As Israel marks another Yom Ha’atzmaut, the contrast is unavoidable.

We celebrate independence while still carrying the trauma of October 7. We demonstrate extraordinary unity from the ground up, yet feel fragmentation from the top down. We are stronger than ever—and yet deeply unsettled.

And into this moment comes the double Parsha of Acharei Mot–Kedoshim, offering not comfort, but clarity.

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed writes:

“The destiny of the Jewish people is to bring blessing to all the families of the earth through the establishment of an exemplary society in the Land.”

This is not aspirational. It is a demand.

The Return of the Scapegoat

Acharei Mot opens with the ancient ritual of the two goats—one sacrificed, the other sent into the wilderness, carrying the sins of the people.

The origin of the term scapegoat.

Today, that image feels strikingly current.

Israel is once again cast in that role:

Blamed disproportionately

Accused with moral certainty detached from fact

We have seen this before. Europe blamed Jews for centuries—even for its own crimes. Today, accusations are recycled in modern language, often stripped of context and truth.

It brandishes the word Genocide in Gaza like a fact when it does not even meet the definitions of the term and the atrocities of the Nazis. It portrays Israel and Zionists as evil. It projects its own society and accountability of their country’s colonial sins, discrimination of the Jews onto the scapegoat – the collective Jew – Israel.

But the Torah’s message is not only about being blamed.

It is about what we do when we are placed at the centre of the world’s moral projections.

Holiness Is for the Living

The Parsha shifts—from Acharei Mot (after death) to Kedoshim (holiness).

We are quick to sanctify the dead. “Our fallen soldiers are holy.”

But the Torah insists:

“Kedoshim Tihyu”—You shall be holy.

Not after death. In life.

Holiness is not a tribute. It is a societal standard.

Rabbi Sacks: The Architecture of a Good Society

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks saw in Kedoshim one of the Torah’s most transformative ideas:

“The chapter of holiness is about the kind of society we are called on to create.”

Holiness, in his view, is not about retreat from the world—but engagement with it at the highest ethical level.

Not just in sacred spaces, but in:

Kedoshim reads like a moral constitution:

Leave the corners of your field for the poor

Do not steal or deceive

Maintain moral boundaries

Rabbi Sacks described this as:

“the choreography of a society in which everyone has dignity and responsibility.”

Would We Have Got There Without Torah?

It is tempting to assume that these values are universal—that humanity would naturally arrive at them.

But Rabbi Sacks challenged this assumption directly.

Morality is fragile. Societies drift.

power often overrides justice

exploitation becomes normalized

moral language is used to justify immoral ends

Without a shared moral framework, ethics becomes subjective—and eventually negotiable.

The Torah, and Kedoshim in particular, does something remarkable:

It takes abstract values and turns them into daily obligations.

It embeds morality into:

It does not merely inspire goodness.

A Torah Framework for ESG

In modern terms, this aligns closely with what we call ESG—Environmental, Social, and Governance responsibility.

Social: care for the poor, dignity, fairness

Governance: justice, honesty, accountability

Environmental: respect for land, limits, sustainability

But modern ESG often struggles with a deeper question:

Why does this matter?

Rabbi Sacks’ answer is clear:

Because society itself is a moral enterprise.

Without shared values, systems collapse into self-interest. With them, society becomes something greater than the sum of its parts.

The Reality Since October 7

If there is one thing the past two and half years  have revealed, it is this:

Israeli society is stronger than its systems.

From the ground up, we witnessed:

accept responsibilities for its failures

Rabbi Sacks often spoke of the need for both:

and strong institutions

One without the other cannot sustain a good society.

The Leadership We Need

As we move through the Omer toward the week of Netzach, we are reminded of Moshe:

principled, yet grounded

guided by a higher moral calling

Leadership is not about politics.

It is about moral direction.

And today, that is precisely what is required.

The True Meaning of Independence

Independence is not just about sovereignty.

It is about what kind of society we build with it.

defined by accusation

From Scapegoat to Blessing

Israel may continue to be treated as the scapegoat of the world.

But the Torah offers a different response.

Not to internalize blame— but to elevate responsibility.

To build a society that is:

In the language of Kedoshim— holy.

Rabbi Sacks once wrote that the Jewish task is not simply to survive history, but to shape it.

Perhaps the real question this Yom Ha’atzmaut is not:

Why is Israel judged?

Are we building the kind of society that justifies our mission?

then we move from being seen as a scapegoat to becoming what we were always meant to be:

a source of blessing for the world.

And perhaps, in the quiet moments between remembrance and celebration, between pain and hope, we must ask something even more personal:

Are we, in our own lives, reflecting the holiness we so easily speak about?

Not only in how we defend Israel— but in how we build it.

Not only in how we respond to the world— but in how we treat one another.

Because Kedoshim is not written to governments alone. It is written to people.

And if we can live even a fraction of that vision— in our homes, our communities, our leadership—

then perhaps the blessing the Torah speaks of will not remain an idea, but will begin, quietly and powerfully, to take shape here in the Land of Israel, and flow outward to the world.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)