Daniel Koy is a 7th grade artist. He attends school at The Manhattan East School for Arts and Academics. His favorite subjects are Science, English and Art (of course).  He is also a member of the School Chorus and plays trombone. He is a future Marine Biologist who looks forward to the family’s annual vacation trip to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina so he can be closer to what he loves, the ocean. He also enjoyed a trip to the Florida Keys, especially when he swam with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center.  Daniel has an affinity for and concern about all kinds of animals and the environment, an outlook nurtured by attending the Bronx Zoo Day camp for six consecutive summers.

Daniel is an avid reader of all types of books and enjoys watching TV, especially “Fresh Prince of Bel Aire” and the movie, “Aladdin.” He collects Mad Magazine and loves the “Spy vs. Spy” series.  He started in Hebrew School at Beth Am when he was in 1st grade and has enjoyed learning and making good friends, culminating in this year’s wonderful Zayin class. He participates in many synagogue activities such as helping to pack Sh’lach Manot and attending the Family Services/dinners along with the annual Congregational Retreat. For his Community Service Mitzvah Project, he is helping to organize the children’s library at the Hebrew Tabernacle.

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The double Torah portions from which I just read, Achre Mot and Kidoshim, are all about the do’s and don’ts of our religion and sacrifices.

When Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, don’t follow the rules and they get too close to God, they are killed by God. Because of his sons, Aaron cannot worship at the shrine or He will die too. In order to finally be able to go into the presence of God, he must make many ritual sacrifices.

One of the big rituals was the scapegoat. In our perspective today if we have “sinned” we blame it on someone or something else and we hope to get off the hook. Instead, in ancient times, they used the scapegoat to take away all of their sins. The Israelites placed their hands on the goat’s head thinking it would take their sins. Then they’d make the goat flee into the woods. When Aaron did this he had two goats from the Israelites, and a bull that he brought himself. The bull that Aaron brought himself represented all his own sins that he would ask God to forgive. The first thing he did was slaughter one of the goats and his bull. With the second goat all the sins of the people were put into it when Aaron put his hand on it. He then sent the goat off into the woods.

Other than that Aaron made many other sacrifices. He had to bathe and wear certain linens to get close to God. All of the additional offerings were made in reaction to Aaron’s sons’ sins. Although these offerings don’t sound like much, it was important that they were completed or else Aaron wouldn’t be able to get close to God again.

              The second Parashah is Kidoshim.

In Kidoshim God gives Moses his laws and rules and tells him to give them to the Israelites. There are many rules that they must follow. Although God gives his rules he doesn’t give any punishments if the rules are broken. But of course it is impossible to follow every single commandment. That is why the Israelites had the scapegoat. Some rules that there were, we might not necessarily do today. For example, some people might not keep Sabbath or go to other weekday services. Some people might not keep Kashrut otherwise known as Kosher. Not obeying those rules was thought to be wrong and inappropriate a long time ago. Many of our perspectives have changed by now. You can tell because some Jewish people don’t do all those things.

Some of the rules in Kidoshim are laws today, like don’t steal or don’t murder any one. If you break these laws you could be subjected to many years in jail. Others aren’t laws but are just common sense, for example; don’t put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. I don’t believe anyone would do that because it would be cruel to punish someone like that.

If you look at that saying closely it can mean a couple of different things. It could mean not to physically trip a blind person or it could mean it in a mental way. If you are focusing on something important and some one purposely gives you many other tasks, that is like putting an obstacle in front of your train of thought. There are other rules like that too like “Don’t swear at a deaf person.” It could mean don’t physically swear at someone who can’t hear you or it could mean not to talk about someone behind their back.

Some of the other rules mentioned in Kidoshim are:

You shall not harvest the edges of the fields nor pick up any fallen fruit so the poor and the stranger may gather food for themselves.

You are not to steal, deal deceitfully or falsely with one another.

You are to be fair in judgment

You are to respect the elderly.

You shall not bear a grudge.

You shall treat the stranger who resides among you fairly, as you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Most of the rules, including the ones I just listed, have to do with respect, which is very important. Respect is what will hold a family together. If people have respect for each other they’ll live together perfectly. Respect is also the base of trust. If you have someone’s respect, you probably also have their trust too. Respect is so important that you can see some examples everyday during the service. Some of the rules you see are “Honor your parents” and also “Make peace with your neighbor.”

Those laws must be important because you recite them every day when some people go to pray at synagogue. There is a law that God gives in Kidoshim that is similar to “Respect you neighbor.” It is “V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha”, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is one law that inspired a lot of debates among many rabbis. Malbim made the greatest interpretation on the law in my opinion. He thought you should treat others the way you would want to be treated. There is a story of a man who approached Hillel and asked Hillel to teach him the torah while the man stood on one foot. Hillel told him, “That which you hate, don’t do to others. That is the entire torah, the rest is simply an explanation.” Hillel had a different perspective but the idea was the same.

This must have been a very important and confusing commandment to have struck up so many interpretations and to have become the “golden rule” that is used in our society today. Not only is this rule used in our culture, but in many other cultures too.

On the cover of today’s program you can see the many different forms of the Golden Rule from different religions and cultures.

All of the rules in Kiddoshim are important, some more than others, but we should all try to follow them in the best possible way. I have discussed the matters of both Parashahs, Achre Mot and Kidoshim. Two of the biggest things were the sacrifices and the Respect. In my opinion, the most important thing these two Parashas show us is how to use respect and what happens when we don’t use it wisely. In conclusion, Achre Mot and Kidoshim teach you how to live your life and how to be holy.

Before I end, I would like to thank everyone for coming today to this special ceremony. I would like to give a warm, loving thanks to my parents first, for helping me through this and giving me so much inspiration. I thank my brother Noah for always thinking about me.Another person I would like to thank for preparing me is Nina Nesher, for without her I would not have been able to read the Torah today. I appreciate the help of Rabbi Weiner and Cantor Fletcher. Connie Heymann, the Principal of our Hebrew School, supervised me in my Mitzvah project. 

Nina, Connie, Liz Ritter and Sandy Horowitz all made beautiful musical contributions to this service to make it even more special. David plays great piano. I always enjoy your playing.I appreciate what you all did.

Thank you to my other family members, like my many cousins, aunts, and uncles.

This also includes the kids and teachers, from all my schools and camps, because in a sense, they are my family too. Thanks also to the friends of our family who are always so nice to me and to my neighbors who live in my building. I see them all the time and whenever I do they are all so kind.

Thank you all for coming.

            Shabbat Shalom!