Being Holy
By Marion Lev Blumenthal
Parshat Kedoshim provides us with a code of rituals and of ethical acts to live by. The first two verses of Parshat Kedoshim read, “God spoke to Moses saying; Speak to the gathered Israelite community and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I, your God YHWH, am holy.'” These powerful words immediately raise several intertwining questions: Why be holy? What does holiness mean? And, perhaps most importantly, how are we to be holy?
Underlying the answer to all these questions is the key feature of holiness: Holiness is an attribute of God. We are commanded to act like God, (imitatio dei) for each of us has the capacity to be like God. Ramban states that to imitate God by being like Him, we must separate ourselves from the profane as He does by being holy.
Much of Leviticus gears its message to the priests. In contrast, the Holiness Code of Parshat Kedoshim in Leviticus 19 obligates each and every Israelite. Thus, the obligation to be holy devolved not only upon Moses, nor upon the priests alone, but upon all the People of Israel. This was a democratic and radical concept for its time.
But the command is also a message of difference. The Holiness Code that follows the opening verses in this Parasha encompasses laws governing man’s behavior to other humans (ben adam lahavero) and behavior of humans to God (ben adam lamakom). It details what God wants from us as covenantal partners. Its panoply of laws and commandments encompasses rites and ethics and includes sacrificial practices, family relations, obligations to the less fortunate, commerce, and more. Holiness is to touch every aspect of one’s daily life. God instructs Moses to relay the code to the “the gathered Israelite community.” The injunction to be holy therefore is directed not merely to each individual acting alone, nor to an aggregate of individuals. Rather, it is addressed to the Jewish People acting collectively, as a nation.
Being holy means being set apart, separate from the ordinary; it means being consecrated, sacred or, in short, divine. According to Sifra, the Israelites, by virtue of their ritual practices and way of life, are to be set apart as a holy nation. If we act differently (with holiness), we’ll be different from others; and if we are different from others (as a holy nation), we’ll act differently. Holy deeds and holy separation are inextricably intertwined. By acting holy we create a sacred space for God to dwell in our midst.
Today we live in unprecedented times. Never before have we been more accepted by the larger society and more integrated into the wider culture. But our personal freedom challenges our ability to live lives of holiness, of sacred difference, not only as individuals, but as a people as well. How do we maintain our distinctive religious tradition whilst living in a universalistic culture? Sifra teaches that it is not sufficient for us to maintain the commandments as individuals. We must seek to be a holy community.
By repeatedly coming together for sacred purposes – be it worship, learning, or tikkun olam – in communities of shared meaning, we reinforce our communal identity, enabling us to strive for holiness. Thus, when we come together as a community of learners at a conference on Jewish life, when we pray together as a congregation, when we attend to the needs of vulnerable populations, we fulfill our commandment to be a Holy people acting in the image of God. It is through our actions informed by the Holiness Code, as individuals and as a people that we honor the heritage of our ancestors who stood at Sinai.
Blumenthal, Marion Lev. "Kedoshim." Limmud on One Leg. (Viewed on April 19, 2014). http://limmud.org/publications/limmudononeleg/5771/kedoshim/
Holy Nation
By Rabbi Label Lam
You shall not revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people and love your neighbor as your-self, I am HASHEM! (Vayikra 19:18)
Rabbi Akiva says, “Love your neighbor as your-self.” This is the great-general principle of the Torah!
How is “loving your neighbor” the big idea in the Torah? That may well be so for mitzvos between man and man but what of the many mitzvos between man and God? How is being a loving neighbor a holy matter? Why is it included in the litany of mitzvos following the mandate to “be holy?” It seems like a very pragmatic and common sense idea that anyone can easily figure out. Why is the verse punctuated with the statement “I am HASHEM?” What does that add to the mandate to love your neighbor?
A senior colleague in Israel told us that that when he was yet a young man and pursuing his doctorate in philosophy his professor made the following bold declaration; “The Jewish Bible is the source of human rights in the world!” All of the students diligently wrote it down in their notebooks but this curious fellow who was the only Jew in the class, promptly approached the teacher and challenged him, “Where is it written so in the Jewish Bible? Where is that verse that promises human rights?” The professor was a little startled and he asked his student if he in fact agreed with his claim that the Jewish Bible is the source of human rights in the world. The student agreed wholeheartedly with the statement but he was merely curious as to what the source might be. This was a case of the student giving the teacher a homework assignment. And so it was the professor went to work scanning the Bible and looking for that verse that grants human rights, but his search proved fruitless. A week later he came back to class and admitted that he could not find a single verse that supported his statement.
He also confessed how mystified he was because everybody in the history department, and the literature department, and the sociology department agreed with him. How could this be so? So he fed the question back to his student, “Maybe you have the answer!”
This budding young Talmud scholar answered as follows: “Let’s take for example one verse that Rabbi Akiva refers to as the “great-general principle in the Torah” and that is “And you should love your neighbor as your-self!” The implication of that statement is that everyone has a right to be loved. When I walk into a room where you are obligated to love your neighbor, I have a right to be loved! The only difference is that the Torah never came as a “bill of rights” but rather as a “bill of responsibilities.” Now imagine how much more love exists in a relationship when both parties know what they owe in love as opposed when each demands that their rights be met. How much more love is in the room when every member of a family knows that they are duty bound to love and happily contribute? How much greater an entire community or a nation can be when it is composed of individuals who live up to this universal notion and categorical imperative to “love your neighbor as your-self!” Compare that to a world of persons seeking only their rights.
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch ztl writes, “…when one directs his love to the well-being of his neighbor, loves him as a being equally a creation of G-d…He proclaims his love of G-d, by his love to His creatures.” Where people seek their “human rights” while blind to their obligation of love we can only hope for a barely civil society. However, looking to establish a new world order, HASHEM offered the Torah to the Jewish People on the condition that we would become an example of “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” obligated to give love and worthy of love in return.
Lam, Label. "Holy Nation." Torah.org. (Viewed on April 19, 2014). http://www.torah.org/learning/dvartorah/5771/kedoshim.html
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