MAY 9 • 2024 | 41
J
N

To Be Holy
I

n the opening lines of this 
week’s Torah portion, the 
Israelites are told: “Holiness 
you shall be, for holiness am I, 
the Lord your God.” As Jews, 
we are instructed to be holy, to 
be sacred. But what does that 
mean?
There are two prima-
ry understandings of 
sacredness in Judaism. 
The first understands 
separation as definitional 
to sanctity. In the words 
of Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz: 
“To be holy is, in 
essence, to be distinctly 
other.” 
In this model, the 
holiness of the Temple 
(mikdash) required God’s 
presence to be stron-
ger there than anywhere else. 
Similarly, the holiness (kodesh) 
of Shabbat relies on it being 
just one day per week. And the 
Jewish wedding (kiddushin) is 
holy specifically because the 
couple enters a relationship dif-
ferent from all others.
On the opposite end of the 
spectrum, a second model of 
holiness actually yearns for the 
dissolution of separation alto-
gether. According to The Shlah 
[Isaiah Horowitz 1555-1630], 
“In the world to come, there 
will be no distinctions … as 
there were none in the world 
before the sin [in the Garden 
of Eden]. Everything will be 
equally holy.” In this model, the 
holiness of the Temple will one 
day transcend its own walls, 
making all the world a Holy of 
Holies. Shabbat will not end on 
Saturday night but be our every 
day. And the Jewish wedding 
will be a ceremony that cele-
brates all human connections 
as infinitely beloved.
Yet, since the world to come 

has yet to come and we’re in 
the here and now, what do we 
do with these two opposing 
models?
Perhaps a teaching from 
Rabbi A.Y. Kook can bridge the 
two. Commenting on the prac-
tice of Israel sanctifying 
their first-borns, Kook 
suggests that revealing 
their particular sanctity 
“will lead to exposing the 
holy light that is in all 
existence.” Here, Kook 
seems to understand 
that “picking one holy 
thing is a starting point.” 
That the goal of expos-
ing the holiness hidden 
in any one thing is to 
move us toward a time 
when we open our eyes 
to the holiness in everything. 
Sanctified separation as prac-
tice for expansive oneness.
So what does it mean for 
us to be a holy people? In the 
words of Rabbi Margie Klein 
Ronkin and Ebn Leader: “From 
this perspective, God’s purpose 
in uplifting the people of Israel 
was for Jews to live in a way 
that inspires others to craft 
similarly close relationships 
with the Divine … What ulti-
mately matters is not just that 
Israel is holy, but that we help 
reveal the holiness present all 
around us. If we stay closed off 
and do not affect anyone else, 
we have failed in our mission.”
In this time, may we muster 
the holy chutzpah to not sepa-
rate ourselves in search of nar-
row sanctity, but strive to fulfill 
our mission of being holy by 
uplifting the sacred whole. 

Rabbi Nate DeGroot serves as 

Associate Director for The Shalom 

Center and rabbi for Temple in 
Jackson.

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Nate 
DeGroot

Parshat 

Kedoshim: 

Leviticus 

19:1-20:27; 

Ezekiel 

22:1-19.

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