<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none"><!--P{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} --></style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr" style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;background-color:#FFFFFF;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<p>The following is from RSRH's commentary on Vayikra 21:5</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>They shall not make a bald spot on their head, nor shall they shaveoff the corners of their beard and they shall not make a wound in their flesh.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Heathenism, both ancient and modern, tends to associate religion<br>
with death. The kingdom of God begins only where man ends. Death<br>
and dying are the main manifestations of divinity. For, in the heathen<br>
view, the deity is a god of death, not of life; a god who kills and never<br>
revives, who sends death and its harbingers — sickness and poverty —<br>
so that men, mindful of his power and their own helplessness, should<br>
fear him. For this reason heathen temples stand beside graves, and the<br>
foremost place of heathen priests is beside a corpse. There, where the<br>
eyes are dimmed and the heart is broken, they find fertile soil for the<br>
dissemination of their religion. He who bears on his flesh a mark of<br>
death — a symbol of death’s power to conquer all — and thus remains<br>
ever mindful of death, performs the religious act par excellence, and this<br>
especially befits a priest and his office.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Not so are the priests in Judaism, because not so is the Jewish concept<br>
of God and not so is the Jewish religion. God, Who instructs the<br>
<em>Kohein</em> regarding his position in Israel, is a God of life. The most exalted<br>
manifestation of God is not in the power of death, which crushes<br>
strength and life. Rather, God reveals Himself in the liberating and<br>
vitalizing power of life, which elevates man to free will and eternal life.<br>
Judaism teaches us not how to die but how to live, so that even in life<br>
we may overcome death, an unfree existence, enslavement to physical<br>
things, and moral weakness. Judaism teaches us how to live every moment<br>
of earthly life as a moment of eternal life in the service of God;<br>
how thus to live every moment of a life marked by moral freedom, a<br>
life of thought and will, creativity and achievement, and also pleasure.<br>
This is the teaching to which God has dedicated His Sanctuary and for<br>
whose service He has consecrated the <em>Kohanim</em>, who teach the people the<br>
“basis and direction of life”</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>__________________________________________________________________</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Based on this may one conclude that the present day obsession with death that one finds in some Islamic circles is a reversion to heathenism? YL<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
</body>
</html>