[Avodah] Special Places

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Micha Berger wrote:

> One of the more quoted thoughts of the Meshekh Chokhmah is his
> idea that there is no such thing as inherent qedushah. Qedushah
> is caused by human activity.

It may depend on what we mean by "inherent" qedushah, If there is a
qedushah that is automatic and it's been there since Bereshis, then where
did it come from? Rather, something caused the qedushah to be there. But it
doesn't have to be humans. Hashem put the qedushah into Shabbos, did He not?

> He goes as far as to say that thinking that an object or
> place can be inherently holy is already the beginning of AZ!

Yes, of course. If "inherently holy" means that its holiness came from some
source other than Hashem, then "beginning of AZ" doesn't even begin to
describe how bad that idea is.

Hmmm...

If I disagree with the idea that something can be inherently qadosh, then
what about things that are inherently large, or inherently blue, or
inherently sweet? These are qualities that the thing was made with. Someone
*made* it large, or blue, or sweet. So too, someone can make a mezuzah, and
it will be holy from the very beginning. But it's not an "inherent"
holiness, because the sofer *put* qedushah into the mezuzah when he made
it. So too, the apple is sweet because its Creator put sweetness into it
from the beginning.There is no inherent qedusha; it has to come from
somewhere.

Akiva Miller
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