Ziv: Parashat Aharei Mot 2


Each week, Gad Barnea or Sister Agnès de la Croix (from the Community of the Beatitudes) proposes a reflection on the portion of the Pentateuch that is read in the synagogue (parashat hashavua). This week the portion is from Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30 with the haftarah (additional reading) from Ezekiel 20:2-20. They call their reflection “ziv” – a ray of light.

ziv metzora2

Torah for everybody…

We are now reading this parasha during the days between Pessah and the celebration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, on Shavouot. We are in the cycle of the festivals of spring, when we celebrate the gifts received by Israel as a people set apart, whereas the festivals of autumn underline the universal vocation of Israel. The text that we are reading this week describes the ritual of the Day of Atonment, when the people receives the forgiveness of sins. This day falls during the festivals of autumn. In this passage, it is said : “You shall keep my laws and my rules, by the pursuit of which man (ha-adam) shall live : I am the Lord.“ (Leviticus 18:5). A commentary in the Talmud on this verse explains: “Rabbi Meir said : how do we know that even a pagan who is occupied with the Torah is like a high priest ? “R. Meir used to say, how can we learn that even where a gentile occupies himself with the study of the Torah he equals the High Priest? We find it stated: . . . which if a man does it, he shall live in them; it does not say "priests, Levites and Israelites", but "a man", (ha-adam) which shows that even if a gentile occupies himself with the study of the Torah he equals the High Priest.”. It does not say “priests, Levites and Israelites”, but “a man” (Baba Qama 38a)… The Sages make a difference between Adam, and ha-Adam, a universal term for any man… Thus, we learn that according to Jewish law, any man, whether a son of Israel or of the nations, may be equated to the High Priest. What is the meaning of “does it” ? The Aramaic says : “The one who does it”, not only the one who studies it. These are the laws of Noah, according to another passage of the Talmud, that explains that each time a non-Jew “occupies himself with the Torah”, it is a reference to the laws of Noah: “Our Sages taught: seven precepts the sons of Noah were commanded : social laws (to establish tribunals) ; to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry; adultery; bloodshed; robbery; and eating flesh cut from a living animal.” (Sanhedrin 56a). These laws can be considered as a Torah for all mankind. Another commentary from Maimonides confirms this: “There is no doubt that whoever achieves the truth of his being and of his person by the righteousness of his moral qualities and the knowledge of faith in the Creator is destined to the world to come. This is why the Sages said that even a gentile who occupies himself with the Torah equals a high priest”…

It is clear that the laws of Noah also have to be interpreted and understood in order to be practiced. But the most important point is that, since the beginning, it is written in the commentaries of the Jewish tradition that a Torah is given to the nations. Shabbat shalom.

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