As we begin Torah anew with the Book of Genesis, this week’s daily kavanot will each focus on one of the five books. This is an invitation to stop, to reflect, and to get a taste of our most sacred text.
Traditionally, young boys (for it was/is only boys in this case) would begin their studies with the Book of Leviticus. A little bit of honey would be placed on the first page of their book, an assurance that the study of Torah would always be sweet.
It is not necessarily where I would start a group of learners—at any age. Book of Leviticus is perhaps the most challenging, with its emphasis on blood and guts and sacrifice, the intricate laws of the Levitical priests, the almost obsessive details of boundaries and borders—what is permitted and what is not.
And yet, right in the middle of the Book of Leviticus, we read words that are promise and exhortation. Kedoshim tihiyu—you shall be holy. They are a vision of who we are AND who we need to be—and the power of becoming is placed solely in our hands. Right in the center of this central book—a plea and a promise: Be holy.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer