Timeless Torah

As a Rabbi, I am a regular visitor at several hospitals. At one such facility, there is a local priest that I often encounter. At first, our greetings to each other were merely perfunctory. Lately however, I’ve noticed a change. The priest is not content with a civil “Hello,” he is actively trying to draw me into conversation. Since I am not into sports, have no insights on the weather, and am not current on the latest movies, the exchanges are becoming theological.

This is particularly annoying to me as (a) these discussions can lead nowhere, and (b) it’s obvious he’s simply trying to score ‘religion’ points (mine is better than yours!). This past Sunday, he remarked on how wonderful it was to see a Rabbi, “Caring for the flock, bringing good cheer, and loving everyone.”

The truth be known, I could have done what I normally do, nothing. I could have nodded, smiled, and walked on. But I didn’t. “Love everyone?” I queried. “I don’t love everyone. Indeed there are a few that I hate.” To say the least, the priest was quite taken aback. The rest of the dialogue went something like this.

Priest: Surely you don’t mean that. Don’t you remember that Jesus said we are to love our enemies: To turn the other cheek. That’s real religion.

Me: Sorry to burst your bubble, but you completely misunderstood your own Bible. Jesus said that you should love your enemies. Not G-d’s enemies. Your enemy is the guy who steals your parking space; the fellow that’s after your job. But a man who murders 32 students is not your enemy, he’s G-d’s enemy. As Ecclesiastes points out, “There is a time to love, and a time to hate. ” If ever there was such a time, it is for those who are evil. That was on Sunday. On Monday, however, I eagerly participated in a theological conversation with my children at supper. (You should try it sometime.)

Me: The opposite of Tahara (purity) is Tumah (impurity). The opposite of Tov (good) is Ra (bad). What is the opposite of Kodosh (Holy)? Child 1: Unholy. Child 2: Not necessarily. A table is not holy, but it is not the opposite of Kodosh. Me: There are three states of existence: Holy, non-holy, and unholy. G-d and everything that brings you closer to Him is holy. Thus the study of Torah is holy. A table is passively neutral and merely non-holy. Then there are those actions, objects, and people that actively cause a separation from G-d. They are unholy. In the jargon of Kabbalah, they are the Sitra Achra, the other-siders (i.e. on the opposite side of all that is holy).

This week’s Torah reading of Kedoshim commands us, “Be Holy.” Our ability as humans to attain this sanctified state is not inherent to fallible mortals. It comes as a result of our attachment to He who is Holy. As the verse itself clarifies, “Be holy for I am holy.”

Indeed, in the span of 64 verses (the entire portion of Kedoshim) this concept is alluded to no less than 19 times. Here a few examples: “You shall leave over some of the harvest for the poor…I am Hashem your G-d,” “You shall not steal, nor lie…I am Hashem.” “You shall not commit a perversion in justice/…I am Hashem, your G-d.” Over and over again we are repeatedly enjoined to, “Sanctify ourselves,” and “Observe all My decrees [because] I am Hashem, your G-d.”

The recent coverage by the media of the gruesome massacre in Virginia underscores the fundamental difference between the priest and the Jewish child. Reporters invariably described Cheo Seung-Huias as the gunman or shooter. (Excuse me, but those terms imply someone who goes to a local gun range a few times a month). It conveys nothing of the monstrous nature of the cold-blooded slaughter of innocents. Cheo is never held responsible for his wholesale extermination. Instead, we hear about his mental instability. He was sick, we are told, with no control over his actions.

What we never hear was that Cheo was evil, a murderer, one who forever wiped the image of G-d (Kodosh-holiness) from his countenance. There are many emotionally disturbed individuals. But not all choose to kill. However troubled Cheo was, he alone decided to execute those who had never harmed him. He deserves our hatred and abhorrence. Of course Cheo was disturbed, but no more than a suicide bomber. And if Cheo is not evil, then neither are they.

Modern life is geared toward neutralizing a belief in un-holiness. That is why a mass murderer is treated as deranged but morally neutral (non-holy). Contemporary society recoils from the idea that people are responsible for their actions. We seize upon any emotional disturbance to explain loathsome behavior. It is convenient for us to deny the power of personal choice. If killers are not responsible for their heinous crimes, then we, who are not as guilty, are not responsible for cheating on our wives or neglecting our children either. On the contrary, we are governed by powerful, external forces that are beyond our control. It is the wife who denies her husband intimacy that makes him stray and it is the pressure to pay the mortgage that keeps us in the office and makes it impossible for us to find time for our children. It’s never our fault.

There are those who believe that the problem with our world is that there isn’t love. The opposite, however, is also true. Evil continues to stalk our world because there is no hate. We excuse Palestinian suicide bombers and blame Israel. We seek to understand the minds of criminals even as we fail to hate their monstrous evil.

Yes, we have all been taught to hate the sin and not the sinner. But in a case where the sinner’s actions involve brutal inhumanity and the utter destruction of innocent lives, we must declare like King David, “Those who hate You, Hashem, I hate them.” (Psalms 139:21)