Show Notes
In this week's parsha, Kedoshim, we learn about how to be holy. But what does it mean to be holy, or kadosh?
Not what you might think! Being holy has to do with how we live our everyday lives. God wants to make sure that we can come close to Him by being as similar to Him as possible. He teaches us what we need to do and what qualities we need to acquire in order to be holy. Some examples of ways we need to act in order to be kadosh include:
Honoring our father and mother
Making sure the poor are fed by leaving over some of our harvest for them to take
Being careful to pay people on time for the work they do
Not giving people bad advice they don't know is bad advice
Judging others favorably
Not cheating people in business
Many of these laws connect to character traits we should strive to acquire, such as generosity, kindness, empathy and honesty.
More from Parsha for Kids
In the last parsha of the Torah, V'Zot HaBracha, Moshe dies. But what matters is not that he died- rather, the way he died. Moshe approached God alone. There were no adoring crowds. No family surrounding him. It was just the man and his Maker. And this is something that will happen to us all. We will all, ultimately, approach God. The question to be answered is simply this: have we lived a life that we are proud to show to God?
This week's parsha, Haazinu, is actually a song! Moshe wanted to make sure that the core ideas of Judaism would be accessible to everyone, whether or not they were able to read. In this song, we focus on some important ideas. These include: