Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19-20)
(Note added in 2026: This year this portion Kedoshim is read together with the previous portion Acharei Mot.)
Leviticus 19
19:24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.
2026 Comment: How shall the fruit in the fourth year be holy?
By eating them only in Jerusalem, where the Temple was, symbolizing the location of the presence of the Creator. See Rashi:
https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.19.24.1?lang=bi
For the first three years of the tree we do not eat the fruit (v.19:23). In the fourth year we start to enjoy its fruit for the first time, we enjoy it in front of its Creator.
Torah teaches infusing material life with holiness.
19:27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
Comment: That is why many observant Jewish men keep their beards and sideburns. It is impressive that one can also love Gd with his appearance.
Leviticus 20
20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Comment: After the temples were destroyed, statutory death penalty by Torah couldn’t be implemented. See, e.g., https://www.sefaria.org/Contemporary_Halakhic_Problems%2C_Vol_II%2C_Part_II%2C_Chapter_XVII_Capital_Punishment_in_the_Noachide_Code?lang=bi
However, according to the Torah, gay is still an abomination. In some sense, such a behavior defies the Creator of the two different genders.