Kedoshim (Holy People)
(Sefer Vayikra) Leviticus 19:1 – 20:27

19:2- “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Yisrael, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I YHVH your Elohim am holy.
3- Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father and keep My Shabbats: I am YHVH thy Elohim.
10- And thou shall not glean thy vineyard, neither shall thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am YHVH your Elohim.
11- Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
14- Thou shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shall fear thy Elohim: I am YHVH.
15- Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shall thou judge thy neighbor.
29- Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
31- Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am YHVH your Elohim.
33- And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
34- But the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shall love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am YHVH your Elohim.
35- Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in length, in weight, or in measure.
20:5- Then I will set My face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
6- And the soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
7- Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am YHVH your Elohim.
10- And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
13- If a man also lie with mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
23- And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
26- And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I YHVH am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.”

“The secret things belong unto YHVH our Elohim: but those things which are revealed belong
unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Torah.”
(Deuteronomy 29:29)

“If thou say, lo, we knew it not; does not He that ponders the heart consider it? and He that keeps
thy soul, does not He know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”
(Proverbs 24:12)

“And YHVH thy elohim will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love YHVH thy
Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou may live.”
(Deuteronomy 30:6)

“But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their
abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says Adonai YHVH.”
(Ezekiel 11:21)

“And YHVH said unto Shmuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
Because I have refused him: for YHVH sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward
appearance, but YHVH looks on the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7)

“I YHVH search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and
according to the fruit of his doings.”
(Jeremiah 17:10)

“But YHVH Tzivaot shall be exalted in judgment, and Elohim that is holy shall be sanctified
in righteousness.” (Isaiah 5:16)
 

Kedoshim Summary:
1. The Weigh of the Heart is His Way of Judgment:
To the religious mind, synonymous with the concept of Holy is a time and a place set apart for the Divine, pointing to Sanctification. In fact in parasha Kedoshim, sandwiched between verses regarding shunning whoredom and wizardry, the commandment is given in Leviticus 19:30,
“Ye shall keep My shabbats, and reverence My sanctuary: I am YHVH.”
However, beyond the importance of outward observance, the essence of this portion of Torah is rather an emphasis on holiness of the heart. Whether it be the leaving of the corners of the field, the truthful dealings in business, not cursing the deaf or tripping up the blind, the message is clear: Fear Elohim, execute righteousness towards all, regardless of whom may discover the deed. The issues of the heart remain the standard by which the Sovereign One shall administer justice, as is written in Isaiah 11:3-4:
“…and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears:
But with righteousness shall He judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.”
Undeniably, neither bribes nor clever words will impress the Judge, Psalms 72:2 confirms His equity:
“He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.”
Truly, as Elohim is near to the poor and the fatherless, so He calls us to plead their cause as well. Without the accolades from men and the coercion from saving face among our peers, we must be ready to give. Expressed poignantly by wise King Shlomo, Proverbs 3:27-28 should cut us to the quick, thus:
“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say
not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou has it by thee. ”
May we tend to the sanctity of the unseen, i.e. our own heart, wishing the favor of Heaven rather than settling for the praise of men. Ecclesiastes 12:14 calls us to those hidden matters, as it is written:
“‘For Elohim shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
 

2. Perversion of Judgment Manifesting in the Flesh:
As reprobate and abominable that it is for mankind to lust after another, the sin of homosexuality and its tolerance are symptoms of a society that has turned it heart from true Judgment. For in such a parasha stressing charitable thinking and guarding against the sins of the heart, great emphasis is also placed on sexual purity. The connection is simple. When a people refuse to submit to the will of HaShem and harden their heart to the needs of the less fortunate, the arrogant heart will turn to itself.
Isaiah 59:9 & 13 describe what happens to a society which rejects the righteous judgments of Elohim:
“Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold
obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness…In transgressing and lying against YHVH,
and departing away from our Elohim, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering
from the heart words of falsehood.”
Ezekiel 16:49-50 states that it was callousness to the poor that invited all manner of Sodomite practice:
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness
was in her and in her daughters, nor did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they
were haughty and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”
And so, it becomes clear how a “principled” people can quickly evolve into a nation, fascinated with witchcraft and wizardry, perverse in pornography and promiscuity, only to engage in abominable acts. While mankind has sadly left his first estate, Job 34:12 declares Eden’s original standard, yet upheld:
“Yea, surely Elohim will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.”