There are many mitzvos in Parashas Kedoshim. Hashem told Moshe (19:2) כל אל דבר ישראל בני עדת, that he should say this parashah to the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael. Rashi writes, שרוב מפני בהקהל זו פרשה שנאמרה מלמד בה תלויין תורה גופי, "This teaches us that this Parashah was stated in the assembly [of Bnei Yisrael] because most of the fundamental teachings of the Torah are dependent on it."
The Zohar HaKadosh (Kedoshim 81.) states: "Rebbi Abba said: 'This Parashah (Parashas Kedoshim) encompasses the entire Torah (כללא היא דאורייתא). When the scholars began studying this parashah, they were happy."
An example of a fundamental mitzvah stated in this week's Parashah is (19:18), ואהבת כמוך לרעך, "You shall love your friend as yourself." Rashi writes, גדול כלל זה :עקיבא 'ר אמר בתורה, "Reb Akiva taught, this is a fundamental principle of the Torah."
3. When the Torah writes כמוך, that you should love your fellow man as you love yourself, it is literal. The Mesilas Yesharim (11) writes, הפרש שום בלי כמוך, "As yourself, with no difference whatsoever.... ממש כמוך, literally as yourself."
The Chida (Lev Dovid, 30:12) writes, "During the days of Omer, one must be extra cautious...with the sin of sinas chinam (unwarranted hatred). One must be extremely careful, for we know what happened to Reb Akiva's students between Pesach and Shavuos."
The Belzer Rav zt'l once heard someone insult another Yid. The Belzer Rav admonished him, "If the requirement to speak respectfully to others were a minhag, you would certainly be cautious not to shame your fellow man" (as it is the way of people to be very cautious with customs, even more than they are careful with halachos).
Chazal say that Reb Akiva's students were punished בזה זה כבוד נהגו שלא "because they didn't act with honor towards one another." We can explain (b'lashon tzachus) that the problem was נהגו שלא, that honoring one's fellow man is a halachah and not a minhag. People might have been more cautious with it had it been a minhag.
The Bnei Yissaschar (Iyar 3:1) writes that טוב לב (good heart) is the gematria of 49, the same number of days that there are in the omer because during these days we must acquire a heart that cares about our fellow man. The forty-eight kinyanim (acquisitions) of Torah (mentioned in Pirkei Avos ch.8) allude to the first 48 days of the sefirah (and the 49th day is a combination of them all). The 32nd acquisition is הבריות את אוהב, to love people. When one attains that level, he will honor his fellow man. This can explain why the students stopped dying on the 33rd day (בעומר ג"ל). After they reached the level of loving their fellow man, they honored them properly.
4. The Chinuch (235) writes, "It is proper that every person should judge his friend favorably and interpret his actions and words favorably. This will increase peace and friendship among people... and remove suspicion from one another."
5. Sefer HaChinuch (241) writes, "The way of most people is that if someone wronged them, they don't cease to seek opportunities to take revenge and to give them what they deserve... Hashem yisbarach forbids us to do so... One of the reasons for this commandment is that a person should know that whatever happens to him, whether good or bad, is from Hashem yisbarach. It is impossible for a human being to harm his fellow man, and therefore, when someone harms you, know in your soul that Hashem is punishing you for your aveiros. Don't seek revenge. He isn't the cause of your tzaros."
6. The Rebbe Rasha"b of Lubavitz zt"l was speaking with the city's butcher, teaching him a lesson in mussar and yiras Shamayim. A chasid stood nearby to listen. The Rasha"b was explaining the Mishnah at the end of Peah, ֶםֵהמ ָדֶחכְּא ְיֶהֶיִּהׁש ַדע ְנָהַזִּקה ִןמ ֵתמ ֵינוֹא ,ֶםֵהמ ַדַחכְּא ַצְמוֹע ֶהׂוְעוֹש ,ֵַּחִספ וְלֹא ,ָאסוּמ וְלֹא ,ִגֵּרח לֹא ֵינוֶֹאׁש ִימ ָלוְכ "Whoever isn't lame, and not blind, and not wounded, yet he pretends to be like them [in order to trick people to support him] he won't die in his old age until he becomes like them." The Rasha"b explained the Mishnah in a positive manner. It is referring to a person who avoids aveiros. He is healthy, but he says that he is lame, blind, wounded, etc. When the yetzer hara tells him to go here or there to perform an aveirah, he replies, "I can't see, I can't go anywhere. I can't do anything." If a person does so, Hashem will help him, and in his old age, he will be like the blind, wounded, etc. This means that later on in life, he won't want to commit aveiros. He won't want to look or go where it is forbidden.
Similarly, we add that if a person acts like he is mute and overcomes his temptation to speak lashon hara and the like, he will become mute in the end. Not literally, but he will not desire to say anything forbidden.
There are many other mitzvos in this week's parashah that are related to helping your fellow man, such as to judge another man favorably, not to take revenge, to avoid speaking lashon hara, to help the poor, and more.
The first mitzvah of Kedoshim, which is תהיו קדושים, to be holy, is also a mitzvah that has many details and practical applications.
The Or HaChaim writes, "Chazal (Kiddushin 39b) say, 'If a person doesn't perform an aveirah, he receives reward like he performed a mitzvah.' This is implied in the mitzvah of תהיו קדושים. When an opportunity to perform an aveirah comes to you, keep yourself distant from performing it, and thereby, you have kept the mitzvah of תהיו קדושים. This mitzvah is called קדושים, to tell us that when a person avoids the aveirah, he is קדוש, holy. This mitzvah was said before ישראל בני עדת כל, all of Klal Yisrael. This is because this mitzvah applies to every person. Any Yid who keeps this mitzvah is קדוש, and there is no Yid who isn't on the madreigah to attain this title."
Further on, the parashah discusses the prohibition of bringing one's son to the Molech, a type of avodah zarah. The Torah is very stringent about this and states (20:5) ָּםַמע ֶבֶּרִקמ ֶ ךְֹּלַמה ֵיֲרַחא לִזְנוֹת ָיוֲרַחא ַזֹּנִיםה כָּל ֵתוְא אֹתוֹ ִּיַתִכְרוְה, "I will cut him off from among their people, him and all who stray... after the Molech." Two pasukim later it states (20:7) ֶּםְׁתַדִּשְקִתוְהִׁיםְדֹשק ֶםְיִיתוִה, "You shall sanctify yourself and you will be holy." Rashi writes that this means he sanctifies himself by going away from avodah zarah.
Reb Shmuel Birnbaum zt'l (Rosh Yeshiva Mir, America) asks that behold the pasuk is referring to a great rasha, someone who recently committed avodah zarah, and in fact he worshipped the severe avodah zarah of Molech. How can this person be called holy? How can the Torah write, ִׁיםְדֹשק ֶםְיִיתוִה?!
The answer is that a Yid has the ability to change in a moment. He can rise from the lowest level to the highest level when he does teshuvah. This is because each Yid is a ממעל אלוק חלק, a part of Hashem, and therefore, he has the ability to reach the highest levels, regardless of the past.
