Chasidut su Levitico 19:2
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כָּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
Parla a tutta la congregazione dei figli d'Israele e di 'loro: Sarete santi; poiché io, il Signore tuo Dio, sono santo.
Kedushat Levi
Levitcus 19,2. “Be holy, etc.!” Vayikra Rabbah 24,9, considering the words: כי קדוש אני, “for I am holy,” asks whether it is possible that the Torah demands that we, the Jewish people, are to be as holy as He is? The Midrash’s answer is that, on the contrary, the words כי קדוש אני, indicate that true sanctity is something reserved for the Creator alone. However holy we can become, His holiness will always be superior to ours.
Earlier commentators have already dealt with the meaning of this verse at length, i.e. the question of how serving the Lord can be performed by means of holiness, and they concluded that this refers to serving the Lord with one’s heart. As to precisely how this is to be done, we have learned in Taanit 2 that prayer is the best means of serving the Lord with one’s heart. The “prayer” meant by the Talmud there is not that we address our requests to the Lord, but that we express our awareness of His greatness and at the same time our inadequacy to express with words what we really feel about Him. By stating that compared to Him we are only dust and ashes, that we are sullied by our sins, and that we accept the yoke of serving Him as our Master, we can begin to gradually develop the level of holiness that it is possible for any of His creatures to attain.
When Solomon in Proverbs 1,5 speaks of ישמע חכם ויוסף לקח, a wise man will hear and (each time) increase his learning, he speaks of how continuous, and even more so, repetitive Torah study will increase our level of spirituality, holiness.
In this connection our author refers to the well known dispute about the proper procedure in lighting the Chanukah candles. (Shabbat 21) The school of Shammai held that we start with eight candles on the first night and progressively light one candle less each evening. The school of Hillel takes the opposite view, ruling that we light only one candle on the first night but increase this by an additional candle each night until on the last night we light eight candles. The school of Hillel explains that the reason why they want to increase the number of lights each night, is although the amount of miracle oil has steadily declined, the appreciation of the miracle increases with each night that we pronounce the blessing when lighting the candles as an act of gratitude for G’d’s miracle at the time. With increasing recognition of the miracle of Chanukah there comes an increased awareness of our relationship to the Creator, or expressed differently, מצוה גוררת מצוה, “the performance of one of G’d’s commandments brings in its wake the desire to fulfill more of His commandments.” Recognition of the greatness of G’d inevitably leads to an awareness of the puniness of man when compared to Him. It is this awareness of our own limitations that gradually brings us closer to understanding and emulating the virtue of the אין סוף, ultimate form of humility. The school of Hillel, disciples of Hillel who was world renowned for his personal modesty and humility, followed their mentor when they formulated the concept of מוסיף והולך, that a spark of holiness feeds upon itself and makes ripples like a pebble thrown on the surface of the water.
This idea is also reflected in the opening words of our portion קדושים תהיו, “commence the process to become holy, as it is continuous and feeds on itself.” An additional factor helping you to progress along this route is כי קדוש אני, “for I am holy,” i.e. when you contemplate My holiness this will inspire you to emulate My holiness to the extent that this is humanly possible. In fact, G’d says that His own holiness will increase proportionate to the amount of holiness to be found amongst His people on earth.
[This is not a surprising statement, as in matters of purity and impurity as well as in matters of holiness and secularity we do not apply objective yardsticks but subjective, relative ones. A good example is to be found in Leviticus 14,36 where despite the fact that according to reason the furnishings in the afflicted house would be ritually impure as the house is impure, the inhabitants are allowed to remove them before the arrival of the priest. Ed.]
One of the most welcome phenomena on earth that G’d looks upon with the greatest pleasure is the virtue of humility. This thought is reflected in Proverbs 22,4 עקב ענוה יראת ה', “the natural result of humility is fear of the Lord; the more people practice humility the greater the holiness of G’d.”
[The virtue of humility is not only great but is most difficult to acquire. First one must possess qualities that are the result of building one’s character; once one does possess these qualities which others boast about, one must go about one’s business as if unaware of possessing such qualities. If Moses had responded to the accusation of his sister Miriam (had he heard them), he would have done so at the expense of his humility. Ed.]
Earlier commentators have already dealt with the meaning of this verse at length, i.e. the question of how serving the Lord can be performed by means of holiness, and they concluded that this refers to serving the Lord with one’s heart. As to precisely how this is to be done, we have learned in Taanit 2 that prayer is the best means of serving the Lord with one’s heart. The “prayer” meant by the Talmud there is not that we address our requests to the Lord, but that we express our awareness of His greatness and at the same time our inadequacy to express with words what we really feel about Him. By stating that compared to Him we are only dust and ashes, that we are sullied by our sins, and that we accept the yoke of serving Him as our Master, we can begin to gradually develop the level of holiness that it is possible for any of His creatures to attain.
When Solomon in Proverbs 1,5 speaks of ישמע חכם ויוסף לקח, a wise man will hear and (each time) increase his learning, he speaks of how continuous, and even more so, repetitive Torah study will increase our level of spirituality, holiness.
In this connection our author refers to the well known dispute about the proper procedure in lighting the Chanukah candles. (Shabbat 21) The school of Shammai held that we start with eight candles on the first night and progressively light one candle less each evening. The school of Hillel takes the opposite view, ruling that we light only one candle on the first night but increase this by an additional candle each night until on the last night we light eight candles. The school of Hillel explains that the reason why they want to increase the number of lights each night, is although the amount of miracle oil has steadily declined, the appreciation of the miracle increases with each night that we pronounce the blessing when lighting the candles as an act of gratitude for G’d’s miracle at the time. With increasing recognition of the miracle of Chanukah there comes an increased awareness of our relationship to the Creator, or expressed differently, מצוה גוררת מצוה, “the performance of one of G’d’s commandments brings in its wake the desire to fulfill more of His commandments.” Recognition of the greatness of G’d inevitably leads to an awareness of the puniness of man when compared to Him. It is this awareness of our own limitations that gradually brings us closer to understanding and emulating the virtue of the אין סוף, ultimate form of humility. The school of Hillel, disciples of Hillel who was world renowned for his personal modesty and humility, followed their mentor when they formulated the concept of מוסיף והולך, that a spark of holiness feeds upon itself and makes ripples like a pebble thrown on the surface of the water.
This idea is also reflected in the opening words of our portion קדושים תהיו, “commence the process to become holy, as it is continuous and feeds on itself.” An additional factor helping you to progress along this route is כי קדוש אני, “for I am holy,” i.e. when you contemplate My holiness this will inspire you to emulate My holiness to the extent that this is humanly possible. In fact, G’d says that His own holiness will increase proportionate to the amount of holiness to be found amongst His people on earth.
[This is not a surprising statement, as in matters of purity and impurity as well as in matters of holiness and secularity we do not apply objective yardsticks but subjective, relative ones. A good example is to be found in Leviticus 14,36 where despite the fact that according to reason the furnishings in the afflicted house would be ritually impure as the house is impure, the inhabitants are allowed to remove them before the arrival of the priest. Ed.]
One of the most welcome phenomena on earth that G’d looks upon with the greatest pleasure is the virtue of humility. This thought is reflected in Proverbs 22,4 עקב ענוה יראת ה', “the natural result of humility is fear of the Lord; the more people practice humility the greater the holiness of G’d.”
[The virtue of humility is not only great but is most difficult to acquire. First one must possess qualities that are the result of building one’s character; once one does possess these qualities which others boast about, one must go about one’s business as if unaware of possessing such qualities. If Moses had responded to the accusation of his sister Miriam (had he heard them), he would have done so at the expense of his humility. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Another aspect of the words: וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק ואל יעקב, “I used to appear to Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, etc.” We find among the writings of the Ari z’al that he does not understand Exodus 34,7 נוצר חסד לאלפים “He extends loving kindness to thousands,” in the generally accepted meaning, but that he understands the word אלפים as attributes of G’d beginning with the letter aleph. These attributes, though all being variations of the attribute Justice, are “sweetened” by G’d through an addition of a dose of חסד, loving kindness.
In order to understand the Ari z’al we refer first to a statement in Sh’mot Rabbah 47,11 according to which Moses acquired the ability to make the skin of his forehead shine, give forth light, (Exodus 34,29) because a drop of ink was left over from his quill when he had completed recording the portion of the Torah in writing. [Difficult to understand as Moses did not write the Torah on Mount Sinai. Ed.]
The author of the Or hachayim;Midrash had in mind when writing that Moses merited this reward from left over ink.
In order to illustrate the difference between a “humble” person spelled with the letter י, and a “humble” person spelled without the letter י, we need to make a few introductory remarks. On the Torah’s imperative for the Jewish people to strive to be “holy,”: (Leviticus 19,2) to be “holy,” i.e. קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה', “be holy for I the Lord am holy,” we could have misunderstood this line to mean that we must strive to be as holy as G’d. Midrash Rabbah Vayikra Rabbah 24,9 therefore writes that the words: כי קדוש אני, “for I am holy,” in that verse are a reminder that only G’d is truly holy. G’d’s holiness transcends anyone else’s holiness. Anyone who endeavours to sincerely sanctify himself discovers that in spite of all the progress he makes in this direction that he is still far removed from his objective, i.e. total holiness. If a person is under the illusion that he is already a worthy servant of the Lord, this is proof that he is still far from having reached his goal, that in fact he has not even begun the journey leading to holiness. Anyone who has begun this journey is painfully aware of how far he still has to travel on that road. This is what the Midrash had in mind when the author wrote, explaining the words: כי קדוש אני ה' אלוקיכם, “for I the Lord your G’d am holy, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם, “My holiness is superior to your holiness.” [The author’s version of this Midrash apparently had the word מסתלקת, “is receding,” instead of the word: למעלה “is superior”. Ed.]
Alternatively, this concept, instead of being expressed negatively, may be expressed positively, as we find in Eychah rabbah 11,3 where the author writes that whenever the Jewish people sanctify themselves they thereby strengthen the celestial entourage of the Lord, i.e. they add holiness to His holiness. The Midrash quotes psalms 60,14 in support of this where the psalmist writes באלוקים נעשה חיל, “we will strengthen G’d by acting valiantly.” (Compare likutim on that statement in the Midrash)
In order to understand the Ari z’al we refer first to a statement in Sh’mot Rabbah 47,11 according to which Moses acquired the ability to make the skin of his forehead shine, give forth light, (Exodus 34,29) because a drop of ink was left over from his quill when he had completed recording the portion of the Torah in writing. [Difficult to understand as Moses did not write the Torah on Mount Sinai. Ed.]
The author of the Or hachayim;Midrash had in mind when writing that Moses merited this reward from left over ink.
In order to illustrate the difference between a “humble” person spelled with the letter י, and a “humble” person spelled without the letter י, we need to make a few introductory remarks. On the Torah’s imperative for the Jewish people to strive to be “holy,”: (Leviticus 19,2) to be “holy,” i.e. קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה', “be holy for I the Lord am holy,” we could have misunderstood this line to mean that we must strive to be as holy as G’d. Midrash Rabbah Vayikra Rabbah 24,9 therefore writes that the words: כי קדוש אני, “for I am holy,” in that verse are a reminder that only G’d is truly holy. G’d’s holiness transcends anyone else’s holiness. Anyone who endeavours to sincerely sanctify himself discovers that in spite of all the progress he makes in this direction that he is still far removed from his objective, i.e. total holiness. If a person is under the illusion that he is already a worthy servant of the Lord, this is proof that he is still far from having reached his goal, that in fact he has not even begun the journey leading to holiness. Anyone who has begun this journey is painfully aware of how far he still has to travel on that road. This is what the Midrash had in mind when the author wrote, explaining the words: כי קדוש אני ה' אלוקיכם, “for I the Lord your G’d am holy, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם, “My holiness is superior to your holiness.” [The author’s version of this Midrash apparently had the word מסתלקת, “is receding,” instead of the word: למעלה “is superior”. Ed.]
Alternatively, this concept, instead of being expressed negatively, may be expressed positively, as we find in Eychah rabbah 11,3 where the author writes that whenever the Jewish people sanctify themselves they thereby strengthen the celestial entourage of the Lord, i.e. they add holiness to His holiness. The Midrash quotes psalms 60,14 in support of this where the psalmist writes באלוקים נעשה חיל, “we will strengthen G’d by acting valiantly.” (Compare likutim on that statement in the Midrash)
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Kedushat Levi
Moses prefaces his remarks with the word: ועתה, “and now,” to hint that just as G’d in His capacity of Hashem has imposed upon Himself restrictions in as much as He treats you as if you deserved that He consults you before acting, i.e. שואל, much as a student who seeks clarification from his teacher, this very characteristic of not acting high-handedly but consulting higher authority first, is a characteristic that G’d expects of you to be practiced unreservedly, i.e. you will prove this in the manner in which you revere Him. This is also what Rashi (Leviticus 26,12) where the Torah writes of G’d saying: והתהלכתי בתוככם, “I will be walking amongst you,” had in mind, when he paraphrased Moses by saying: אטייל עמכם, “I shall go for a walk with you,” i.e. although you will feel so familiar with Me, you must not forget for one moment that in spite of this I must be related to with utmost reverence, יראה.
A third interpretation of our verse, is one that portrays Moses as making maximal demands on the Jewish people, instead of minimal ones, as a superficial reading of our verse would imply.
The axiom that the Creator is אין סוף, “a Being the extent of whose multifaceted attributes knows no limits,” [my translation, Ed.] includes the inability of His angels to fully comprehend Him also. This is already alluded to in the commentary of Vayikra rabbah Leviticus 24,9 where the author, in trying to explain the line:קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני , commonly translated as “strive to be holy for I am holy,” states “you will never be able to be as holy as I am, as My holiness will progressively appear to you as just beyond reach, the closer you have come to Me.” Not only that, but as you attain greater insights, you will realise how far beyond I am. At the same time, the more you endeavour to become holy, the more of My holiness will become part of you.
A third interpretation of our verse, is one that portrays Moses as making maximal demands on the Jewish people, instead of minimal ones, as a superficial reading of our verse would imply.
The axiom that the Creator is אין סוף, “a Being the extent of whose multifaceted attributes knows no limits,” [my translation, Ed.] includes the inability of His angels to fully comprehend Him also. This is already alluded to in the commentary of Vayikra rabbah Leviticus 24,9 where the author, in trying to explain the line:קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני , commonly translated as “strive to be holy for I am holy,” states “you will never be able to be as holy as I am, as My holiness will progressively appear to you as just beyond reach, the closer you have come to Me.” Not only that, but as you attain greater insights, you will realise how far beyond I am. At the same time, the more you endeavour to become holy, the more of My holiness will become part of you.
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Kedushat Levi
Another of aspect of the significance of the tone sign shalshelet above the word וימאן, can be understood from Rashi’s comment on Leviticus 19,2 where the Torah commands us to strive and be holy. He writes that wherever the subject of illicit sexual relations in the Torah is mentioned, the subject of holiness is found nearby. Rashi quotes three examples, (Leviticus 21,7;21,15, and 21,6). The Jewish people (when at their best) have been “crowned” with two levels of holiness, something that is spelled out in a liturgical poem recited on the first day of Rosh Hashanah immediately before we recite the “kedushah,” where the author says that two of these levels of holiness have been granted to the Jewish people, i.e. מידו נתן שתי קדושות, whereas He, G’d is garbed in an additional level of holiness, i.e. ויקדש באחת משלוש קדושות.
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