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
As
my father noted, the Torah presents a unique view of holiness. Holiness is not
to be limited to the few, it is not the domain of a select class within the
nation, rather the Torah expects, the entire “congregation of the Children of
Israel” to strive to achieve holiness. Further, the Torah’s approach is that
holiness does not consist of withdrawing from society. From the Torah’s
perspective, it is one who tries to influence society to improve itself, who
sets an example for others to follow, who is considered a saintly person. A
saintly man sets an example for others to follow, showing the way to achieve
holiness, rather than preaching about holiness.
A saint is not one who performs miracles, but one who performs his
duties towards God and man. Perhaps it
is easier to perform one miracle during the course of a lifetime than to spend
every day of one’s life doing good deeds and fulfilling one’s obligations.
In addition, it has been suggested that the
Torah teaches us that true holiness can be achieved only by “all the
congregation.” Sanctity of the individual must lead to sanctity of the entire
nation, for the ideal of holiness is for Israel
“You
shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy”: the basis of striving for
holiness is to imitate God’s ways. As our Sages say: “As He is merciful, so too
you shall be merciful.” The ideal is not
to lower God to a human level, but to try to raise man towards God, to full
realization and actualization of the fact that man was created in God’s image.
When man strives to raise himself towards the Godly, sanctity will descend from
the Almighty Himself.
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