As you know, yesterday I presented at the conference on domestic violence. Too much trauma this week between preparing for the conference and Yom Hashoah and my trip to Kenya. But here comes Shabbat. And this Shabbat in particular. This Shabbat we read Kedoshim, the Holiness Code, the very center of Leviticus in the very center of the Torah.

So what is holiness? The text says, “You shall be holy because I the Lord your God am holy.” Chapter 19 then goes on to quote some of the most famous verses of scripture. It details how we become holy.

Holy means to set apart, to separate. We have lots of words we use with this root, kuf, dalet, shin. Kadosh, Holy. Kiddush, the prayer over wine that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week, Kaddish, the prayer that separates or demarcates different parts of the service, and kiddushin, marriage because when we marry we are set apart, one for the other and no other. Ironic, since one of the words for prostitute is kadasha, because she is living without the bounds of marriage.

So kedusha, holiness, has something to do with boundaries. Setting boundaries. Which is exactly what G-d does before the 10 commandments are given. G-d tells the Israelites not to come up the mountain, to set bounds around the mountain. Then they will become an am segulah (a treasured nation) and an Am Kadosh, a holy nation.

The Torah, a system of rules and laws is a boundary. It separates for us right from wrong. It is what allows us to be an Am Kadosh and an Or hagoyim, a light to the nations. The Torah is that light. Being that light is what God chose us for–after, according to the midrash G-d went to all the other nations first and each one rejected the terms in turn. Only the Israelites were will to do and to hear.

Our portion after telling us that we shall be holy, kadosh because G-d is holy, then goes on to tell us how to separate ourselves, how to distinguish right from wrong, how to live morally and justly, how to become holy. It is a balance between how to worship G-d and how to live with other people.

It tells us that this is for all the people of Israel, not just the priests, the cohanim. In the middle of the Torah, in the middle of Leviticus, the text breaks away from its instruction to the priestly class. This law is for all of us. It repeats some of the 10 commandments. Fear your mother and father, observe Shabbat, don’t turn to idols or make graven images, don’t murder, don’t steal don’t deal falsely with your neighbor.

But it extends beyond that to create a just society. Leave the corner of your field and your vineyard. Don’t oppress your neighbor or rob them. To not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. Do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds. Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself.

It is easy to type the words. It is harder to do them. When it says to Love your neighbor as yourself, isn’t that what Love Elgin Day is about. If we are observing Shabbat which we are, does that mean we cannot participate in Love Elgin Day?

If we don’t have a field or a vineyard how do we give the corners of our field to those who need them? Does the community garden fulfill that function? Is it enough?

If we have members who cannot hear or cannot see or cannot walk how do we remove the obstacles so that they can participate fully?

This last one we tackled in situ this morning. We brought the Torah down from the bimah so that everyone could have access that wanted, then we rolled the podium up the aisle. We brought the Torah to the people. One man cried because he hadn’t had an aliyah in 5 years and thought he would never again.

This action was creating sacred time and space, exactly what Shabbat is about. It was holy time. It was Shabbat at its best. And it was exactly the antidote I needed about my week about domestic violence, Holocaust and the slums of Kenya. May we continue to create holy moments, that way we will fulfill the promise that we are a holy people, am kadosh and a light to the nations.