For you are
a holy nation unto the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 14:2
My father explained that our claim
to being a holy nation is not simply by virtue of having been born Jews. That
indeed would be a racist theory. The claim to sanctity of the Jews comes from
the fact that we stood at Mount Sinai and accepted the Torah. It is through
accepting Torah that the People of Israel sanctified itself. Observance of
God’s law, both in relations between man and God and between man and fellow
man, is what makes us a “holy nation unto God”. The sanctity of man depends
upon man himself, upon fulfilling his obligations. It is more a matter of
responsibility than of privilege.
Torah teaches us that we must work
to maintain our sanctity and strive to reach higher levels. Further, each
individual is expected to sanctify himself and through personal sanctification,
work towards sanctifying all of society. Perhaps this last point is the reason
the Torah uses the singular “you” “For you (singular) are a holy nation”.
Ultimately, the sanctity of the nation depends on the sanctity of its
individual members.
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