Eggs, hammer, table, coat, picture frame, car, air conditioner, book, door, glass. After reading the words above, you are probably wondering what sort of list this is. Do these items have anything in common, or are they a haphazard assortment of items totally unrelated to each other?

While perusing the many different Torah portions that span the breadth of the Torah, one might notice that some focus primarily on incidents that took place in biblical times, while others focus on enumerating the mitzvot, the commandments. The latter part of this week’s Torah portion, Acharei Mos-Kedoshim falls into the latter category. The array of commandments set forth in this parsha appears quite similar to the list of seemingly unrelated items mentioned above: It seems like there is no correlation between one and the other. We know, however, that the Torah was dictated by G-d, word for word, letter for letter. Having this in mind while studying the Torah, we must assume that if G-d in His infinite wisdom chose to put these certain commandments/incidents next to each other, there must be something to learn from their juxtaposition.

Let us focus on one example from this week’s Torah portion:

The Torah lists the following three commandments consecutively (Leviticus 19: 14, 15):

1. “With righteousness shall you judge your fellow.”
2.  “You shall not go about gossiping among your people.”
3.  “You shall not stand over the blood of your friend.”

At first glance, these three commandments seem to have nothing in common. But if G-d chose to place these three commandments next to each other, there must be a reason.

To start unraveling this mystery, we need to understand the simple meaning of these three mitzvot, which we will do with the help of the classic commentatory of Rashi (1040-1105):

1. “With righteousness shall you judge your fellow” means that when you see someone doing something wrong, or so it seems to you, and the individual is an upstanding citizen, you should not jump to any conclusions, but rather give him the benefit of the doubt.
2. “You shall not go about gossiping among your people” instructs us not to go snooping around looking for the wrongs in other people in order to pass the information on to others.
3. “You shall not stand over the blood of your friend” indicates that if you see your friend in a life or death situation and you are in a position to help, you are not allowed to stand by idly, but rather you must take action. 

Are you formulating any connection yet?

Perhaps one can say, on a deeper level, that with the juxtaposition of the first and second commandments, the Torah is teaching us that one should adopt the mindset that not everything that we see is necessarily the way it really is. Perhaps there is some information that we are missing, making the picture incomplete. If we don’t jump to any conclusions, then there won’t be anything to gossip about.

This understanding can, in turn, lead us to an explanation of the connection between commandments two and three: If we indeed walk around with an attitude that gives us nothing to gossip about, we will, at times, have virtually saved a friend’s life. How many times have people had their reputations “killed” by careless words? Been fired from a job? Broken an engagement? Been ousted from a community? Or perhaps worse?

Having dived into this small pool of the Torah’s ocean of infinite wisdom, two words come to mind – simply fascinating!