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Kedoshim

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This page is about Kedoshim, a parshah in the yearly Torah cycle. See Kodashim for the Order of the Mishnah by that name.

Kedoshim, K’doshim, or Qedoshim (קדושים — Hebrew for "holy ones,” the 14th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 30th weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 19:1–20:27. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late April or May.

The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 54 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years. In years with 54 weeks (for example, 2008, 2011, and 2014), parshah Kedoshim is read separately on the 30th Sabbath after Simchat Torah. In years with fewer than 54 weeks (for example, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015), parshah Kedoshim is combined with the previous parshah, Acharei, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings.

Kodashim is also the name of the fifth order in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Talmud. The term "kedoshim" is sometimes also used to refer to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, whom some call "kedoshim" because they fulfilled the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem.

“You shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field.”

Summary

Holiness

God told Moses to tell the Israelites to be holy, for God is holy. (Lev. 19:1–2.) God’s instruction, considered by scholars to be part of the Holiness Code, then enumerates how people can be holy. God instructed the Israelites:

Penalties for Transgressions

God then told Moses to instruct the Israelites of the following penalties for transgressions.

one imagining of Molech

The following were to be put to death:

  • One who gave a child to Molech (Lev. 20:1–2.)
  • One who insulted his father or mother (Lev. 20:9.)
  • A man who committed adultery with a married woman, and the married woman with whom he committed it (Lev. 20:10.)
  • A man who lay with his father’s wife, and his father wife with whom he lay (Lev. 20:11.)
  • A man who lay with his daughter-in-law, and his daughter-in-law with whom he lay (Lev. 20:12.)
  • A man who lay with a male as one lies with a woman, and the male with whom he lay (Lev. 20:13.)
  • A man who married a woman and her mother, and the woman and mother whom he married (Lev. 20:14.)
  • A man who had carnal relations with a beast, and the beast with whom he had relations (Lev. 20:15.)
  • A woman who approached any beast to mate with it, and the beast that she approached (Lev. 20:16.)
  • One who had a ghost or a familiar spirit (Lev. 20:27.)

The following were to be cut off from their people:

  • One who turned to ghosts or familiar spirits (Lev. 20:6.)
  • A man who married his sister, and the sister whom he married (Lev. 20:17.)
  • A man who lay with a woman in her infirmity, and the woman with whom he lay (Lev. 20:18.)

The following were to die childless:

  • A man who uncovered the nakedness of his aunt, and the aunt whose nakedness he uncovered (Lev. 20:19–20.)
  • A man who married his brother’s wife, and the brother’s wife whom he married (Lev. 20:21.)

God then enjoined the Israelites faithfully to observe all God’s laws, lest the Promised Land spew them out. (Lev. 20:22.) For it was because the land’s former inhabitants did all these things that God dispossessed them. (Lev. 20:23.) God designated the Israelites as holy to God, for God is holy, and God had set the Israelites apart from other peoples to be God’s. (Lev. 20:26.)

In classical rabbinic interpretation

Leviticus chapter 19

Tractate Peah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the harvest of the corners of fields in Leviticus 19:9–10. (Mishnah Peah 1:1–8:9; Tosefta Peah 1:1–4:21; Jerusalem Talmud Peah 2a–73b.)

Tractate Kilayim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of mixing plants, cloth, and animals in Leviticus 19:19. (Mishnah Kilayim 1:1–9:10; Tosefta Kilayim 1:1–5:27; Jerusalem Talmud Kilayim 2a–.)

Tractate Orlah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the prohibition in Leviticus 19:23–25 against using the fruits of a tree in its first three years. (Mishnah Orlah 1:1–3:9; Tosefta Orlah 1:1–8; Jerusalem Talmud Orlah 2a–.)

Commandments

According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 13 positive and 38 negative commandments in the parshah:

“The Red Vineyard” (painting by Vincent van Gogh)
Amos (illustration by Gustave Doré)
Ezekiel (painting by Michelangelo)

(Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 3:3–163. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1984. ISBN 0-87306-297-3.)

Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is:

When parshah Kedoshim is combined with parshah Tazria (as it is in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015), the haftarah is still the haftarah for parshah Kedoshim.

Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:

  • Leviticus 18:21 (Molech); 23:22 (corners of fields).
  • Deuteronomy 24:14–15 (paying wages promptly).
  • 2 Kings 23:10 (Molech).
  • Jeremiah 7:31 (child sacrifice); 16:6 (shaving); 22:13–14 (paying wages); 41:5 (shaving); 48:37 (shaving).
  • Ezekiel 23:37 (sacrifice of sons).
  • Psalms 41:2 (consideration for the poor); 82:2 (unrighteous judgment); 135:4 (God’s choice of Israel); 140:13 (the poor).
  • Mishnah: Peah 1:1–8:9; Kilayim 1:1–9:10; Sheviit 1:8; Terumot 3:9; Orlah 1:1–3:9; Shekalim 1:1; Yevamot 8:6; Nedarim 9:4, 11:3; Kiddushin 1:7, 1:9; Bava Kamma 5:7; Bava Metzia 5:11, 7:7; Sanhedrin 1:3–4, 3:7, 7:4, 7:6–8, 7:10–11, 9:1; Makkot 3:5–6, 3:8–9; Keritot 1:1, 2:4–6, 6:9. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 14–36, 49–68, 70, 100, 158–66, 251, 356, 424, 428, 489, 515, 544, 548, 583–84, 589, 597–98, 602, 617–18, 836, 840, 851. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
  • Tosefta: Peah 1:1–4:21; Demai 5:2; Kilayim 1:1–5:27; Maasrot 3:12; Orlah 1:1–8; Bikkurim 2:4; Shabbat 15:9; 17:1; Megillah 3:24; Sotah 5:11; 15:7; Gittin 2:7; Kiddushin 1:4; Bava Metzia 10:3; Bava Batra 5:7; Sanhedrin 3:1; 6:2; 9:11; 12:1; Shevuot 3:1. Land of Israel, circa 300 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:47–76, 103, 251–76, 292, 341–43, 349, 415, 423, 650, 853, 891, 901, 925–26; 2:1084, 1115, 1150, 1164, 1178, 1185, 1229. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2.
  • Sifra 195:1–210:2. Land of Israel, 4th Century C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Sifra: An Analytical Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 3:85–159. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-207-0.
  • Jerusalem Talmud: Berakhot 60a; Peah 2a–73b; Sheviit 12a, 59a; Kilayim 2a–; Orlah 2a–. Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 2, 3, 6a, 6b. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
  • Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon 49:3; 45:1–2; 61:1; 62:1, 3; 66:1; 74:4; 76:3; 77:3. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. Translated by W. David Nelson, 218, 249–50, 278, 282, 284–85, 294, 348, 355, 359. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006. ISBN 0-8276-0799-7.
  • Leviticus Rabbah 19:4; 24:1–25:8; 26:7; 27:3; 30:10; 35:3; 36:1. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, 4:242, 304–24, 330–36, 346, 391, 448, 456. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
  • Rashi. Commentary. Leviticus 19–20. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 3:225–59. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-89906-028-5.
  • Judah Halevi. Kuzari. 3:11; 4:3. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 148, 203. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
  • Zohar 3:80a–88a. Spain, late 13th Century.
  • Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 3:40. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 503–04. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
  • Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, 79, 82–83, 152–53, 189, 201–02, 226–27, 336, 351, 384–86. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
  • James A. Michener. The Source, 106–20. New York: Random House, 1965.

Texts

Commentaries


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