This past Monday, Toronto experienced
something that cities like New York, Boston, Paris, London, Jerusalem have all
experienced. Toronto experienced a random act of violence that was designed to
call to attention the perpetrator’s anger, disillusionment, and alienation. The
recent tragic event that occurred on Yonge Street in North York might not
considered to be an act of terrorism, that is to say, the politically/religiously
motivated terrorism that we have all seen occur in other locales; driving down
a side walk in a van and purposefully hitting pedestrians in a wanton act of
random violence because the driver was angry, alienated, disillusioned and
misguided still caused terror in the all those in the area at that time. His senseless
act of violence caused terror in an entire city until he was apprehended. Like all the other cities that have
experienced wanton mass murder, whether by gun, bomb or car; I am always
intrigued by how cities and its citizens respond. As a family, we went to the
spontaneous memorials that have popped up along Yonge Street between Finch and
Sheppard. As a family we have noticed something different after the deaths of
these Ten innocent people who were walking along Yonge Street on a beautiful
spring day.
This Shabbat, we
read the double portion of Acharei Mot/Kedoshim. The Torah resumes its
narrative following the death of Aaron’s two eldest son’s in Shemini (two
Shabbatot ago). The narrative appeared interrupted with a presentation of the
laws of purity and impurity found in Tazria/Metzorah. The Parsha begins with
Moshe telling Aaron about the procedure the Kohen must undergo in preparation
for atonement: both personal and communal. Essentially, this is the section of
Torah that discusses the details of the Yom Kippur service, the scapegoat
offering, the fasting, and sprinkling of blood. The Torah reminds us of the
sanctity of blood; blood is life and as a result, we are prohibited from eating
the blood of an animal. Following the presentation of of the Yom Kippur
offerings and the sanctity of blood, the Torah spends the rest of Acharei Mot
reminding us of those relationships that are considered to be sacred and those
that are considered to be categorically unholy.
Kedoshim which literally means “Holy”, continues the theme that Acharei Mot
introduced. There are sacred/holy relationships and unholy relationships. In
every instance when the holy and the unholy presents itself, Moshe tells us to
choose the holy relationship. Every seemingly mundane activity including: the
treatment of employees, the treatment of customers, idolatry, every human
relationship is distilled to the most common element. Every mundane act, every
mundane human interaction has the potential for achieving a degree of Holiness.
No commandment
within the Torah indicates the tension between base primitive emotions (human
instinct) and holiness (Godly instinct) more than the idea of revenge. Lo TiKom V’Lo TiTor et Bnai Amecha – You shall not take revenge and you shall not
bear a grudge against member of your people (Lev. 19:18). V’Ahavta
L’Rei’acha K’Mocha Ani Adoshem – you shall
love your fellow as yourself – I am Hashem (Lev. 19:18). Revenge is a
primary instinct. Someone hurts us or our loved ones, we want to return the
hurt. Someone insults us, we want to return the insult. A young man who has
been described as socially awkward, who was disillusioned and alienated decides
to rent a van and drive it on a sidewalk for the sole purpose of killing as
many people as possible. Our children were amazed that the policeman didn’t
shoot the man even though he repeatedly made threatening motions with what
turned out to be a cell phone. Our son sacastically commented that if we were back in the
States, the police officer would have shot him, especially if he was a man of color. No doubt some would have hailed that policeman as a hero. Even after his arrest and arraignment, we can all appreciate any family
member or friend of the ten who were murdered and the fifteen who were injured
wanting this murderer to suffer, and eventually die. I have no doubt that in
the moment the murderer told the cop to shoot, there were those who felt the policemen
should have obliged him, and killed the man on the spot. Revenge probably would
have left us with a sense of closure, ‘that he got what he deserved”. Yet the
Torah tells us that we are supposed to figure out a means by which we rise
above our basest human emotions (even if those emotions are justifiable). The
point is that emotions are human. What
makes us holy is our actions and behavior. Acting on our emotions without
thought, without concern, with out some type of check or balance makes us
comparable to animals. We are supposed to strive to be be better than the
animals. Better than the four legged variety or the two legged variety who
doesn’t know how to channel or deal with his emotions.
Our son pointed
out the difficulty of Judaism. Judaism recognizes basic human emotions. However,
to be Holy to be Kodesh, to be separate and distinct means to separating
emotions from deed and action. Yes, it
is easy to separate one day of the week from six days. Yes, for some it is easy to separate milk and meat. No one would
disagree that treating those who are most needy in our community with dignity
and respect demonstrates a degree of holiness and decency for that matter. Yet
such a person has not caused harm or brought terror to us. So how do we
elevated ourselves when dealing with terror, anger, fear, and death? Our
children felt something when we went to the memorials. They found a sense of
comfort. While nothing brings back the deceased, we found solace on Yonge
Street. We discovered that a community and a society has within it, the ability
to strive towards holiness Acherei Mot – after death.
Peace,
Rav
Yitz
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