Kedoshim

The parashah tells of the laws of holiness and ethical behavior, repeats the Ten Commandments, and describes penalties for sexual transgressions.

In common years (for example, 2025 and 2026), Parashat Kedoshim is combined with the previous parashah, Acharei Mot, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings.

[2] And in the standard Reform High Holidays prayerbook (מחזור‎, machzor), Leviticus 19:1–4, 9–18, and 32–37 are the Torah readings for the afternoon Yom Kippur service.

"[48] The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:[49] In Leviticus 19:2, God told Moses to tell the Israelites, “You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.” Professor David P. Wright of Brandeis University counted more than 850 instances of the three-letter Hebrew root denoting holiness (קדש‎, kdsh) as a verb, noun, or adjective in the Hebrew Bible (תנך‎, Tanakh).

Similarly, in Amos 3:1, the 8th century BCE prophet Amos anchored his pronouncements in the covenant community's Exodus history, saying, “Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt.”[53] Professors Tamara Cohn Eskenazi of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Tikva Frymer-Kensky of the University of Chicago Divinity School argued that Ruth enacted the love due to the stranger in Leviticus 19:34 when in Moab, Ruth devoted herself to Naomi, a stranger in Moab.

[55] Amos grouped these sinners in the same verse along with those who trample the heads of the poor into the dust and those who make the humble walk a twisted course, thereby suggesting more generally that those who take advantage of people in lower social stations profane God's Name.

[61] Rabbi Ḥiyya taught that the section beginning at Leviticus 19:1 was spoken in the presence of the whole Israelite people, because it includes most of the essential principles of the Torah.

[70] Tractate Peah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the harvest of the corner of the field and gleanings to be given to the poor in Leviticus 19:9–10 and 23:22, and Deuteronomy 24:19–22.

The Gemara further taught that the verse “Do not stand by the blood of another” teaches that one must even hire others to help rescue a person one sees to be jeopardy, and one transgresses a prohibition if one does not do so.

[92] The heart speaks,[93] sees,[93] hears,[94] walks,[95] falls,[96] stands,[97] rejoices,[98] cries,[99] is comforted,[100] is troubled,[101] becomes hardened,[102] grows faint,[103] grieves,[104] fears,[105] can be broken,[106] becomes proud,[107] rebels,[108] invents,[109] cavils,[110] overflows,[111] devises,[112] desires,[113] goes astray,[114] lusts,[115] is refreshed,[116] can be stolen,[117] is humbled,[118] is enticed,[119] errs,[120] trembles,[121] is awakened,[122] loves,[123] envies,[124] is searched,[125] is rent,[126] meditates,[127] is like a fire,[128] is like a stone,[129] turns in repentance,[130] becomes hot,[131] dies,[132] melts,[133] takes in words,[134] is susceptible to fear,[135] gives thanks,[136] covets,[137] becomes hard,[138] makes merry,[139] acts deceitfully,[140] speaks from out of itself,[141] loves bribes,[142] writes words,[143] plans,[144] receives commandments,[145] acts with pride,[146] makes arrangements,[147] and aggrandizes itself.

"[157] Reading the words of Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people," the Jerusalem Talmud asked what a practical illustration would be.

"[159] The Sifra reported that Rabbi Akiva taught that the words of Leviticus 19:18, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," state the encompassing principle of the Torah.

[160] Similarly, a Midrash reported that Ben Azzai taught that the words of Genesis 5:1, "This is the book of the descendants of Adam," teach a great principle of the Torah.

[162] Rav Naḥman said in the name of Rabbah bar Abbuha that Leviticus 19:18 requires that even when executing a person, one must choose for the condemned an easy death.

[164] Similarly, Rav Hisda taught that Leviticus 19:18 prohibited one from engaging in marital relations during the daytime, and Abaye explained that this was because one might observe something that should make one's spouse repulsive.

[165] Tractate Kilayim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of mixing plants, cloth, and animals in Leviticus 19:19.

[168] Similarly, Rabbi Joshua of Siknin taught in the name of Rabbi Levi that the Evil Inclination criticizes four laws as without logical basis, and Scripture uses the expression "statute" (chuk) in connection with each: the laws of (1) a brother's wife (in Deuteronomy 25:5–10), (2) mingled kinds (in Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11), (3) the scapegoat (in Leviticus 16), and (4) the red cow (in Numbers 19).

[171] 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.

Rabbi Jacob ben Dostai said that it is about three miles from Lod to Ono, and once he rose up early in the morning and waded all that way up to his ankles in fig honey.

[184] Maimonides taught that it is a commandment for a person who sees that a fellow Jew has sinned or is following an improper path to attempt to correct the other's behavior and to inform the other, as Leviticus 19:17 states: "You shall surely admonish your colleague."

Maimonides taught that the commandment of Leviticus 19:18 thus includes the commandments of Rabbinic origin to visit the sick, comfort mourners, to prepare for a funeral, prepare a bride, accompany guests, attend to all the needs of a burial, carry a corpse on one shoulders, walk before the bier, mourn, dig a grave, and bury the dead, and also to bring joy to a bride and groom and help them in all their needs.

[195] In 1950, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism ruled: “Refraining from the use of a motor vehicle is an important aid in the maintenance of the Sabbath spirit of repose.

[I]n the spirit of a living and developing Halachah responsive to the changing needs of our people, we declare it to be permitted to use electric lights on the Sabbath for the purpose of enhancing the enjoyment of the Sabbath, or reducing personal discomfort in the performance of a mitzvah.”[196] The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement noted that based on Leviticus 19:16, "Nor shall you stand idly by the blood of your fellow," the Talmud expands the obligation to provide medical aid to encompass expenditure of financial resources for that purpose.

The Rabbis found that authorization and imperative in Exodus 21:19–20, according to which an assailant must ensure that the victim is "thoroughly healed," and Deuteronomy 22:2, "And you shall restore the lost property to him."

[198] William Dever noted that most of the 100 linen and wool fragments, likely textiles used for cultic purposes, that archeologists found at Kuntillet Ajrud in the Sinai Desert (where the climate may better preserve organic materials) adhered to the regulations in Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11.

Dever concluded that the doctored weights that archeologists found give these passages the ring of truth as calling for the reform of an economic system that actually existed.

From Orthodox Judaism, in 2010, four leaders of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University posted a statement saying that the Torah absolutely prohibits homosexual behavior, and with respect to homosexuality, the study of Torah will place observant Jews at odds with political correctness and the temper of the times, but they must be honest with themselves and with God, regardless of the consequences.

[201] In 1977, the Central Conference of American Rabbis of Reform Judaism adopted a resolution encouraging legislation to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults and prohibit discrimination against them.

The expression evoked a general sense of the bounty of the land and suggested an ecological richness exhibited in a number of ways, not just with milk and honey.

[218] Following the example if the 16th century mystic Isaac Luria, some Jews recite each day an acceptance of the obligation of Leviticus 19:18 to love one's neighbor as one's self.