the "honor
ing" ("loving") of parents, the Bible places the father before the
mother (Exodus 20:12) because it is usual for a child to love his
mother more than his father. Hence the need to place the father
first in that context.
you shall keep My sabbaths:
The verse juxtaposes the Sabbath law next to fearing
one's parents in order to point out that "although I have warned
you to fear yourfather, nevertheless should he tell you to desecrate the Sabbath, you are not to listen to him." Similarly, with all other
commandments.
/ am the Lord your[Hebrew, in the plural] God,
You and your father are obliged to honor Me. There
fore, you may not listen to him if it means rejecting My words.
What, now, is the meaning of "fear" in the context of fearing
one's parents? It means not to sit in their place, not to speak in
their stead, and not to contradict them. And what is "honor" in the
context of honoring one's parents? It means to supply them with food, drink, and clothing, and to help them in and out of the
room when they need assistance.
(4) Turn not to idols,
This does not mean "do not face idols," but "do not
worship them."
The Hebrew for "idols" is elilim, which comes from the root
al, i.e., "something of no worth."
nor make yourselves molten gods.
At the beginning they are "things of no worth," but
if you turn to them you will ultimately make gods out of them.
The prohibition includes making idols for others as well as having
them made by others for you. Should you say that this verse merely
prohibits making idols for oneself, but that other people may make
them for you, there is another verse (Exodus 20:3): "You shall
have no other gods before Me," which means neither those of
your own make, nor those made by others.
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corner of your field,
The farmer must leave pe^ah, an uncut corner at the
end of his field.
neither shall you gather the gleaning of your
harvest.
The gleanings are the ears of corn which the harvester
drops during the reaping. This applies to one or two ears at a time.
Three ears are not "gleanings" and may, therefore, be picked up
by the harvester.
(10) You shall not glean your vineyard,
The Hebrew word for "glean" is olel, which means
"young" or "unripe." Thus the text prohibits taking the unripe, tender grapes of the tree. The Midrash gives a description of this kind of grape which grows at the top of the tree and is unripe
at the time of the vintage.
neither shall you gather the fallen fruit of your
vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
The fallen grapes refer to the single grapes which fall to the ground during the harvest. The owner shall not collect these
grapes.
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(11) You shall not steal;
This is a warning against stealing another man's prop erty. The law in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13), "you shall not steal," is a warning against kidnapping. This must be so
since that particular commandment must fit in with the character
of the other commandments in that group which call for the
death sentence by the court of anyone who breaks the command
ment.
neither shall you deal falsely,
Scripture already states (Leviticus 5:21-22) that who ever swears falsely shall be fined. There we learn the punishment. Where is the prohibition? Hence our present verse: "Neither shall
you deal falsely."
nor lie one to another.
Scripture already states (Leviticus 5:22) that one who
lies shall be fined. There we see the punishment incurred. Where
do we find the prohibition? Hence the relevance of the present text. The Midrash takes these several prohibitions and builds up
a sequence, viz., "If you steal, you end up denying, then lying,
and ultimately swearing falsely" (next verse).
And you shall not swear by My name falsely.
Why is this verse stated? From the earlier Scriptural prohibition in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:7), "you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," one might think
that the perjurer is liable only if he mentions in his oath the "proper name" of God. Where do we learn that the prohibition
includes a false oath which has any designation of God? From
our present text, "by My name," implying by "any name that
I have."
the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with you until the morning.
Scripture speaks here of a day laborer who leaves his
work at sunset. He should be able to draw his wages during the
whole of that night, and the master offends against the law if he
has not paid him by daybreak. In another verse (Deuteronomy 24:15) we read: "The sun shall not go down upon it [the man's
wages]." That verse speaks about a night worker who leaves his
work at daybreak. In his case he may draw his wages any time during the day, but his master must pay him before sunset.
(14) You shall not curse the deaf,
Here Scripture states that one must not curse a deaf
person. But how do we know that no person may be cursed—deaf
or not? We learn this from another verse (Exodus 22:27): "You
shall not curse—among your people." Then if the law is that no
man may be cursed, why does our present verse single out "the
deaf? It does so to provide an analogy: just as a deaf person is a living person, so the prohibition applies only against cursing the liv
ing, thus excluding a dead person who, though he cannot hear and
is therefore "deaf," cannot feel the hurt because he is dead.
nor put a stumbling-block before the blind.
The implication is: Do not give wrong advice to a
person who is "blind" in the matter, that is, one who does not
know the facts. Do not persuade him to sell his field in order to
buy something else when you know that all you want is to get hold
of his field for yoiu'self.
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but you shall fear your God.
Since no one knows a man*s motives and cannot tell
whether his intentions toward the "blind" man are good or bad, he may be evasive and claim that he was thinking of the other
man's good. Hence Scripture warns: "You shall fear your God."
God knows man's deepest thoughts. So too in every teaching
which goes to the ultimate motives of the doer, Scripture warns:
"You shall fear your God."
(15) You shall do no unrighteousness in judg
ment;
This shows that a judge who perverts justice is called avel ("unrighteous")—a synonym for "abomination.'*
you shall not respect the person of the poor,
A judge shall not say: "This man is a poor man,
while the other is rich and is obliged to support the poor; so I will find in favor of the poor man, and the result will be a means of support from the rich man."
nor favor the person of the mighty;
The judge shall not say: "This one is rich and is of noble descent. How can I put him to shame and see his disgrace?"
but in righteousness shall you judge your neigh
bor.
Taking the words simply, they mean that the judge has
to apply strict justice.
Another rabbinic explanation takes the word tzedek to mean "merit," implying that the judge shall judge his fellow man "in
the scale of merit," giving him the benefit of the doubt.
You shall not go up and down as a tale bearer among your people;
I believe that Scripture uses the phrase holekh rakhil,
literally, "walking as a talebearer," because all those who see
strife and speak slander "walk about" among the houses of their friends spreading tales about anything wrong which they see or
hear. They are called holkhe rakhil—"people who go around
slandering"—which is the same as holkhe regilah, in Old French,
espiement. Generally, wherever the Bible uses the word rakhil,
"slander," it is used with the word holekh, "to go." The word
rakhil is the same as ragel. The letters kaf and gimel are inter
changeable, just as all other letters are interchangeable with letters
of the same pronunciation group. Thus the labials bet and peh; gimel with kaf or kuf; nun with lamed; or the sibilants zayin with
tzadi. The Hebrew word rokhel also means "a trader" because he
goes about searching (spying out) for all kinds of merchandise.
neither shall you stand idly by the blood of your
neighbor:
Witnessing his death, while you are in a position to save him. For example, if a man is drowning in the river, or if he
is about to be attacked by a wild beast or by robbers.
/ am the Lord.
Who am faithful to reward those who keep My com mandments, and to punish those who transgress them.
You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your neighbor,
and not bear sin because of him.
The final phrase in this verse is not an independent teaching but is a condition for what precedes. Scripture teaches
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that you shall surely rebuke your fellow when necessary, but you should do it in such a way as not to shame him in public.
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge,
What is the meaning of vengeance? The Rabbis give the following illustration: If one says to another, "Hand me your scythe," and the man refuses to lend it, and the next day, the man
who refused says to the first man, "Lend me your ax, and the
first man says, "Since you did not lend to me, then I will not lend to you," that is taking vengeance. An example of bearing a
grudge is as follows: One man says to another, "Lend me you ax," and the second man refuses. But next day this second man says to
the first, "Lend me your scythe." At this the first man says,
"Here, take it! I am not like you who refused to lend me yester day." That is an example of bearing a grudge, since he keeps the
grudge in his heart although he does not take vengeance.
you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Rabbi Akiba said: "This is a fundamental principle
of the Torah."
You shall keep My sabbaths, and rever ence My sanctuary.
The Rabbis teach that a man shall not enter the
sanctuary with his staff, or shoes, or money belt, or with dust on
his feet, since all these are signs of disrespect.
This reference to the sanctuary is preceded by a warning about the Sabbath sanctity: says the Midrash, to emphasize, "Although I warn you about the importance of the sanctuary, nevertheless. My Sabbath must be kept"—meaning that the Sabbath may not
be desecrated even for building the sanctuary.
You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man.
From the first part of the verse one might infer that
one should stand up even for an uncultured aged person! Hence
Scripture, in the second part of the verse, says zaken ("old man"), with the connotation of "one who has acquired wisdom."
How does one "honor" an old man? One should not sit in his place or contradict his words.
And if a stranger sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
This means, says the Talmud, that you should not
wrong him with cruel words: you should not taunt him by saying, "Yesterday you were an idol-worshipper, and now you come to
learn Torah which was given from God."
(34) for you were strangers in the land of
Egypt:
So do not impute to your fellow a fault which is in
yourself.
I am the Lord your God.
"Your God" includes both of you, i.e., "I am not only
your God, but also his [the stranger's] God."
(35) You shall do no unrighteousness in judg
ment,
If this has reference to judicial cases, then this verse
is superfluous since Scripture already teaches: "You shall do no
unrighteousness in judgment" (verse 15). What then is the mean
ing of "judgment" in the present verse? It applies to what follows
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—meteyard, weight, and measure—and we are thus taught that
whoever measures anything out is called a judge, and if he fal
sifies then he is like a judge who perverts justice and is hateful, detested, doomed, and abominable. The Rabbis say that he is the cause of five calamities spoken of in connection with a corrupt judge: he defiles the land; he profanes the names of God; he re moves the divine Shekhinah; he brings Israel to the sword; and
causes their exile from their land.
in meteyard,
This is lineal measure.
in weight.
This is understood in its simple meaning.
or in measure.
This applies to liquid measure.
