“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Vayikra 19:2)
This year, the beginning of Jewish American Heritage month (May) coincides with our preparation to read Parashat Kedoshim. In this coincidence, we are given a profound opportunity to reflect not only on who we are but on how we are meant to be, as Jews and too as Americans.
Kedoshim is often called the “Holiness Code,” a sacred blueprint of what it means to live a life of justice, dignity, and responsibility. But holiness in Judaism isn’t about distance from the world—it’s about engagement with it. Holiness lives in the field where we leave the corners for the poor, in the weights we keep honest in our businesses, in how we speak—with honesty, with truth, and with love. “You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor” (Vayikra 19:16) is not a suggestion—it is a command to act.
The history of Jewish America does not always quote this text explicitly, but does–by and large–embody it. When Jewish laborers, mostly women, organized in sweatshops for fair treatment, when Jewish lawyers, lawmakers, and young adults fought for civil rights, when Jewish women marched for equality–all of them were kedoshim, holy ones. They did not stand idly by. They pursued justice because it was Jewish. They believed, like Rabbi Akiva taught, that “Ve’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha—love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18) is a central principle of the Torah. So too for us.
Jewish American Heritage Month invites us to remember those stories—not just as history, but as Torah in action. We are reminded that the richness of American Jewish life is not just in survival, but in thriving, and in our impact. And this month, as we read Kedoshim, we hear the Torah’s call again: Be holy. Be bold. Be just. Be builders of an American society of fairness, compassion, and love.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer