Parshas Kedoshim
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדשִׁ֣ים תִּֽהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י ה' אֱלֹֽקיכֶֽם
Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy. (Vayikra 19:2)
The pasuk is commanding the yidden to be kadosh. Rashi explained that this mitzvah was spoken to the “entire congregation”. Every yid was assembled to hear this mitzvah. What is unique about this commandment that it required assembling the entire Jewish nation- every man, woman, and child –to hear it?
Additionally, the pasuk that immediately follows, has a puzzling juxtaposition:
“Every man shall fear his mother and his father, and you shall observe My Sabbaths. I am the Lord, your God.”[1]
Why is the mitzvah of fearing one’s parents tied to Shabbos? How is this connected to the mitzvah of קְדשִׁ֣ים תִּֽהְי֑וּ, being holy?
Holiness can feel like an abstract idea. A remote reality reserved for the tzaddikim and gedolim. A person can easily feel like this mitzvah is unattainable for the average person.
This is particularly true when we look at the world around us. A person can begin to feel the holiness is beyond reach when we are surrounded by a world that is constantly pulling us in every direction but towards holiness. A yid can think: What chance do I have to become truly? How can I possibly infuse kedusha into every aspect of my life? That is simply not possible. Not nowadays. Not for the average person. Certainly not nowadays.
There are also times when we feel like we are too distant, too broken; that we have drifted too far away from Torah and mitzvos to find our way back to holiness. Times when we have allowed ourselves to be swallowed by the darkness in the spiritual challenges of our lives. We succumbed to temptation. We forfeited ground to the Yetzer Harah. Too many battles have been lost. We are too spiritually “wounded”. A person can, chas v’shalom, lose hope; he can stop believing in himself. We begin thinking to ourselves: after neglecting my role in this world, how can I connect to kedusha, to my Avodas Hashem?
The Moreh Einyaim explained that is exactly why the entire Jewish nation was assembled for this mitzvah. Not a single person was missing. Everyone was present. Everyone heard this mitzvah because every yid can connect to Hashem. Every yid can connect to holiness in a way that permeates every crevice of their lives: their mitzvos, their middos, their learning, their Shabbos, their business ethics- everything. Everyone can connect in a meaningful way to their Avodas Hashem. Despite whom we may have been until now, regardless of how we might have behaved, every yid in every passing moment can make a choice to infuse kedusha into their lives. This isn’t reserved for the “Rebbes” or tzaddikim. But the entire congregation of the Jewish nation. No matter where they are or who they might have been.
We have the power to change, the ability to connect to Kedusha, because buried within each yid is a neshama, a spark of Hashem’s essence that remains intact, unscathed by the impurities and indulgences of this world. And from that powerful portion of pure holiness, a yid can always connect. In fact, our neshama is constantly trying to be heard, continuously striving to break through the layers of concealment in the depths of our hearts. Our holiness exists because, as the pasuk says, I, the Lord, your God, am holy. Hashem implanted a portion of His holiness in every yid. And from that spark, we can strive for and attain holiness.
That neshama is our spiritual DNA and it is intertwined in our essence. Because of that neshama, no yid is ever rejected by Hashem. As it says in Shmuel II[2], “but He devises means so that he that is banished be not cast from Him.”
It is difficult to ensure that our neshama finds its expression in this world and that our actions drive us closer to Hashem and not more distant. The Seforim HaKedoshim – the Meor V’Shamesh and Oheiv Yisroel amongst others - explain that this is also why this mitzvah was given in an assembly. We need friends. We need a support system. We need a solid chevra and community that is in the struggle with us. We need people to lean on and we need to be there for other who are struggling. We need role models and we need to ensure that we model our behavior for others.
Your inner holiness, your kedusha can only shine throughout your being when you have Ahavas Yisroel and Achdus. The Sefas Emes[3] taught that achdus is a prerequisite for kedusha. The Beis HaMikdash was not destroyed as a punishment for Sinas Chinam but was the inevitable outcome. Without Achdus, explained the Rebbe, the kedusha of the Beis HaMikdash could no longer exist.
The pasuk says[4] כִּ֚י אִם־עֲוֹנֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ הָי֣וּ מַבְדִּלִ֔ים בֵּֽינֵכֶ֕ם לְבֵ֖ין אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם- But your iniquities were separating between you and between your God. This is a weak English translation. The conjunction “and” is missing in the actual Hebrew. It should have said: בֵּֽינֵכֶ֕ם ובֵ֖ין אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם! The Binah Itim has an incredible insight. Listen carefully to how a tzaddik reads this pasuk: ִּ֚ כִּ֚י אִם־עֲוֹנֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ הָי֣וּ מַבְדִּלִ֔ים בֵּֽינֵכֶ֕ם -But your iniquities were separating between you – if your sins of baseless hatred and jealousy create division in the Jewish people, amongst “you”, then you will create separation לְבֵ֖ין אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם – towards Hashem. And Kedusha will evade all of us.
We need one another.
Many times, when we are in growth mode and everything is going superbly, we are davening well, learning, growing, the Yetzer Harah tries to steal that accomplishment by infecting it with a sense of arrogance and self-righteousness. The Meor Einyaim in this week’s Parsha teaches that becoming arrogant through your Torah study is a grave sin. This is a very subtle and dangerous Yetzer Harah. It creates division based on a false and wicked illusion of emes. We cannot allow our own personal pursuits for kedusha, for Avodas Hashem to get in the way of our Ahavas Yisroel.
R’ Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov explains that this is why the word Kodesh is written differently in the pasuk. When the Torah commands us to be holy, it says “קְדשִׁ֣ים” – the word is written without a “Vav”. But, when the pasuk tells us that our holiness is rooted in our neshama that Hashem gave from His holiness it says: כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י…The word has a “Vav”. When you spell out the letter “Vav” in Hebrew – ואו- its gematria is 13, the same numerical equivalent of אחד, one, and אהבה, love. The message is clear. If your pursuit of kedusha begins to lack the “Vav”, the Ahavas Yisroel, and the oneness of Achdus, that holiness will be lacking. You need to remember that the only way to tap into kedusha and feel Hashem’s presence is when you include the “Vav”.
The Ach Pri Tevuah from Liska taught[5] that when there is love between two yidden you have the number 26 (two times 13, אהבה, love). That is the same numerical value as Hashem’s name Havayah.
Our natural mode is to connect to Hashem through our Avodas Hashem. That is the truest expression of self. However, we live in a physical world that has a Yetzer Harah. Chazal taught[6] that there are three partners in the creation of a person: Hashem, who provides the neshama, and the father and mother who provide the physical body. Every hinderance, any stumbling block we face in our spiritual struggles is the result of our physical body and the Yetzer Harah that drives those primitive desires.
Therefore, after the pasuk tells us that every yid is holy, the Torah immediately warns us: fear his mother and his father. R’ Shmelke of Nickelsburg explained that the pasuk is warning us to be fearful of the Yetzer Harah, of the physical existence created by and credited to our mother and father.
And a yid might claim that this is an unfair partnership. Hashem and the neshama is only 1/3 of this arrangement! What chance do I have? Therefore, the pasuk combines Shabbos in this pasuk. On Shabbos the yidden receive a Neshama Yeseira and the playing field becomes leveled.
[1] Vayikra 19:3
[2] 14:14
[3] 5643
[4] Yeshayahu 59:2
[5] Parshas Veira
[6] Niddah 31a
