This entire portion deals with aspects of sanctifying oneself by the performance of practical deeds. I am forthwith copying a number of comments by Rabbi Menachem Habavli about both positive and negative commandments in this portion.

והנותר ממנו באש תשרופו . Concerning the requirement to burn left-over portions of the sacrifices that have not been consumed within the time frame given by the Torah (19,6), he writes that since these meat portions have become the property of a higher domain and it is in the nature of meat to deteriorate, which would be an affront to Heaven, it is better to burn it. Since Heaven has appointed a separate angel for each day who is concerned with these offerings, etc., it would not do to leave over something from the domain of one angel to that of another on the following day. Were we to do that, it would appear as if tomorrow's angel would be invited to partake only of left-overs. Considerations such as these may account for the Halachah stipulating that one may not prepare foods from one day of a festival for the succeeding day.

לא תכלה פאת שדך . The reason for the demand to leave a corner of one's field unharvested and to leave other parts of the harvest for the poor, (19,9) has to do with the poor man's quarreling with Heavenly Justice complaining about his underprivileged status. The four kinds of harvest left-overs designated by the Torah for the poor are designed to restore peace and harmony between the poor and G–d. They are able to do this because they apply to bread and wine, the two major components in man's eating habits. The poor derives some satisfaction when he observes that at the very time when the landowner has reason to be most smug and self-satisfied, i.e. when he brings in his harvest, he is reminded by this legislation that he himself is subservient to a Higher Authority, i.e. to G–d.

בצדק תשפוט את עמיתך . The moral lesson here is that you should employ the weapon of צדקה, charity, to ensure that your fellow (especially if he is poor), should not become guilty of theft and have to be judged, i.e. משפט. We have an example of David who is reputed to have paid the penalty of people he convicted when he found that they did not have the means to pay the judgment. This is another aspect of "judging with righteousness" (19,15).

הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך . The commandment to reprove fellow Jews when they do wrong is based simply on the principle that we are all responsible for one another. Since we share in the penalty for sins committed by other Jews, we certainly have the right and the duty to call them to order when they act in a way that is liable to bring punishment on our own heads. In addition, by reproving a Jew who commits a sin one demonstrates one's love for him as one tries to save him from G–d's retribution.

ואהבת לרעך כמוך . Philosophically speaking, we have demonstrated that the Jewish people are considered as a single unit; the seventy souls that came to Egypt are described as נפש, a single composite soul (Genesis 46,27), as distinct from the clan of Esau whose members are always described in the plural, to emphasize their diversity (Genesis chapter 36). You may well ask how you can be expected to love your fellow Jew just as yourself (19,18), when the reason you are to admonish him is that he commits transgressions which are apt to make you share in his punishment? The answer may be that we find many times that a person breaks his own hand or damages his own eyesight. He did not do so willingly, but the fact that it happened was a punishment for him. One does not stop loving oneself because one has caused oneself the loss of a hand or the loss of an eye. Similarly, one must not stop loving a fellow Jew who may have been or may become instrumental in causing one damage.

ובשנה הרביעית יהיה כל פריו קדש . The reason for this commandment is that during the first three years impurity was an integral part of the tree, causing all manner of כשופים. In the fourth year this spirit of impurity departs. The words ערל, ערלה are expressions of impurity. Once sanctity is introduced such objects become purified. The word הלולים denotes a festivity. It signals that the destructive power which had up to then affected this tree has departed and all of its fruit has from now on become fit to receive blessing.

ומקדשי תיראו . Relating to the Sanctuary with a sense of awe and remembering whose abode it is will implant within us [our hearts] the necessary reverence and humility even before we enter the Temple there to present our prayers. Nowadays, due to our sins, the synagogue takes the place of the Temple, and we call it the מקדש מעט the miniature sanctuary. We should relate to it as well as to the Torah scholars with the proper amount of reverence.

The Torah has stipulated this in 19,32: והדרת פני זקן. The Torah scholar is entitled to our respect because by his teaching us Torah he enables us to inherit a life of unlimited duration in the Hereafter and to avoid being consigned to purgatory.

מאזני צדק אבני צדק הין צדק . You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, etc." (19,36). These laws are designed to emphasize how far we must distance ourselves from robbery. The very fact that the Torah chose to call such weights by the adjective צדק, indicates that it considers a person engaged in weighing or measuring as though he were a judge presiding over litigation and required to pronounce fair judgment. Civilization is based on justice as we know from Rabbon Shimon ben Gamliel in Avot 1,18. The reason that the Torah quotes three examples of such weights or measures, i.e. איפה, אבני and הין, may relate to the three levels of our spiritual existence, our soul, i.e. נפש, רוח, נשמה.

מות יומת הנואף והנואפת . The reason why both adulterer and adulteress are to be executed by suffocation (20,10), a relatively easy death penalty, may be connected to what the Torah writes elsewhere concerning the type of death penalty to be administered to a murderer. For a person who murdered another with one single stroke (or bullet causing instant death), the Torah legislated death by suffocation; he presumably did not make his victim suffer. There is no reason therefore to impose a harsher type of execution on the adulterer.

באש ישרופו אותו ואתהן . When someone marries a wife [mother-in-law. Ed.] and her mother (20,14), the Torah decrees death by "burning" for all three parties. Our sages teach us the type of "burning" the Torah has in mind for this transgression as well as for all other instances where death by "burning" is decreed. It is similar to what happened to Nadav and Avihu whose souls were burned while their bodies remained lifeless but intact. If the Torah would have written ישרפו באש, the fire would have first consumed the body as is the case when someone is "burned at the stake" Since the Torah mentions the word אש first, it is clear that a different kind of burning is meant.

Rabbi Menachem Habavli has this to say when dealing with the reason of the negative commandments in this portion: The reason that the נותר must not be eaten, (the time-limit for consumption of the sacrificial meat, about which the Torah writes in 19,18 that if someone were to ignore this time-limit he would bear his guilt) is that the sin brought about by such eating becomes an accuser against the transgressor along with the angel appointed for this very sacrifice on that very day. The angel whose "meal" has thus been cursed will look upon such a person with ill favor. This becomes even more serious if someone else for whom this meat had never been intended were to eat it now that it carries a curse. This is why the Torah goes into details saying: ואכליו עונו ישא, anyone eating of this left-over will carry his guilt, i.e. the sin of the person consuming it will rest on the shoulders of the person who had originally owned the sacrifice and had neither eaten it up nor burned its remains.

וכרמך לא תעולל . The wording of the prohibition to pick your vineyard bare or to pick up fallen grapes (19,10) which is clearly designed to afford the poor a means of sustenance, carries a veiled warning not to chase away עוללים, people who spend all of their time studying Torah, when they come to the vineyard at harvest time to pick up their gleanings. In the final analysis it is Torah students such as these who ensure that the harvest of the vineyard will be successful, that G–d will direct His blessing onto our land.

ופרט כרמך לא תלקט . If the word עולל referred primarily to those who study, the word פרט in the same verse refers primarily to people who have already distinguished themselves by translating their Torah study into deeds, i.e. אנשי מעשה. The farmer is warned that he must not do anything which could result in these people's premature departure from this earth.

לעני ולגר תעזוב אותם . Those who do not perform מצות, i.e. the עני וגר, remain alive only by the merit of those who devote their lives to Torah and the performance of the commandments. By starving those people not only might they themselves die prematurely but also all those less observant people who owe their lives to the genuine יראי שמים may have their lives cut short.

לא תגנובו . Here (19,11) the Torah speaks about someone stealing money or other valuables, whereas in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20,13 the Torah referred to the kidnapping of a person or persons. I find it puzzling why the Torah used the singular, i.e. לא תגנוב in Exodus, whereas in our portion the legislation is formulated in the plural, לא תגנובו. It is also puzzling why the Torah first legislated the prohibition against completely harvesting one's field. We may understand the sequence of "do not steal" as addressed to the multitude, not because so many people may be guilty of this sin, but because of what the sin leads to. Theft leads to denial of the theft, denial leads to other lies in order to cover up the theft; this is turn leads to perjury. Such behavior even if only by a single individual, will give the whole Jewish people a bad reputation because of the multiple sins involved. The Torah warns us against compounding a sin committed by denying it and even possibly confirming such denial by an oath.

לא תשקרו ... לא תכחשו . Anyone committing this string of sins cannot be a true son of the people of Israel who have a reputation for not lying. We have a tradition that if one tells the truth even though it involves one in immediate losses, one will eventually benefit by having told the truth. Conversely, if one lies, even though the benefit of the lie will be immediate, one will ultimately become the victim of one's lie and lose. Verse twelve, not to swear falsely, refers then to the previous lies and denials.

לא תשבעו בשמי לשקר. A number of Rabbis have stated that if one swears by the Ten Commandments or even by a handshake in lieu of an oath, such an undertaking cannot be revoked by a group of Rabbis, as distinct from ordinary oaths and vows where it can be demonstrated that the person who swore the oath as a שבועת בטוי, a personal undertaking, was unaware of some of its implications.

לא תגזול . This embraces the prohibition to use violence to acquire something which is not ours (19,13).

לא תעשוק . refers to the acquisition of something that is not ours by subterfuge instead of outright violence. Whereas in Halachah one is culpable for something which has been acquired by outright robbery only if it is worth at least as much as a certain coin called פרוטה, cheating by using unfair weights is punishable even if the amount by which one has cheated is totally insignificant, much less than the value of a פרוטה. The decree to bring on the deluge was sealed on account of the sin of robbery. We have a saying (Vayikra Rabbah 33,3) that סאה מלאה עונות וגזל בתוכה מקטרגת, "in a סאה, a given amount of sins (about 800 cubic inches), if it contains even a minute amount of the sin of robbery this quantity turns into an accuser against us." I have observed pious people who, when they purchase something for a holy purpose, always pay the asking price and never haggle so as not to be remotely guilty of transgressing these commandments of לא תעשוק את רעך ולא תגזול. They are so similar that when one transgresses one there is a good chance that one becomes guilty of transgressing both, becoming guilty on two counts. Technically speaking, לא תעשוק means to withhold by force something someone else is entitled to.

ולא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בוקר . The reason one is not allowed to delay paying wages to a day laborer till the morning following (19,13) is that G–d arranges sustenance for each of His creatures and the laborer in question was allocated these wages by G–d to use them for his food supply this very day. By denying him access to this the employer effectively interfered with G–d's decree and the angel appointed to oversee allocation of sustenance on that day will turn into an accuser against the employer in question. He will be judged as having transgressed a Royal decree. The domain which will judge the employer is the attribute of night, [an attribute applying justice rigorously. Ed.] The Torah (Deut. 24,15) describes the state of mind of the laborer in question in the words: ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו, "And his life depends on it."

לא תקלל חרש . One must not curse any Jew, not even someone who cannot hear the curse (19,14). The reason is that we know that the power of the curse or blessing is not confined to it being actually pronounced i.e. capable of being heard.

ולפני עור לא תתן מכשול . One must not offer improper advice which will prove damaging to someone who trusts our advice. The Torah calls this "placing obstacles in the path of the blind" (ibid.). This is simply the reverse of "love your neighbor as yourself," i.e. do not do to him something that you would not have anyone do to you. The reason the Torah adds the words ויראת מאלוקיך, "and fear your Lord," is that sometimes your advice may be capable of more than one interpretation and you may argue that you have been misunderstood if the wrong interpretation was chosen by the person to whom you had offered this advice. If you swear that your intention was to be helpful, remember that though this is something that no one has a way of disproving down here on earth, there is a G–d who is aware of what had been your true motive.

לא תעשו עול במשפט . Someone rendering unfair judgment (19,15) may tilt the previously balanced Heavenly scales by which mankind is judged towards a decree of "guilty." By pronouncing fair judgment he may do the very opposite.

ולא תהדר פני גדול . The Torah has to mention this in connection with litigation. Whereas normally one is certainly urged to honor Torah scholars (19,32), in case of litigation a display of deference for a litigant who is widely acclaimed may confuse the other party so that he cannot present his arguments coherently. By pandering to the important litigant, one is, in effect, pandering to the "great accuser," giving him ammunition against us. Nonetheless, one must also fulfill the commandment of honoring Torah scholars. One does this by inviting both litigants to be seated during the proceedings, just like the judges.

לא תלך רכיל בעמך . The reason that the Torah forbids tale-bearing (19,16) is that by doing so one "kills" three different parties i.e. the victim, the tale-bearer, and the listener. Onkelos translates the word רכיל as תיכול קורצין, as if the Torah had said "do not eat destructive insects." The meaning is that some people invite gossips to their table, wine and dine them in order to listen avidly to what these people have to say about their peers. It is permissible to speak ill of the people who perennially are involved in quarrels if by gossiping about them one may fulfill the commandment of saving someone from unjust accusations. One would then fulfill לא תעמוד על דם רעך, not to stand by idly while someone's blood is being spilled (ibid.).

לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך . The reason that you must not hate your brother in your heart (19,17) is that one automatically feels superior to the person one hates in one's heart. People who feel superior are anathema to G–d. Whereas it is your duty to hate people who hate G–d, unjustified hatred has led to the destruction of the Temple and to our exile. In fact the opening lines of the famous elegy of Jeremiah איכה ישבה בדד העיר רבתי עם היתה, add up to איבה רעה. Just because he is your brother, you must not hate him in your heart (but you should tell him what is on your mind).

לא תעמוד על דם רעך . The reason for this prohibition (19,17) is simply that we are all part of one unit, responsible for each other. If we must try and save each other's bodies, how much more so must we endeavor to save each other's souls. When one sees a fellow Jew commit the kind of sin which would result in the death of his soul one must make every effort to prevent him and not stand by idly watching him commit the sin, i.e. לא תעמוד. Alternatively, the word דם in this context may refer to silence, a double entendre, and the Torah warns us not to remain silent lest our blood pay for our silence.

ולא תשא עליו חטא . The gist of the prohibition is not to shame your fellow Jew, for you might bring about his death by causing his face first to blush and then turn white. On the other hand, if you fail to reprove someone who commits transgressions you will have to bear the burden of his sin on your own shoulders. It follows that the key to correct behavior is the way you reprove. You must do so with a friendly mien in order that he will accept your constructive criticism. Should you have been guilty of a similar offence you must first reprove yourself before you take it upon yourself to criticize someone else. This teaches us an important rule. If one may not shame a person who has committed sins and is subject to being reproved, how much less may one contribute to the embarrassment of a person who has not been guilty of such sins! When there is quarreling going on one must be especially careful not to become guilty of unprovoked hatred.

לא תקום . The prohibition against revenge or grudge-bearing (19,18) is based on the principle that a holy nation cannot relate to someone with hostility. Bearing a grudge in one's heart will ultimately result in acts of revenge. When a Torah scholar has been publicly slighted he must not ignore such a slight since the insult was directed at the Torah he represents. The Talmud relates that Mar Zutra the Pious forgave everyone who had caused him pain. The commentators explain that this referred only to physical pain or curses directed at his person. No Rabbi has the right to ignore insults that were directed at the Torah which he represents. Our sages (Yuma 22b) go so far as to say that any Torah scholar who does not take revenge like a snake is not worthy of the title "Torah-sage."

It is possible that our verse refers to matters involving monetary matters only, and that a Torah scholar ought to display a forgiving nature so that G–d may forgive him whenever he himself becomes guilty of a misdemeanor and expects G–d Himself to forgive the insult.

שדך לא תזרע כלאים...בהמתך לא תרביע כלאים . The reason for this string of forbidden mixtures (19,19) is that the Creator in His wisdom saw fit to separate certain species; the account of their creation repeatedly underlines that they were created למינהו, each according to its kind, even the lowly grass (Genesis 1,12 et al). It is incumbent upon us not to upset G–d's order in the universe. We have explained that every blade of grass has a Mazal which supervises and encourages its development.

ג' שנים יהיו לכם ערלים לא יאכל . During these first three years the forces of impurity predominate in a tree; it is therefore called "uncircumcised." Anyone who would enjoy the fruit of such a tree grown during this period would be considered as if enjoying the forces of impurity. It therefore behooves him to remove such forces from "G–d's vineyard," i.e. the Jewish people. Once the three years have passed the same tree becomes pure and a source of sanctity. This is not as strange a concept as it seems at first glance, since we have the halachic ruling that the hymen of a girl under the age of three which has been pierced will heal and grow back. If the penetration occurred after her third birthday this permanently deprives her of her status as a virgin. We can deduce from this that during the first 3 years of a girl's life negative forces do not exert a permanent influence upon her. The same is true of the negative forces which dominate the tree during these years.

לא תנחשו . The reason for this prohibition is to teach us not to rely on falsehoods, nor to attribute events to coincidence. We must remain aware that G–d supervises His universe and exercises control. If we want to know something essential about the future we can consult the Hight Priest who will receive an answer from G–d via the אורים ותומים in his breastplate. Even the wicked Bileam realized that כי לא נחש ביעקב, that Israel's relationship with G–d is such that it does not need to resort to soothsaying and similar black magic.

Similar considerations are the reason why we must not consult cloud patterns. The overall lesson is that our fate hinges on our merits and not on the caprice of pre-determined times which by themselves influence our fate.

ולא תשחית את פאת זקנך...לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם . The reason for this string of prohibitions concerning the defacing of the head or the skin is to make a clear distinction between our mode of living and that of the pagan priests. A G–d-fearing person does not use the razor anywhere near his throat so that he may not accidentally injure his skin close to where his sideburns grow. The use of scissors in all those areas is permitted. Since we have the principle that the commission of one sin usually triggers the commission of other sins, the Torah prohibits using the razor on "the corner of your head,” so that, having failed to observe this injunction you should not also become guilty of using it on the "corners of your beard."

וכתובת קעקע . "Do not tattoo your skin." This is an allusion to pagan priests who tattoo themselves as a sign of fealty to their respective deities.

אל תפנו אל האובות ואל הידעונים . "Do not turn to ghosts and do not inquire of familiar spirits." The reason is that such ghosts are apt to turn you away from having faith in G–d who is the Creator of all. The method employed by people who are experts in communicating with the dead involve manipulating the powers of impurity. When these "dead" spirits make predictions of the future some will come true, others will not. The reason the Torah calls these ghosts אבות, "fathers," is that they are the "patriarchs" of all the forces of impurity. The Torah says "do not turn to them" instead of "do not practice or perform such rites" so that you should not even contemplate having anything to do with such practices. The word תפנו is related to פנים, face. Merely looking at such ghosts introduces impurity into the atmosphere; it is just as damaging as looking at the face of a wicked person.

The ידעוני is a rite which relies on the use of a bone of a certain animal which is put in one's mouth.

לא תעשו עול במשפט במדה . According to ancient sources this prohibition at this point (19,35) is addressed to people who measure unfairly. People who do this contribute to destroying the universe. The person who does the measuring is called "judge". The Torah had already prohibited the perversion of justice when it said: לא תטה משפט, "Do not subvert justice, etc." (Exodus 23,6). The emphasis on the words לא תעשו, "do not engage in a tangible activity," suggests that the meaning here is that it is the making of changes which is illegal.

ולא תלכו בחקות הגוים . The warning not to imitate Gentile practices (20,13) is based on the belief that all their cultural activities are merely preparations for עבודה זרה, idol worship. Their forms of entertainment are displays of promiscuity, which itself is a form of paganism. The Torah warns you to distance yourself from such entertainment, not even to walk in the neighborhood where such entertainment is being offered (Proverbs 5,8). Since the Torah does not make this prohibition dependent on your actually doing something (as opposed to the previous verse which discusses proper performance, ועשיתם of G–d's commandments), in this case the mere תלכו is part of the prohibition.

מאזני צדק אבני צדק . Terms such as מאזני צדק, are all references to mystical concepts. This is an additional reason to be most careful not to tamper with weights and measures.

כי איש איש אשר יקלל את אביו ואת אמו . Some commentators have difficulty with the word כי at the beginning of this verse. They cannot relate it to what the Torah writes immediately before this verse (20,9). One may view the point the Torah makes as simple logic. If cursing one's biological father or mother is a capital crime, how much more so would cursing one's Heavenly father, one's spiritual origin, be a capital crime! G–d is one of the partners in the creation of every human being. If obedience to one's parents is required, obedience to G–d's statutes (20,8) all the more so. G–d, after all, has contributed the most valuable part of all to every human being. When we find Yonadav instructing his descendants to abstain from wine, building and dwelling in permanent houses, etc. (Jeremiah 35,7), and these descendants adhere strictly to such cumbersome instructions by their ancestor, the prophet contrasts their behavior with the average Jew who ignores even G–d's commands.