Parashat Behar-Bechukotai (Revised May 8, 2026) This week's double parashah, Behar and Bechuotai, bring to a close the book of Vayikra, a book the all-consuming focus of which is, undoubtably, KEDUSHAH, holiness. The last chapter is concerned largely with the kind of vows people make in dedicating something to the service of Hashem in the Mikdash. There are many laws regulating this seemingly noble motivation and its accompanying action, but my attention was taken this time around by the following law: "If (the devoted thing) is an animal of the kind from which an offering is brought to Hashem, any one which is given to Hashem shall be kodesh . One shall not exchange it ( lo yachalifenu ) nor shall one substitute for it ( yamir oto ), good for bad or bad for good; now if one DOES substitute for it, it will be that it and its substitute will be kodesh ." Vayikra 27:10-11 This mitzvah turns out to be very curious, because one is lashed for its intentional violation...
Kedoshim Reviewed and updated April 2026 Parashat Kedoshim is, structurally, the climax of the Torah. The Jewishly-critical seventh parashah of the middle book of the Torah, Kedoshim turns from the Kohen Gadol on Yom Hakippurim in the Kodesh Hakodashim to the people, gathered formally and addressed as an entity. The seemingly arbitrary interweave of ritual and ethical mitzvot which it presents is introduced with the famous statement, "You shall be holy, for Holy am I, Hashem your G-d"! The series of mitzvot that follow include some of the most basic - indeed, the midrash shows how all ten of the Ten Commandments are restated in Kedoshim. This restatement is now in the context of communal and corporate holiness, and is punctuated by multiple repetitions of the concluding phrase, "I am Hashem". At one point, Rashi interprets this interjection to mean, "don't think I don't know what's in your heart, what your true intentions are - I am Hashem...