Hashem instructs the kohanim to exercise extreme care when they enter the Mishkan. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) is to approach the holiest part of the Mishkan after special preparations and wearing special clothing. He brings offerings unique to Yom Kippur, including two identical goats that are designated by lottery. One is “for Hashem”, and is offered in the Temple, while the other is “for Azazel," to be sent to the desert. The Torah states the individual's obligations on Yom Kippur: On the 10th day of the seventh month, one must “afflict” oneself. We are to abstain from: eating, drinking, anointing, wearing leather footwear, washing, and marital relations.

Consumption of blood is prohibited. The blood of slaughtered birds and undomesticated beasts must be covered. The people are warned against engaging in the wicked practices that were common in Egypt. Incest is defined and prohibited. Marital relations are forbidden during a woman's monthly cycle. Homosexuality, bestiality and child sacrifice are prohibited.

PARSHA INSIGHTS

The World’s First Selfie

“With this shall Aharon come into the Sanctuary…” (16:3)

The Artemis II space mission took me right back to 1968.

As they orbited the Moon in December that year, William Anders, the lunar module pilot of the Apollo 8 mission captured the iconic “Earthrise” photo, showing our planet rising over the lunar horizon.

It was the world’s first ‘selfie’.

This time Artemis went further and the photography was better, but the feeling was the same: a small, luminous sphere, suspended in endless darkness. Everything we know — every city, every person, every life we live — spinning around on that little green blue and white marble.

One of the most difficult things in davening is when we say the Shema and pronounce Hashem’s Name, one of the things we are meant to think is: He is the Creator of everything. Not just the Earth, but everything.

Beyond.

And beyond the beyond.

This is a difficult idea to imagine.

But I got some help when I saw those pictures from Artemis.

I think of that view of Earth from afar, and then I think about ‘pulling back’, expanding that view more and more and more until the small pin-head of the Earth vanishes; and then even more, extending outward into the vastness of space, until our galaxy, the Milky Way which contains between 100 billion to 400 billion stars, also starts to shrink and shrink until it, too, becomes a pin-head and the vanishes, and on and on…

It becomes just a little easier to conceptualize that Hashem is the Master of All.

At the beginning of Acharei Mot, the Torah describes the Avodah of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, entering the Kodesh HaKodashim (Holy of Holies), the holiest point in physical space. And then, in Parashat Kedoshim, we are told: “Kedoshim tihyu” — you shall be holy.

You could think that holiness exists only in one place - in the Holy-of-Holies, the domain of the Kohen Gadol - and that it exists only at one time of year - on Yom Kippur.

But the Torah immediately tells us: “Kedoshim tihyu” - that same awareness can extend outward, into every aspect of life.

Kedusha is not confined to a point in space, or time.

Hashem is the Creator of everything—of all existence, in every direction. He exists everywhere at the same time, and so every moment is full of His holiness.

Parshat Kedoshim is filled not with abstract ideas, but with practical mitzvos: honesty in business, respect for others, sensitivity, restraint. Because once a person internalizes that Hashem fills all reality, holiness is no longer something distant—it becomes something imminent and immediate.

Acharei Mos leads to Kedoshim. When we truly see how vast creation is—and how it all comes from Him—then even our small world, our small actions, take on infinite significance.

Kedoshim tihyu—because He fills everything.