[Avodah] RSRH on Kedusha

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 06:46:14PM -0400, Yitzchok Levine quoted RSRH's
Chumash (Vayiqra 19:2):
: The mitzvah of Kedoshim Teyu is a command to strive for the highest
: degree of human moral perfection (cf. Commentary, Bereshis 2:3); and
: rightfully it should be addressed expressly to each individual...
: Kedusha — to be ready and willing to perform all that is good; a person
: cannot attain this virtue unless his whole being is so steeped in morality
: that the opposite of the good, viz., the inclination to evil, no longer
: has a place within his being....
: — Kedoshim Teyu means Perushim Teyu— underscores this negative
: aspect of Kedusha. It also points out the way that leads to Kedusha...

However, the preposition used WRT qedushah is "le-". "Me-" is used with
taharah. (Tum'ah can be "me-" or "be-" -- a person can be tamei from
something, or even ch"v internalize the tum'ah.)

So the way I analyzed things, I concluded that both taharah and qedushah
are subtypes of havdalah. Taharah is havdalah from something negative;
RSRH says it's the illusion that we're merely physical beings who can not
rebell against our physical natures. Qedushah, I saw also as a separation
(perushim tihyu) but the focus is not what one is set away from, but
what one is separated for (le-) and commited to. (And that definition
works for "harei at mequdeshes li..." as well as even the pagan temple
prostitute, the qedeishah.)


RSShkop defines qedushah as commitment to Hashem's goal. And what is
that goal? Since it is impossible He needed to get anything out of
creation, clearly creation must be for our sake. Qedushah is therefore
the total commitment to a life of doing things for others.

Here's my translation of the relevent part of his haqdamah:
    In my opinion, this whole concept is included in Hashem's mitzvah
    "Be holy, [for I am Holy]." The Midrash (Leviticus, Emor, ch. 24)
    says about this verse: "Can it [truly] be 'Like Me?' This is why
    it continues, 'for I am Holy' to teach that My Sanctity is above
    yours." And about the foundation of this mitzvah of sanctity
    the Toras Kohanim has "'be holy' -- be separate". Nachmanides,
    in his commentary on the Torah, explains at length this notion of
    separation as it is stated in this mitzvah, that it is separation
    from excessive comfort and pleasure -- even if they are actions that
    are not prohibited to us. In one illustrative statement, he writes
    that it is possible for a person to be disgusting with [what would
    otherwise be] the permission of the Torah, see his holy words there.

    According to this, it would seem the Midrash is incomprehensible.
    What relevance does the concept of separation have to being similar
    to the Holy? The verse tells us with regard to this that His Will
    is not like this. As it says, "Can it [truly] be 'Like Me?' This
    is why it continues, 'For I am holy' to teach that My sanctity is
    above Yours." This explanation is incumbent upon us to understand;
    in truth there is some similarity in the holiness He expects of us
    to His [Sanctity], except that His Holiness is more general and
    inclusive. If we say that the essential idea of the holiness He
    demands of us (in this mitzvah of "be holy") is distance from the
    permissible, this kind of holiness has nothing to do with Him.

    And so, it appears to my limited thought that this mitzvah includes
    the entire foundation and root of the purpose of our lives. All
    of our work and effort should constantly be sanctified to doing
    good for the community. We should not use any act, movement, or
    get benefit or enjoyment that doesn't have in it some element of
    helping another. And as understood, all holiness is being set apart
    for an honorable purpose -- which is that a person straightens his
    path and strives constantly to make his lifestyle dedicated to the
    community. Then, anything he does even for himself, for the health of
    his body and soul he also associates to the mitzvah of being holy,
    for through this he can also do good for the masses. Through the
    good he does for himself he can do good for the many who rely on
    him. But if he derives benefit from some kind of permissible thing
    that isn't needed for the health of his body and soul, that benefit
    is in opposition to holiness. For in this he is benefiting himself
    (for that moment as it seems to him), but no one else.

    In this way, the concept of separation is an aspect of the underlying
    basis of the mitzvah of holiness, which is recognizable in practice
    in the ways a person acts. But with insight and the calling of
    spirituality this mitzvah broadens to include everything a person
    causes or does even between him and the Omnipresent. In relation to
    this, this holiness is comparable to the Holiness of the Creator
    in whatever little similarity. Just as the Act of the Holy One in
    all of creation, and in each and every moment that He continues to
    cause the universe to exist, all His actions are sanctified to the
    good of others, so too it is His Will that our actions be constantly
    sanctified to the good of the community, and not personal benefit.


    HOWEVER, what of a person who decides to submerge his nature,
    to reach a high level so that he has no thought or inclination in
    his soul for his own good, only a desire for the good of others? In
    this way he would have his desire reach the sanctity of the Creator,
    as His Desire in all of the creation and management of the world
    is only for the good of the created, and not for Himself at all. At
    first glance one might say that if a person reached this level, he
    would reach the epitome of being whole. But this is why our Sages
    of blessed memory teach us in this Midrash that it is not so....

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 23rd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        3 weeks and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Netzach: How does my domination
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            stifle others?