Download Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy
Congregation Shirat Hayam (www.shirathayam.org)
Rabbi Baruch HaLevi (www.rabbib.com)
“Be Holy”
Kedusha - Jewish Holiness
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions |
1997 | JOHN BOWKER | 700+ words | Copyright
Kedushah (Heb., ‘holiness’). In Judaism, set apart
through holiness. The biblical commandment, ‘you
shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am
holy’ (Leviticus 19. 2) has consistently been
understood by the rabbis as requiring that the Jews
must be a people ‘set
apart’.
• How are the various
uses of K-D-SH
(Kadosh) used in
Jewish text,
practice thought (ie.
Kadosh, Kiddush,
Kaddish...)?
‫ ב דַּבֵּר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְֹרָאֵל‬:‫א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָֹה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר‬
:‫וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם‬
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2. Speak to all
the congregation of the people of Israel, and say to
them, You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am
holy.
• What does it mean to be told to “be holy”?
•What is the reason given
for this charge?
WHAT IS HOLY?
•Does it make “sense”?
•How do the specific
ho·ly
examples in the rest of the
1. recognized or revered as sacred 2. dedicated to
parsha affect the idea of
God
holiness?
3. Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a
Potential
divine power; sacred.
4. Regarded with or worthy of worship or
veneration; revered: a holy book.
5. Living according to a strict or highly moral
religious or spiritual system; saintly: a holy person.
6. Specified or set apart for a religious purpose: a
holy place.
7. Solemnly undertaken; sacrosanct: a holy
pledge.
6. Regarded as deserving special respect or
reverence: The pursuit of peace is our holiest
quest.
7. Informal Used as an intensive: raised holy hell
over the mischief their children did.
www.dictionary.com
The Sfas Emes articulates the
puzzling part as: How can the
level of sanctity attainable by
• What does this say
a human even be mentioned
about Jewish notions
in the same sentence as the
of “holiness”?
sanctity of HaShem?
Apparently, this question also
Supernatural
bothered the Medrash and the
Zohar. The Sfas Emes reports
In his commentary on
their response to this
this verse the Malbim
question. The statement "You
tells us that "kedusha"
shall be holy" is
conventionally
understood as
means conducting
an exhortation. But the Zohar
ourselves in a manner
(and the Sfas Emes) point out
"lema'ala min hateva"
that this key statement can
-- in a manner above
also be read as a promise. In
other words, we have here a promise that
above nature (teva).
HaShem can and will help us reach a proper level
• What does it mean to be “above nature” or “super-natural”? of sanctity. Why and how? Because of His special
relation with Klal Yisroel, each of us has special
• What are the basic, base or natural aspects and activities of
chiyus
from HaShem. And with that unique chiyus,
our lives?
"bekocheinu lehiskadeish gam be'olam
• What does this say about “holiness”?
hazeh" (That is: we can sanctify ourselves even in
this world.) -Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff
Sex or Something Else
Rashi - "Abstain from the forbidden sexual relationships and from other sin
Ramban - But I have seen it(reference to “kedoshim”) mentioned without any qualification saying, "Be selfrestraining." Similarly, the Rabbis taught there: "And you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy - Just as I
am pure, so you shall be pure." In my opinion, this abstinence does not refer only to restraint from acts of immorality,
as Rashi wrote, but it is rather self-control in general.
Congregation Shirat Hayam
www.shirathayam.org
www.rabbib.com
Rabbi Dr. Baruch HaLevi 1
W
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Ya’All
:‫וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם‬
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2. Speak to all the
congregation of the people of Israel, and say to them, You shall
be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.
All Ya’All
Kedoshim Tihiyu.
You (plural) shall
be holy. The
plural sense of
the verb indicates
that holiness,
while taught and
exemplified by
the kohanic
priestly class, is
an ideal which
must spread out
and permeate the
collective Israel
polity.
Hermits &
Holiness
Rashi, citing
Midrash Sifra and
Leviticus Rabbah
24:5, observes
that the
apparently
redundant phrase
of "the whole
congregation of"
in our verse
teaches us that
the this parashah
was uttered in the
presence of the
whole
congregation.
J
E
W
Holiness & Perfection
The Kotzker Rebbe used to stress "MEN
of holiness you shall be to Me" [Shmos
22:30]. "G-d is
not looking for
more angels."
“The Chosen People”
The Torah was
6. For you are a holy people to the Lord, your God: the Lord your God has
not given to
angels
chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of
[Brachos 25b].
the earth.
It was given to
human beings
‫ ּכִי עַם ָקדֹוׁש אַּתָה לַי־הֹוָ־ה אֱֹלהֶיָ ּבְָ ּבָחַר יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱֹלהֶיָ לִהְיֹות לֹו לְעַם סְגֻּלָה מִּכֹל‬.‫ו‬
who have
:‫הָעַּמִים אֲׁשֶר עַל ּפְנֵי הָאֲָדמָה‬
wants and
desires and
7. Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in
are social
you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples.
animals. In
that context
‫ ֹלא מֵֻרּבְכֶם מִּכָל הָעַּמִים חָׁשַק יְ־הֹוָ־ה ּבָכֶם וַּיִבְחַר ּבָכֶם ּכִי אַּתֶם הַמְעַט מִּכָל‬.‫ז‬
we are
commanded
:‫הָעַּמִים‬
to develop
The concept of chosenness has often been misinterpreted by non-Jews as a
holiness.
statement of superiority or even racism. But the belief that Jews are the
Chosen People actually has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. In fact,
chosenness has so little to do with race that Jews believe the Messiah will be
descended from Ruth, a Moabite woman who converted to Judaism and
whose story is recorded in the biblical “Book of Ruth.”
Jews do not believe that being a member of the Chosen People gives them
any special talents or makes them better than anyone else. On the topic of
chosenness, the Book of Amos even goes so far as to say: "You alone have I
The Dalai Lama
says, “The
purpose of all
major religious
traditions is to
create temples of
goodness and
compassion in
our
hearts”
(paraphrased)
singled out of all the families of the earth. That is why I call you to account for
all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2). In this way Jews are called to be a “light to the
nations” (Isaiah 42:6) by doing good in the world through gemilut hasidim (acts
of loving kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Nevertheless, many
Are the Jewish
people holy?
modern Jews feel uncomfortable with the term “Chosen People.” Perhaps for
Are the Jewish
similar reasons, Maimonides (a medieval Jewish philosopher) did not list it in
This does not
people the only
mean the hermit's his foundational 13 Principles of the Jewish Faith. (Judaism.com)
“holy” people?
isolation and
seclusion as a
means of seeking the holy way. On the contrary, what is
spoken of is the holiness of the community, a holiness
What determines a people’s holiness?
that springs precisely from being within a community, a
congregation, mingling with other human beings.
Congregation Shirat Hayam
www.shirathayam.org
www.rabbib.com
Rabbi Dr. Baruch HaLevi
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