Sanctity: Between Man and Fellow-man

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak unto all the congregation of the Children of Israel, and say unto them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.                        Leviticus 19:1-2

       Of the fifty-one mitzvot contained in Parashat Kedoshim, thirty-one are bein adam l’havero (between man and fellow man).

My saintly teacher, Rabbi Mordechai Rogov, noted that the Torah is teaching a powerful lesson. Typically, sanctity is considered to be in the realm of bein adam laMakom (between man and God). Sanctity, faith and clinging to God are thought by the average person to be connected to those mitzvot which govern one’s relationship with his Creator. The mitzvot which govern one’s relation with fellow man: “do not steal”, “do not oppress”, etc. do not require sanctity because they are dictated by reason and the need to have a livable society. In prefacing the mitzvot bein adam l’havero with the declaration “k’doshim tihiyu,” “You shall be holy”, the Torah teaches us that sanctity applies to these mitzvot as well. One who is not holy, does not have faith or does not strive to cling to God, cannot completely fulfill the mitzvot bein adam l’havero.

My father often commented that “love your neighbor as yourself” is one of the most frequently quoted mitzvot and yet one of the least actively fulfilled. Rabbi Rogov’s comments explain this discrepancy. The perception that “love your neighbor as yourself” (as well as all other mitzvot bein adam l’havero) is divorced from sanctity is what prevents the mitzva’s fulfillment in practice.