Comentário sobre Êxodo 22:30

ואנשי קדש תהיון לי AND YE SHALL BE MEN OF HOLINESS UNTO ME — If you will be holy and keep yourselves aloof from the loathsomeness of carrion and Trefa you are Mine, if not you are not Mine (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 22:30:1).

AND YE SHALL BE HOLY MEN UNTO ME. The reason for the expression in this verse is that until now He mentioned only the ordinances and admonished them about repulsive matters,³⁵⁵Such as those described above in Verses 17-21. but now when He is about to begin the law of forbidden food, He prefaced it by saying, And ye shall be holy men unto Me. For in order to preserve his physical life man should [be able to] eat anything which serves that purpose, and the prohibitions concerning certain foods are only a means of guarding the purity of the soul, in order that one should eat clean things which do not give rise to harshness and coarseness in the soul. Therefore He said, And ye shall be holy men unto Me, that is to say: “I want you to be holy men so that you will become suitable for Me, to cleave to Me, for I am Holy; therefore do not defile your souls by eating abominable things.” And similarly He said, Ye shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarmeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am the Eternal your G-d; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am Holy.³⁵⁶Leviticus 11:43-44. Swarming things thus make the soul detestable, but the treifah³⁵⁷See above, Note 189. is not detestable, however abstention from eating it adds holiness.

ואנשי קודש תהיון לי, the manner in which you will prove that you all are men of holy purpose is that you will allow your firstborns to be devoted to the service of Me and you will hand over the tithes, etc., stipulated as “My gifts,” [in matters of specific ritual, seeing that every Jew has to serve Hashem. Ed.] Initially, it was the task of the firstborn to teach the common people the details of Jewish law and ritual. When they do this the result will be והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים, “you will sanctify yourselves and remain holy” (Leviticus 20,7).