Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - 5762 - OU Torah Insights Project

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer. A publication of the Orthodox Union in cooperation with the Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center

Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
April 20, 2002

The Torah’s goal is the creation of a sanctified society. To that end, we learn in this double portion - Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - a wealth of mitzvot (no fewer than 79) that govern every facet of life. From interpersonal relationships to our relationship with the environment, from our respect for property to our position in time and space - all is sanctified to the service of Hashem.

In Kedoshim is a series of mitzvot that lay the foundation for basic Torah morality:

(11) You shall not steal, and you shall not deny, and you shall not lie one to another, (12) and you shall not swear falsely by My Name, for you would profane the name of your G-d; I am Hashem (Vayikra 19).

These commandments seem rather straightforward at first glance. But, note that the verses make a smooth, natural transition from the realm of the commandments between man and man to those between man and G-d. This reveals the complete nature of the Torah’s conception of society, for, while many a secular legal system prohibits stealing and perjury, only a society in which G-d is an active member can, in the same breath, forbid profaning His Name.

Rashi, based on the Torat Kohanim (also known as Sifra, the halachic midrash on Vayikra), explains the meaning of each of these clauses:
You shall not steal prohibits stealing anything of value (in contrast, the prohibition against stealing in the Asret HaDibrot {Shemot 20:13} actually refers to kidnapping);

And you shall not deny prohibits denying that one has responsibility for something in his safekeeping (such as a loan, a deposit or a stolen item);
And you shall not lie one to another prohibits swearing falsely.

One notices that these prohibitions are linked by the conjunction and (V’). This suggests a causal relationship between them. Rashi sees a progression - or, rather, retrogression - in these prohibitions:
“If you have stolen, you will eventually deny; [then] you will eventually lie; [and in the end] you will eventually swear falsely.”

This last point - swearing falsely - refers to the link with verse 12:
and you shall not swear falsely by My Name, for you would profane the name of your G-d; I am Hashem.

Thus, “and you shall not swear falsely by My Name” is a reiteration of “and you shall not lie one to another.”

Sefer Ha Chinnuch (ascribed to either R. Aharon HaLevi or R. Pinchas HaLevi of Barcelona, mid-13th Century) agrees with Rashi’s reading of the prohibition against theft (§224) and denying (§225), but defines the other prohibitions a bit differently:

And you shall not lie one to another is the prohibition (§226) against swearing to the false denial, meaning that one who falsely denied that an item was in his safekeeping would violate commandment §225; if he then swore to support his denial, he would also transgress commandment §226;
And you shall not swear falsely by My Name, then, is the prohibition (§227) against swearing falsely.

The Chinnuch’s reading conforms very well with Rashi’s idea that the Torah’s sequence depicts moral decline, starting with stealing from another person and ending with desecrating Hashem’s Name.

For his own part, Rashi says “and you shall not swear falsely by My Name” teaches, not a separate commandment, but a detail in the prohibitions against all false swearing:

“Why is this said? - Since it says ‘You shall not take the name of Hashem your G-d in vain’ (Shemot 20:7), one might have assumed that he is only guilty for [swearing if he uses] the Tetragrammaton. What is the source that includes all the other names [of G-d]? The verse teaches ‘and you shall not swear falsely by My Name’: any name that I have.”

A person who steals does not acquiesce to his lot as Hashem has apportioned it to him; he refuses to accept the truth of Hashem’s Providence. Since he has proceeded down the path of rejecting truth, it is not surprising that he can ultimately lose his ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, and he will invoke Hashem, Whose Essence is Truth - And Hashem G-d is Truth (Yirmiya 10:10) - for a lie.

Truth is the foundation-stone of the Torah’s moral code:
The laws of Hashem are truth (Tehillim 19:10);
. . . and Your Torah is truth (ibid,119:142);
. . . and all Your commandments are truth (ibid, 119:151).

The Talmud (Makkot 24a) expounds Tehillim chapter 15 as an eleven-part description of the person who dwells in Your Tent, who resides on Your holy mountain (v.1).

One of his eleven traits is “he speaks truth in his heart”(v.2), which the Talmud says is exemplified by Rav Safra. To illustrate, Rashi quotes an incident from the Geonic work, She’iltot of Rav Achai (Vayechi, ¶36): Rav Safra once had an item to sell. A man who was interested in buying the item approached Rav Safra and suggested a price, but he did not notice that the sage was reciting the Shema. Thinking that his offer was too low, the man raised his price. After Rav Safra completed the Shema, he said, “Come and purchase the item at your first price, because I had decided to sell at that price originally.” Rav Safra valued the truth so highly that he would not take back even a mental decision.

In the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (62:16), R. Shlomo Ganzfried (1804-1886) states that a G-d-fearing person should not change his price once he has decided on it, even if he has not verbalized his decision. Yalkut Lekach Tov (R. Yaakov Yisrael Hakohen Beifus) says this is based on the example of Rav Safra.

From the beginning Your word is truth (Tehillim 119:160).

Rejecting the truth leads to the desecration of Hashem’s Name. But, if we begin with truth in our hearts, we take the first step in building a sanctified society.

Rabbi Avraham Fischer