Author: Eve Posen

Posen’s Law – Parshat Kedoshim 5776

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Posen's Law

I am not what you might call a “scientific” person. (Shocking, I know.) Numbers, equations, and elements have never really been my strong suit. I had a difficult time getting through every one of the high school science classes I was required to take because my mind simply does not click that way. However, at a basic level, something like Newton’s laws of motion are easy enough for me to grasp. You’re telling me an object in motion stays in motion? Now that makes immediate sense in my mind because I can visualize it. Unless an obstacle or some other force interacts with an object, it will continue to remain at rest or remain in motion.

But as I said, I’m not that into science. On the other hand, I am into metaphors. This law of motion appears to apply to so many things in life beyond just the physical. Whether it’s a bad situation that spirals out of control or a lucky streak that carries us for a time, life moves us. Sometimes we act to try to speed it up or slow it down, but life is continually moving.

Our Torah portion this week, parshat Kedoshim, speaks to that very nature of life. Parshat Kedoshim deals with what is known as the “Holiness Code” which helps us to understand how we can walk in God’s ways and create a community of relationship and understanding. These are the laws that govern how we treat one another, how we care for one another, and how we establish a society based truly on respect.

In these laws comes one of the better known phrases in the Torah: “Thou shall not put a stumbling block before the blind or insult the deaf.” This mitzvah serves to remind us not to make someone else’s life harder, even and especially when it’s done anonymously.

At a deeper level, a “stumbling block” could be any force that acts on a person “in motion.” An object thrown upward would continue its trajectory were it not for gravity acting on it to bring it down. The Torah is instructing us not to be that force. Do not weigh someone else’s life down simply because you can.

Why stop there? This law applies to how we get in our own way as well. You won’t soar to greatness if you let your own negative forces slow you down. That may sound like it belongs on a cheesy inspirational poster underneath a picture of a cat on a tightrope, but it’s still true. How much more could you achieve if you made a conscious effort to keep all those cynical, defeatist thoughts out of the equation? Let’s be honest. It’s not rocket science.

Out-of-Body Experience – Parshat Acharei Mot 5776

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Out of Body Experience

Do you remember a time when you acted in a way that seemed outside the realm of your normal behavior? A time that might have shocked your system because it seemed so unlike your personality? I’ll give you some examples.

  • Perhaps you took a stand for something you believed in strongly even though you’re not usually the type to fight that hard.
  • Maybe you said exactly what was on your mind even if you usually try your best to filter your thoughts.
  • You were simply so ecstatic and caught up in a situation that it felt like you were momentarily on a different planet.
  • Or it might be more subtle, possibly a time when you looked back at pictures of yourself and thought “Was that even me?” because you looked so completely different.

As we go through life, there are big and small changes happening all the time. Sometimes we can’t even perceive a difference because the change is so small, minute even. Other times these changes cause us to look back at ourselves and see an alien being, someone who is totally different than who we thought we were.

Parshat Acharei Mot, this week’s Torah portion, details the laws and rules of healthy relationships. It begins with the healing after the loss of Aaron’s sons to their own out-of-body experience in breaking the rules, and it continues with the laws about how we are supposed to atone for our sins on Yom Kippur. The final chapter of the text deals with appropriate and inappropriate relationships between family members.

The part about Yom Kippur sheds light on this duality we sometimes see with big life changes or moments. Chapter 16, verse 29 reads: “And this shall be to you a law for all time: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you.” The citizen and the alien? In a sense, this could refer to one person. Each of us is both a citizen and an alien. We are citizens in our regular actions, in those moments when we completely recognize ourselves. And we are aliens when we have those out-of-body experiences, when we behave in a way that seems contrary to our “normal operating procedure.”

At a deeper level, the text teaches us that the stranger inside each of us is not to be feared, but to be embraced. As distant and alien as that side can feel, it’s still part of our essential selves. Yom Kippur, the text teaches, is a time in which we are to examine ourselves as well as this “stranger.” We might find that the stranger is only strange because we don’t let our truest selves out often enough. On the other hand, perhaps that alien side is symptomatic of a deeper issue that needs to be addressed. This week’s text reminds us that human existence is a system of checks and balances. It’s not the little outbursts or the mood swings or the lines we draw in the sand that are the problem; it’s when we don’t acknowledge them that we don’t grow from them.