LEV124 It is remarkable that whenever the command to be holy appears in the Torah it is addressed to the whole nation, rather than to the individual. Thus at Revelation the entire congregation of Israel is urged to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus xix. 6); the Dietary Laws (Leviticus xi) are sealed with the words "And YE shall sanctify yourselves and become holy, for I the Lord am holy" [this verse]; and in Exodus xx. 30, we are told: "And holy men shall ye be unto Me". The remarkable chapter, to which attention has already been called (Leviticus xix) begins: "YE shall be holy". Why? To emphasize that to achieve perfection and to model our lives on the Deity, we must work collectively, regarding the welfare of the individual as a public concern. The word “Kadosh” (Holy One) as applied to God means “One set apart” and stresses His transcendence and independence of all besides Himself. In other words, to be holy means to be master over one’s life and nature, able to lead an existence separate and independent. Jewish ethics stress that not only is He the Holy One but that He also summons man to this task of holiness. For man this task has a twofold connotation, negative and positive. On its negative side, it implies a breaking-away from whatever urge of nature that makes self-gratification the purpose of existence. This does not mean the ignoring of the legitimate calls of nature or the practice of rigid asceticism. All it means is a severance from lust and passion that drag man down to the level of an animal.