LEV269 Something fundamental happens at the beginning of Parashat Kedoshim, whose story is one of the greatest, if unacknowledged, contributions of Judaism to the world. Until now Leviticus has been largely about sacrifices, purity, the Sanctuary, and the priesthood. It has been, in short, about a holy place, holy offerings, and the elite and holy people--Aaron and his descendants--who minister there. Suddenly, in chapter nineteen, the text opens up to embrace the whole of the people in the whole of life: "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy'" [this and preceding verse]. This is the first and only time in Leviticus that so inclusive an address is commanded. The sages said that it meant that the contents of the chapter were proclaimed by Moses to a formal gathering of the entire nation (hak'hel). It is the people as a whole who are commanded to "be holy," not just an elite, the priests. It is life itself that is to be sanctified, as the chapter goes on to make clear. Holiness is to be made manifest in the way the nation makes its clothes and plants its fields, in the way justice is administered, workers are paid, and business conducted. The vulnerable – – the deaf, the blind, the elderly, and the stranger – – are to be afforded special protection. The whole society is to be governed by love, without resentment or revenge. What we witness here in other words, is the radical democratization of holiness.

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LEV287 The maxim, "To love the neighbor as thyself, I am thy Lord," (Leviticus 19:18) lays down a positive command that is unattainable in practice. The conclusion of the order, "I am the Lord," indicates that it must remain a goal, even if it cannot be reached. We are called upon to "walk in His ways," and to act as He does, though we shall never achieve that consummation, "Holy shall ye become, for I the Lord am holy." [this verse].

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LEV284 The commandment, "Be ye holy, for I am holy," [this verse] articulates one of the basic motivations in the Jewish tradition. We are to become that which God is. Since God is beyond and above all our experience, we can fulfill ourselves only in the striving to transcend our own being. Creatures that we are, we are bidden to become like the Creator. Our "accidental" situation as children of nature is somewhat insufficient--we must rise above ourselves, as it were. Indeed, nothing is so characteristic of human nature at its best as our many-sided endeavor to push back the existential boundaries that hem us in. We rebel against the finality of death and seek to grasp Eternity; we realize that human satisfactions are illusions, and we yearn for the delight that we will not sour; we resent the bitter and manifold evils of life and we long for the realm of perfection. All these longings are blended together by the Psalmist in the one affirmation, "and I, the nearness of God is my good." Psalm 73:28.

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LEV271 … there is a special kind of holiness that Jews are commanded to fulfill: making God's name holy. God equates Jews becoming holy with His holiness, and the commandment to be holy stems from God's Holiness. Thus, part of a Jew's holiness is attained by making God's name holy [this verse and Leviticus 20:26]. In addition, there is both a positive commandment to make God's name holy and a negative commandment not to desecrate God's name (Leviticus 22:32). This is achieved in the way in which a Jew behaves on an individual basis in daily life. If, by a Jew's action, people will think better of the Jewish God, that is a sanctification of God's name, making it holy. If, however, people will think worse of the Jewish God because of the action of a particular individual, that person has desecrated the name and holiness of God. (For further development of this mitzvah, see the chapter "Purpose of Life.") Thus, holiness of a person is also reflected in how people perceive God because of that person.

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LEV274 Another approach to holiness is the one most people think of when asked to describe the concept. This is the view of Rashi, who describes holiness in his commentary to [this verse]. Rashi says abstain from illicit sexual activity. It seems from Rashi that one achieves holiness by abstaining from those things forbidden to the Jew. This is classic Christian definition of holiness as well. The more one denies the bodily pleasures, the more one becomes holy. Long before Christianity existed, this concept existed in Judaism. As noted earlier, the illicit sexual activity with a prostitute is associated philologically with the Hebrew term for holiness. Similarly, the Torah states that the purpose of the laws of kashrut are to attain holiness (See chapter "Food" for a further examination of this idea). Thus, abstention from the two basic physical drives of man, sex and food, leads a person to holiness, according to this idea of holiness.

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LEV289 Yet another approach is offered by Nachmanides in defining precisely what is meant in the commandment to "be holy" [this verse]. Rather than a specific action, Nachmanides says this commandment teaches the Jew an overall approach to life. There are numerous laws that a Jew might be able to observe meticulously within the letter of the law and yet still act in a disgusting manner. This Nachmanides calls "a disgusting person with the permission of the Torah." The general commandment of "Be Holy" commands the Jew that even when other Torah laws do not specifically prohibit behavior, it is forbidden under this commandment. An example given is the Jew who follows all the kosher laws strictly and pronounces a blessing over each food, but then proceeds to gorge himself in a disgusting, animalistic manner. Holiness, according to Nachmanides, forbids this practice, even though no specific law has been violated. Thus, a person is admonished not to go just by the letter of Jewish law, but to be cognizant of the spirit of the law as well. That is Jewish holiness. The analogy has been made to the physical Torah itself, which is made up of the letters of the Torah in black ink surrounded by the white parchment. The specific laws are delineated by the black ink in the words of the Torah, but the white surround is also part of the Torah. This symbolizes the spirit of the Torah, the context in which the black letters delineate the mitzvot. Thus, both a violation of the letter and the spirit of the law is a violation of the Torah and the commandment to be holy.

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LEV277 Judaism rules out the deification and all worship of saints. Holy men are witnesses unto God, but not gods. They are not divine, but pathfinders to the Divine life. Their virtues light up the dark avenues of human life. In some ages their examples make a stronger appeal than in others. Only in God can each generation, in accordance with its own needs and lights, find the embodiment of its supreme aspirations and ideals, in God not as reflected in the life of one outstanding personality, but in Himself, super–personal, infinite and holy. Hence the call of Judaism: [this verse]. To become Godlike is the highest aim of man. See M. Lazarus, The Ethics of Judaism, pp. 111ff.

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LEV273 [Continued from [[DEUT300]] Deuteronomy 6:18 right DORFFLAW 117-8] The underlying conviction that pushes Jewish law not to stop with defining justice in its procedural and substantive aspects but to insist instead that we must go beyond the letter of the law, if necessary, to achieve justice is the belief that God requires us to aspire to a moral and theological ideal. Specifically, justice in its fullest form is necessary for holiness. All Israelites are obligated to aspire to a life of holiness: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19: 2) In the verses that follow this divine demand, the Torah specifies that holiness requires providing for the poor and the stranger; eschewing theft and fraud; rendering fair and impartial decisions in court; treating the blind, the death, and the stranger fairly; and ensuring honest weights and measures. These are all components of a society that has both procedural and substantive justice and even more-- namely, generosity and caring. We are to treat each other as members of one extended family. To the degree that we can at least in some areas, then, holiness requires that we go beyond insisting on our due and look instead at what seems to be good results for everyone concerned.

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LEV280 See [[DEUT300]] Deuteronomy 6:18 right DORFFLAW 117-8

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LEV282 See [[EXOD63]] Exodus 3:6 hid DORFFLOV 38

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