Acharei Mot/Kedoshim is a double parsha where it feels like everything is on the table – life, death, rules, holiness, relationships, justice. It doesn’t shy away from the messiness of being human, it leans right into it and says: that is exactly where holiness lives.

The opening of Parashat Acharei Mot/Kedoshim comes right after loss after the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. G-d cautions against entering the sacred space without proper authorization and lays out boundaries and guidelines for how to move forward with intention. There’s something real about that. Life doesn’t pause for us to figure everything out first. We are asked to keep going, but to do so with awareness and care.

Then we get to a core idea that sticks with me: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your G-d am holy.” We are made B’tzelem Elohim, in the divine image of G-d. This line isn’t about perfection, it’s about how we show up: we are not peons existing to worship G-d but an extension of him and his holiness. Holiness here isn’t abstract or out of reach, it’s how we treat people, how we conduct business, how we speak, how we respond when things are hard.

This week’s double parsha makes me think of Mesillat Yesharim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. In it, Ramchal lays out this very structured path toward growth and holiness not as a one-time moment, but as a lifestyle. Step by step, trait by trait, choice by choice. It’s not giving us one big idea, it’s giving us a way of living.

There’s something grounding about that for me. When life feels chaotic or pulled in a hundred directions, it is helpful to have a framework to return to. Not rigid for the sake of being rigid, but accountable. Intentional. Knowing that how I act, even in small moments, fits into a bigger picture of the person I’m trying to be.

In my own life, I think about the spaces I’m in every day working with teens, building community, navigating personalities, expectations, and responsibilities. There are moments where it would be easier to let things slide, to not say something, to not step in, to not hold a standard. But this parsha reminds me that holiness isn’t passive. It asks us to be active participants in shaping the kind of environment we want to be part of.

What I appreciate in this week’s parsha is that structure. Not because it makes things easier, but because it makes things clearer. Holiness isn’t a destination, it is built in everyday choices, in being accountable to the way we orient our lives with intention.

Shabbat Shalom.