Lead Tidbit
Paths to Kedusha cont.
Freudian, or something like that, that we should forget to continue last week's Lead Tidbit, when lots of people thought we did it the week before - which we didn't. This week's Lead Tidbit follows last week's, so we'll begin with the end of last week's...

Revere your parents and keep the Shabbat. Don't turn towards idolatry. Serve G-d properly in the Mikdash. Provide for the poor when you harvest your fields. Don't steal, cheat, lie, (here's where it ended last week) be just, don't gossip or slander, don't hate your fellow Jews... and on and on. Gluttony is as foreign to holiness as is idolatry. Having honest weights and measures is as much a part of being holy as is preserving the sanctity of the Beit HaMikdash. Of course the Kohein Gadol on Yom Kippur in the Holy of Holies is an amazing image of Kedusha. But so is the Jewish farmer who is careful to leave gleanings for the poor.

There are many paths to holiness. And we need to take most of them to fulfill G-d's desire that we become holy as individuals and that we develop into the holy people that He chose unto Him.

We can see in Emor, a continuation of the challenge to be holy. Not every aspect belongs to each of us, though. At the beginning of the sedra, we learn of the special sanctity of the kohein, and especially the Kohein Gadol. And, along with the sanctity come the mitzvot and prohibitions that are particular to kohanim.

The second part of the sedra presents yet another major way that all of Israel pursues k'dusha - namely, the observance of the cycle of our holy days. Kedusha sees to go both ways: we sanctify the calendar and treat the chagim properly, and as they are MIKRA'EI KODESH, so do we become more kadosh. Perhaps this can explain the ending of Kiddush for the chagim - M'KADEISH YISRAEL V'HAZMANIM (or whatever other ending for RH & YK).

Sandwiched between the parshiyot relating to kohanim and the portions of the Chagim, we find the mitza-pair of Kiddush and Chilul HaShem. We realize that ultimately, if we are prop- erly protective of G-d's honor, then we sanctify Him and we become more holy. And - it does NOT go without saying - that the opposite is very true. This becomes our lifelong challenge.