Parshiyot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

He was a cattle herder, a shepherd, a seemingly common man. And yet, he was quite “uncommon” because he was chosen by Hashem to deliver the divine message to God’s nation. He was a prophet, and therefore, Amos HaNavi was indeed unique. He was an older contemporary of the navi Hoshea and, according to many parshanim, he began to prophesy before Hoshea. As a result, Amos was also distinctive in the fact that he was the earliest of the “Trei Asar prophets” to offer Hashem’s message to the people. Beyond that, Amos was different because he was a Judean from the town of Tekoa (south of Yerushalayim [see Divrei HaYamim B 11: 5-6]) and yet he was sent to condemn and to warn the kingdom of Shomron, the northern kingdom of Israel. Furthermore, in contrast to Yeshayahu and Yirmiyahu, prophets who were formally consecrated by Hashem to be His agents, Amos was taken “me’acharei hatzon,” from sheep tending, to deliver God’s message. He was, in essence, a simple man who was sent on an “unsimple” mission.

Amos is the prophetic author of this week’s haftarah, which is the shortest one of the year. For this reason it is essential for us to understand his background and the milieu during which he lived in order to better understand the short-yet crucial message that he left for future generations. As is true with many of the haftarot, we will better comprehend the navi’s message when we study the prophecies that precede the haftarah.

The specific message delivered by Amos in this final perek of his book (ch. 9) has very little to connect us to the theme of the double parsha, the theme of kedusha. Indeed, the opening words equate Hashem’s relationship with Israel to His relationship with every other nation, a message that undermines what the Torah reading teaches in its final verses: “And you must be holy for I, Hashem, am holy and I separated you from the nations to be Mine.” We are separated from the nations to be holy like God—but we are no different in Hashem’s eyes than any other nation?? How can we understand this? Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that the bulk of Sefer Amos is replete with prophecies of punishment, of devastation and of exile. Even our haftarah includes the horrible prediction of God’s destruction of the “sinful monarchy” of Israel. What connection to our parshiyot could have Chazal seen that led them to institute this reading for this week’s parshiyot?

We can begin to resolve these difficulties by looking at the prophet’s earlier nevuot.

Although it is certainly true that Amos condemns Israel throughout the book, that he struggles to force the southern kingdom to see their misbehavior in an objective way in order to move them to repent, he does so knowing that the exile Hashem had threatened would come soon. The powerful empire of Assyria was on its way southward ready to defeat the nation of Aram, with whom Shomron was allied, and to conquer and exile the northern kingdom. Amos’ declaration that Israel was no different than the other nations was to be understood in light of the opening perakim of the book where he details the misdeeds of all the nations neighboring Israel and promises them that their sins will be punished. In the same way, Hashem will punish Israel for her sins.

However, even as He strongly warns the people of what is in store for them, Hashem ends the prophet’s message with words of assurance: “Efes ki lo hashmed ashmid et Beit Yaakov,” although you will be punished, Jacob, I will not ever destroy you, He tells them. Yes. It is true that, like all other nations, God will punish our sins, but we are not like other nations, because we will not be destroyed.

Chazal looked to the parsha and sought to underscore the message found in the end of Acharei Mot (18: 24-30) that declared that the single reason for the removal of the original settlers of the Holy Land was because they desecrated the land. It was this most important point that our early rabbis hoped to drive home to all future generations: Retention of the moral high ground and remaining holy through observance of Hashem’s mitzvot will ensure your remaining in His Holy Land.

God did separate us from other nations. And, even at the time of anger, He reiterates the promise He made long before: We are an eternal nation. And after a history of exile, persecution and destruction, who better than we who have returned to that Holy Land can attest to the eternity of Hashem’s promise?

Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.