Defining Greatness

But you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (goy kadosh)…                            Exodus 19:6

            Ba’al haTurim connects our verse’s use of the word “goy” with its use in three other verses:

… And a nation that did not know you shall run to you …                               Isaiah 55:5

and two verses from Jeremiah which deal with the destruction of the Temple:

	… And a great nation shall be roused from the uttermost parts of the earth.     Jeremiah 6:22
	… And a great nation, and many kings shall be aroused from the uttermost parts of the earth. Jeremiah 50:41

            My father noted that the verses present a contrast: for the nations of the world, a nation’s greatness is defined by its conquests and by the number of other lands it has destroyed, while Israel’s greatness is defined by its being a holy nation. The verse from Isaiah teaches that in the end, the nations of the world will recognize that greatness is to be defined through sanctity and they “shall run to you.”