Warning Against Immorality In Parashat Kedoshim

0:03We have all of the morality laws, all of the prohibitions, where a person is not allowed to commit all of these different types of abominations, whether it's being with a woman who is not his wife intimately, or being even with his wife when she's niddah. To all types of LGBTQ is obviously forbidden as an abomination; intermarriage between Jews and Gentiles is forbidden; all different types of laws of morality. Then this week's parashah starts off by telling us: "Be holy." Be holy, and then at the end of this week's parashah, again, it repeats in Chapter 20, verse 10. Again, the Torah repeats the morality laws and emphasizes the obligation to be holy, as well as the punishment for those who desecrate that holiness.

1:08whether it's by committing adultery, or bestiality, or immorality, incest, LGBTQ, niddah, incest, all of the same things that we saw in last week's parasha. Now obviously, Am Yisrael, at the time they received the Torah, they were at the highest possible level that Am Yisrael ever was. So the question is, if they're at the highest level of intellect, of knowledge, knowledge of God, and they're all prophets, why repeat the same thing? Needless to say, we have to read this every single year. If you're following the Shulchan Aruch, like a kosher Jew does, and you're reading the weekly parashah, Three times every week, which is two times just the parashah and once with the commentary. That means that you're finishing or completing the Five Books of Moses three times every single year. After 10 years, you've completed it 30 times.

2:10So why do I have to read the same things, especially if they're so close to each other? If you would say that these morality laws were first stated in, let's say, the beginning of the Five Books of Moses, and then again at the end of the Five Books of Moses, then I would agree, okay, yes, there's a pretty significant amount of time between the two, especially since in past generations a couple thousand years ago, they used to finish the way that the Torah was split. Uh, it was that they would actually complete the Five Books of Moses every three years rather than every year, so there's a significant gap between the two. So you're just reminding us that, no, the Torah is doing it week after week, it's literally a matter of pages. It's repeating the same thing, in essence, why one of the insights we mentioned last year is that if anybody wants to be holy, as Hashem decrees and commands us in this week's parasha to be holy because He is holy, first and foremost, they have to know that they have to, under all conditions,

3:27through all the hardships and the difficulties, they must take the warnings that Hashem gave us about the abominations of immorality that were told to us last week as seriously as death. Because if you want to have any chance of being a holy person, those things that are forbidden, can't just be considered. Before you even consider Kedushah, you must eliminate all of the famous, well-known abominations and get them out of your life. And the reason why it is mentioned again at the end of this week's parashah is because Hashem is telling us You got rid of those abominations in order to sanctify yourself, but don't think for even a moment that you're finished. Once you've rid yourself of all of them and have sanctified yourself, you have to constantly and continuously remain knowledgeable about all of them, to stay away from them. Know that they're forbidden. Always work on your fear of Heaven in order to remain kadosh (holy). It's not enough to achieve holiness for a certain segment of your life like many people say, "Oh yeah, you know, I used to be much holier, and then I slowed down." What do you mean you slowed down?

4:42...about all of them to stay away from them, to know that they're forbidden. Always work on your fear of Heaven in order to remain kadosh, in order to remain holy. It's not enough to achieve holiness for a certain segment of your life. Many people say "Oh yeah, you know, I used to be much holier, and then I slowed down." What do you mean, you slowed down? Do you know how hard it is to eventually get there? How could you just let it go? Oh, you know it's hard. Well, you realize that the fact that you let it go is going to make it that much harder the next time around. But needless to say, you have to do it. So when a person looks at society today and sees so much abomination everywhere, such lack of morality, such lack of holiness in the schools, in the kindergartens, in the government, in the streets, in business, everywhere, they have to know that this is being shown to you not because you're supposed to be enticed by it, but rather the opposite.

5:54you realize this is all wrong. You realize that this all ends up in a dead-end street. It should actually serve as a reminder for what you don't want. When you see a woman that's walking around immodestly, you should actually get to a point where you're disgusted by it, not that you're yelling at her or you're mad at her. She's clueless. She doesn't even realize what she's doing if she's walking around like that. But rather, you should be disgusted by the fact that this is even attractive to anybody. You should be disgusted by the fact that this woman may end up having a marriage with somebody who actually trusts her, thinking that he's the one for her, even though she's essentially making herself public property with the way she appears. The reality is that a person has to sanctify themselves to such an extent where they get disgusted by all the abominations, regardless of what they are. This is the first thing.

7:00The first thing that a person must know, and of course, as we learned last night from the Ben Ish Chai, who told us, anytime there is immorality, there is going to be financial damage. If you waste seed, if you are promiscuous, if you walk around without modesty, you're ruining the blessing that Hashem is giving you for sustenance. Even if you made a million dollars last year, Despite the fact that you were immoral, you're not realizing you could have made 10, 50, 100 times that had you been moral. No one has ever lost anything by actually being modest, by actually being a moral person, by actually being conservative and reserved. No one has ever lost as a result. But everyone who has acted otherwise regrets it later on. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah, and can lead to chillul Hashem, the desecration of God's name.