 | Jewish life uses the word "holy" so often that the word can seem like punctuation – ubiquitous but peripheral, faded from view, nearly empty of the word's deep meaning. This week's Torah portion reminds us that "holy" is more than a word or even important. "Holy" is the center, the whole point of the whole thing. Which begs the question: what is holy anyway? |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim
I imagine that most any rabbi reaches this week's Torah portion (actually, a double portion) and teaches something like this:
P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim
I imagine that most any rabbi reaches this week's Torah portion (actually, a double portion) and teaches something like this:
We reach Torah's middle book, the middle portion of the book, the middle of the entire Torah. And the middle of the middle, Torah's heart of hearts, is the command: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). As the great Rabbi Hillel famously taught, "This is the entire Torah – now go and learn" (B.T. Shabbat 31a).
True! And certainly if I've taught similarly myself, then I've probably said so a dozen times. But why should it be so?
The reason is profound, and it hails from the same Torah portion (Lev. 19:1-2):
The reason is profound, and it hails from the same Torah portion (Lev. 19:1-2):
| וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יהו׳׳ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י יהו׳׳ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ | YHVH spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the whole community of the Children of Israel and tell them that they shall be holy because I, YHVH your God, am holy. |
Well enough, but huh? And what is holy anyway?
Here begins the moral ideal of what theologicans call imitatio Dei ("imitating God"): we are to behave a certain way because we're chips off the ol' block. We who are made in the image of the One we call God are to act like it – in Torah's words later, by following in God's ways (Deut. 13:5, Deut. 28:9).
But, our Talmudic ancestors asked (B.T. Sotah 14a:3), how? Should we like the Burning Bush, the Eternal Flame, the Cloud by Day and Fire by Night, the Consuming Fire, the Still Small Voice? How can a finite human be like the Infinite?
Note what our Talmudic ancestors did not ask. They didn't doubt for an instant that it was possible. They didn't doubt or dispute this call of sacred identity. They assumed that we are capable of spiritual greatness, even daring to reach God. After all, as the Psalmist put it (Psalms 8:6), God made humanity only just a little lower, still clothed in glory and majesty.
Rather, our Talmudic answers asked only how. And the answer was to imitate God's actions. As God clothed the naked (Adam and Eve), visited the sick (Abraham), comforted mourners (Abraham and Sarah) and buried the dead (Moses), so must we (B.T. Sotah 14a:4).
Our acts, what we actually do – not what we merely believe, or profess, or claim to be – are our measure.
This week's Torah portion says much the same thing. Immediately after calling us to be holy because God is, Torah reminds us how (Lev. 19:3-18): have awe of our parents, keep Shabbat, don't turn to false gods, don't procrastinate, don't harvest everything but rather leave the corners of fields for others, don't steal, don't deceive, don't profane the Name of God, don't defraud another, don't withhold another's wages, don't insult the deaf, don't put a stumbling block before the blind, don't do injustice, don't stand idly on another's hurt, don't hate, don't take vengeance, don't bear a grudge.
By these means each of us can "love another as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). That, Torah offers, is how we emulate God.
The Hebrew word for "holy" (קָדוֹשׁ / kadosh) really means set apart as uniquely special – not ordinary, not routine. In Jewish life (and with apologies to Forrest Gump), holy is as holy does.
Be holy.
Here begins the moral ideal of what theologicans call imitatio Dei ("imitating God"): we are to behave a certain way because we're chips off the ol' block. We who are made in the image of the One we call God are to act like it – in Torah's words later, by following in God's ways (Deut. 13:5, Deut. 28:9).
But, our Talmudic ancestors asked (B.T. Sotah 14a:3), how? Should we like the Burning Bush, the Eternal Flame, the Cloud by Day and Fire by Night, the Consuming Fire, the Still Small Voice? How can a finite human be like the Infinite?
Note what our Talmudic ancestors did not ask. They didn't doubt for an instant that it was possible. They didn't doubt or dispute this call of sacred identity. They assumed that we are capable of spiritual greatness, even daring to reach God. After all, as the Psalmist put it (Psalms 8:6), God made humanity only just a little lower, still clothed in glory and majesty.
Rather, our Talmudic answers asked only how. And the answer was to imitate God's actions. As God clothed the naked (Adam and Eve), visited the sick (Abraham), comforted mourners (Abraham and Sarah) and buried the dead (Moses), so must we (B.T. Sotah 14a:4).
Our acts, what we actually do – not what we merely believe, or profess, or claim to be – are our measure.
This week's Torah portion says much the same thing. Immediately after calling us to be holy because God is, Torah reminds us how (Lev. 19:3-18): have awe of our parents, keep Shabbat, don't turn to false gods, don't procrastinate, don't harvest everything but rather leave the corners of fields for others, don't steal, don't deceive, don't profane the Name of God, don't defraud another, don't withhold another's wages, don't insult the deaf, don't put a stumbling block before the blind, don't do injustice, don't stand idly on another's hurt, don't hate, don't take vengeance, don't bear a grudge.
By these means each of us can "love another as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). That, Torah offers, is how we emulate God.
The Hebrew word for "holy" (קָדוֹשׁ / kadosh) really means set apart as uniquely special – not ordinary, not routine. In Jewish life (and with apologies to Forrest Gump), holy is as holy does.
Be holy.
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