Kedoshim Tihiyu

There is a remarkable idea which I think the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says at the end of Parshat Shemini on the pasuk

כי אני ה' אלקיכם והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני ולא תטמאו את נפשתיכם בכל השרץ הרמש על הארץ.

The Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh, I think says as follows: Hakadosh Baruch Hu established a bris initially, just elaborating a little bit what the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says with Avraham Avinu le-hiyos lecha l'elokim. Dehinu, the Rav explains the incredible, ulmai mikra kasuv and unimaginable, perhaps, chiddush of the bris is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, absolute, independent, says within this world I'll be known as Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, Elokei Yaakov, and subsequently when Klal Yisrael emerges as Elokei Yisrael. So the name of Hakadosh Baruch Hu within this world is linked, linked inextricably to Klal Yisrael. That the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says is the mechayiv to be kadosh. If Shem Hashem is nikra alecha, Shem Hashem is nikra alecha, Elokei Yisrael, so how can a person be anything but kadosh? It's a remarkable, remarkable idea and something to reflect upon. Let's discuss something else within Kedoshim Tihyu. Both the pasuk at the end of Shemini here, והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני, as well as the opening pasuk in Parshas Kedoshim:

דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה' אלקיכם.

The pasuk raises a question. Why do we need a separate mitzvah to be kadosh? Okay, so the Bahag counts it in his minyan hamitzvos, the Rambam doesn't. But the Rambam clearly, the Rambam doesn't because he thinks it's a tzivui klali. But we have a separate pasuk telling us קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה' אלקיכם. Lechora, if the pasuk would just tell us somewhere that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is kadosh, so then because of the mitzvah of ve'halachta bidrachav, so מה הוא נקרא קדוש אף אתה היה קדוש. You don't have a separate mitzvah to be rachum v'chanun and erech apayim and everything. No, by virtue of the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is nikra, is described with all of these to'arim, actional, actional descriptions, so then mimaila based on the mitzvah of ve'halachta bidrachav, so then we have a chiyuv to emulate those midos. So all the Torah had to do is tell us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is kadosh. All the Torah had to do is describe Hakadosh Baruch Hu's being kadosh and then mimaila with the mitzvah of ve'halachta bidrachav, that would translate into a chiyuv for us to be kadosh as well. So it could be that the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh with which we began is an answer to this question as well. That in addition to the mitzvah of ve'halachta bidrachav, there's a mechayiv, there's another mechayiv by Kedoshim Tihyu. The mechayiv of that since Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Elokei Yisrael, Hakadosh Baruch Hu can only, should only be associated with kedusha. Could be that that's one answer. But let's explore another answer. But to do that, let's just first review what's known to all of us, the different understandings in the Rishonim. Rashi says: Kedoshim Tihyu הוו פרושים מן העריות. That there is a special connection between perisha min ha'arayos and cultivation of kedusha. Mistama... It's included in the mandate of קדושים תהיו פרושים מן עריות according to Rashi is not only actual zehirus from bios assuros, but even avizrayhu, even avizrayhu, even the kedushas einayim, shmiras einayim is included in that mandate of perushim min ha'arayos which translates into kedusha. Something which requires a very concerted effort in our society. Ramban of course expands the definition of Kedoshim Tihyu. He says Prushim not only min arayos, but Prushim from excessive gashmius, not to be what otherwise would have been a נבל ברשות התורה. Lemayseh, the Ramban, if a person eats hedonistically or is shutuf b'zimas noshov, the Ramban doesn't mean that he is a נבל ברשות התורה. The Ramban means if not for the mitzvah of Kedoshim Tihyu, it would have been b'reshus haTorah, but the Torah closed that gap with the mitzvah of Kedoshim Tihyu. So Kedoshim Tihyu means that a person has to be very, very moderate in terms of his involvement with gashmius. This is also a big makas hamedina. Rabbeinu Bachya writes in Chovos HaLevavos towards the end of the Chovos HaLevavos, Rabbeinu Bachya writes that Ahavas Olam Hazeh, and Rabbeinu Bachya is not referring to Ahavas Olam Hazeh like the Vilna Gaon crying on his deathbed about the inability to be mikayem mitzvas lulav in Olam Haba. Rabbeinu Bachya is referring to Ahavas Olam Hazeh, the chomriyus and the gashmiyus shebo. So Rabbeinu Bachya says in Chovos HaLevavos that Ahavas Olam Hazeh and Ahavas Olam Haba can no more coexist than water and fire. That to the degree that a person has Ahavas Olam Hazeh, so to that degree he's remote from Olam Haba. And the explanation is very simple, the explanation is very simple. Olam Haba, again, whichever view, the Ramban's view, the view of the other Rishonim, but clearly is a spiritual existence. Whether it's a spiritual existence just of the neshama or whether it's a spiritual existence of guf u-neshama, but either way is אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתייה וכולו, it's a spiritual existence. And a person has to be, has to cultivate a love for a spiritual existence and that can't, can't coexist with a love for physical pleasure and for unnecessary involvement in chomriyus and gashmiyus. And when we think about it, it's very natural, right? The Mishna in Pirkei Avos that Olam Hazeh is a פרוזדור לפני עולם הבא, so that being the relationship between Olam Hazeh and Olam Haba, that the tachlis of our avodas Hashem in Olam Hazeh, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says is that mitzidenu, so our kavana is not for schar ideally, but just to be oved Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says and what I want is that you should, you should come to Olam Haba. So משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say soldiers are being trained, they're being trained. So if you anticipate that they're going to be fighting in desert conditions, so then the training will try to simulate those conditions because what good does it do to have them trained and not know how to deal with the sandstorms in the desert? You're training them to go fight Rachmana litzlan in the desert. So the training has to simulate the conditions under which they're actually going to fight. Otherwise, the training may be the best training, but if they're being trained for something which is different, which diverges from what the mission actually is, so then the training is going to miss the mark. So if Olam Hazeh is a training ground, התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתכנס לטרקלין, so then as much as possible, so we have to prime ourselves and we have to simulate. the conditions of Olam Haba. So clearly that's what Rabbeinu Bachya is telling us in Chovos Halevavos that a person as much as possible has to train himself to be as spiritual as possible, his his she'ifos should be spiritual and and his involvement in in again the Olam Hazeh-dikke ta'anugim and the like should be as minimal as as possible, what he needs. And that according to the Ramban is the mitzvah of kedoshim tihyu. Now the Sforno, I think we mentioned this last week as well, the Sforno adds another element and says consistently when kadosh occurs in the psukim that the mitzvah to be kadosh is to be nitzchi. והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני כדי שתהיו קדושים ונצחיים and he repeats it again here,

כי אני ה' המעלה אתכם מארץ מצרים להיות לכם לאלקים וראוי לכם שתעשו זה ההשתדלות להתקדש ולהיות קדושים כדי להפיק רצוני כי אמנם כוונתי כשהוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים היה כדי שתשיגו זה שאהיה לכם לאלקים בלתי אמצעי ושתהיו קדושים ונצחיים.

So kedusha again according to the the Sforno means nitzchius. I think we mentioned last time the the the makor for the Sforno is the Gemara in סנהדרין פרק חלק דף צב where the Gemara says that מה קדוש קיים לעולם that when we refer to kadosh, kadosh represents kayam l'olam. The Sforno is not at odds with with the Ramban, but the Ramban is the instrument, the Ramban is the vehicle, it's through the prushim, it's through the the less involved in chomriyus, the more the more spiritual a person is, so that's what can endure, that's what can last, that's what can become nitzchi, but not the not the the chomriyus-dikke involvement. Returning to our original question, lichora בין לרמב"ן בין לספורנו, if the Torah only would have described Hakadosh Baruch Hu as kadosh, we would have said when Hakadosh Baruch Hu is described as rachum ve'chanun, okay obviously we can never duplicate a midah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, obviously, okay but be'ze'ir anpin we can we can emulate it, we can we can cultivate some rachmanus, we can cultivate some chanina, we can we can act that way, we can we can implement it. But kadosh, parush, a person can never be ingantzen parush by definition, we we exist beguf ve'neshama, a person's not capable, Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai, but but a person is not capable of being parush literally. So I would have thought that that description of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is just inapplicable to a person. Similarly nitzchius, nitzchius, Hakadosh Baruch Hu who exists lemala min hazman, Hakadosh Baruch Hu who exists beyond time, beyond space, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו, Hakadosh Baruch Hu you can talk about nitzchius. A person who exists in time, in space, how can you talk about nitzchius? So ka mashma lan the Torah says an amazing thing, no, kedoshim tihyu, kedoshim tihyu that a person can also cultivate kedusha, a person can also develop kedusha and the mitzvah of ve'halachta bidrachav applies here as well, that to the best of our ability a person is supposed to be a parush and to the best of our ability we're supposed to make ourselves worthy and and deserving and and ready for chayim nitzchiyim. It's interesting that there was a minhag in in some parts of of Europe that they would refer to Yom HaKippurim as Yom HaKadosh. That's the way Yom HaKippurim But also the fact that Yom Kippur more than any other day, the hinozrus, the hibadlus, the prishus of Yom Kippur, which is one of the primary aspects and definitions of kedusha. In fact, the greatest kedushas hayom is reserved for Shabbos. But that too lich'ora reflects these aspects of kedusha. Again, both the prishus as well as the nitzchiyus we discussed last week, how Shabbos is zecher litzias Mitzrayim in the sense that avdus represents being shakuah b'chomriyus. That's what the essence of avdus is, that being shakuah b'chomriyus. And that's why Shabbos is zecher litzias Mitzrayim because ultimately complete cheirus, as complete cheirus as is possible in olam hazeh, we only experience on Shabbos. We don't experience in sheshes yimei hama'aseh. Sheshes yimei hama'aseh, sheshes yamim ta'avod, there is an element, there is a bechina of avdus to it. And that's why Shabbos is zecher litzias Mitzrayim because in Shabbos we really have that cheirus which yitzias Mitzrayim was intended to accomplish. Now it's true that again the prishus, the nezirus, the hibadlus isn't to the same degree as Yom Kippur. However, what Shabbos has that Yom Kippur doesn't is the me'ein olam haba. The aspect of me'ein olam haba, that nitzchiyus. So Shabbos again, so the fact that even in kedushas hazman these aspects of prishus and nitzchiyus are also reflected in the kedushas hayom. One final he'ara here. The Sforno singles out in talking about kedoshim tihiyu and the attainment of kedusha,

והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני כדי שתהיו קדושים ונצחיים בהכירכם את בוראכם והלכתם בדרכיו.

So amongst the taryag mitzvos, the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav stands out in terms of our pursuit and our acquisition of kedusha. The Sforno says it again at the beginning of Kedoshim,

אמר עתה שהכוונה בכל אלו האזהרות היא שיהיו קדושים וזה כדי שידמו ליוצרם כפי האפשר כמו שהייתה הכוונה בבריאת האדם.

So the pshat lich'ora in the Sforno is as follows. Again משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you have someone you admire. Okay, maybe some celebrity, your father. So he's a doctor, he's an accountant, he's whatever his profession is. And you admire him, it's a natural thing that you want to go into the same profession. So you also want to be a doctor, also want to be an accountant. Okay. So if you ask how it is you're going to achieve it, so the answer is very simple. The answer is, well, if you want to become a partner in a big accounting firm, so you have to major in accounting. Again you have to study for the CPA and you have to go through, you have to go along the same path that your father went to get there. If you want to achieve the same results he achieved in accounting, in medicine, in in whatever field, in whatever discipline, so you're going to have to travel along the same path. If you want to, if you want to reach the same goal, so then you're going to have to travel a similar path. That's what the Sforno says that to again, to the extent that a person can end up like Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to totally realize the potential of b'tzalmeinu kidmoteinu, so then a person has to go in the same path as Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's why the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav, the Sforno says the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav stands out amongst other mitzvos in our pursuit of kedushah. There's an amazing Tomer Devorah about, about vehalachta bidrachav. So we, we associate with the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav the different attributes that the Rambam lists in פרק א הלכות דעות, rachum, chanun, and and that's certainly correct. But the Tomer Devorah says lema'aseh in, in almost what's told differently, anything which we're told about Hakadosh Baruch Hu is then included in vehalachta bidrachav. So if Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sovel, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sovel even when we're oveir aveirah, even when we're pogeia, Rachmana Litzlan, in tzelem Elokim, what for us on the human level means to be ma'avir al middosav, to, to swallow, not to, not to respond to every provocation no matter how, how outrageous, so that's also included in vehalachta bidrachav. The implications of, of vehalachta bidrachav in terms of bein adam l'chaveiro are staggering. And all of that the Tomer Devorah says, well that's ממדותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, that's the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sovel, is sovel, and such, such erech apayim. So we're obligated to, to manifest that as well in our pursuit of kedushah.