Weekly Torah portion – אַחֲרֵי מוֹת – קְדֹשִׁים – Acharei Mot – “After the death” + Kedoshim – “Holy ones”; Leviticus 1–18:30 / 19:1–27; Ezekiel 22:1–16 / Amos 9:7–15

For many people, holiness sounds like the Temple, ritual, and a world far removed from everyday life. Yet the Bible shatters precisely this image. It shows that holiness does not begin in the house of prayer, but where people work, love, refrain, act justly, and take responsibility. Not far from life, but right in the middle of it.

The word holiness often sounds far removed from life because it is associated with the Temple and with rituals, with special moments or extraordinary people. But the reading of these two weekly portions shows us that the Torah does not present holiness as a mystical state that happens only in exalted places. On the contrary, holiness is something essential and integral to life itself.

The central verse of Parashat Kedoshim says: “You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.” It is a short but revolutionary verse. The Bible does not say that holiness belongs only to God or...

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