"They will be sacred because I, Hashem, his God, am Sacred"
Parasha Ajarei Mot - Kedoshim Vayikra - Leviticus (16,1- 20, 27)
"Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel and tell them: They shall be sacred, because I, Hashem, your God, am Sacred"
There are two kinds of holiness, holiness that implies a departure from what is allowed by the Torah, "Sanctify yourself with what is allowed",
as wrote the Rambán; and there is also the holiness that implies a departure from what is prohibited by the Torah, and that is also called holiness, as Rashi explained about the phrase of the verse "Sacred shall be": "Get away of forbidden relationships and sin, because in every place where you find a departure from adultery, you will find holiness ” , and Rashi cites several examples.
This estrangement is expressed through a separation of the nations of the world, which conduct themselves freely in regard to forbidden relationships, food and any pleasure, while we limit ourselves in everything that concerns sins.
We can even explain that the words "sanctify yourself with what is allowed you" indicate that the way in which we should sanctify ourselves with what was allowed before the giving of the Torah is by distancing ourselves from it, because, by For example, prior to receiving the Torah we had not received the order regarding forbidden relationships— as for example, we see that Yaakov Avinu (our Patricia) married two sisters, and his sons married his twin sisters, and Amram married with his aunt Yojéved, for there was no prohibition on that. But now that we have received the Torah and accepted the decrees of the Blessed Creator, we sanctify ourselves by not approaching forbidden relationships, we did not eat what is forbidden, and we did not transgress any of the other prohibitions of the Torah.
We learn this from the verses found at the end of the parsha, where it says: “And you will be Holy (sacred) for Me, for I, Hashem, am Sacred, and I separated you from the peoples, so that you may be Mine ”.
What is the holiness with which Hashem sanctified us? The holiness referred to is the fact that He separated us from other peoples.
And about that verse, Rashi writes something shocking:
“If you separate from them, you belong to Me;
but if not, you belong to Nevujadnetzar and his comrades ”. < / p>
So it has been in all generations; Every time the Jews tried to get closer to the nations of the world, the non-Jews oppressed them more and more. And sadly, that is the situation today. Why why? Because Jews want to get closer to non-Jews.
Even here, in the sacred Land of Israel, there is the influence of the other nations of the world. That is "Nevujadnetzar". But who are “his comrades”?
They are all the oppressors who rise up against the People of Israel in each generation, for the same reason of wanting to get closer to non-Jews.
It is terrible that the Blessed Creator called Nevujadnetzar “My servant” and allowed him to destroy the Bet HaMikdash (the Great Temple) and the other cities of Israel.
However, of course, that was only at that time, when Israel was estranged from Hashem and between them there was no true proximity.
There is one more level of holiness that is "separate from the nations in My Name". This is what Rashi continues to explain about what our Sages say, of blessed memory:
"Rabbi Elazar ben Azariá says: 'Where do we learn that a person should not say:" I am disgusted by pork "," I am not interested in wearing clothes with shaatnez ", but rather say:" I would like to eat pork, but what can I do if Heavenly Father decreed that I can't ”? We learn it from what the verse says: "and I separated you from the peoples, so that you may be Mine", that is, May your separation from the nations be in My name, and turn away from sin and accept the yoke of the Sovereign of Heaven '”
In summary, we have three kinds of holiness: the first is "Sagrados shall be", which implies sanctifying oneself with what is allowed.
The second is “And you will sanctify yourselves and be holy, and you will observe My statutes and do them; I, Hashem, sanctify you ", that is to say, with the fact of fulfilling the statutes of Hashem (accept and fulfill them without objection) " I, Hashem, sanctify you ".
And the third is “And you will be holy to Me, for I, Hashem, am Sacred, and I will separate you from the peoples, so that you may be Mine ” , it means that their distance from them (from the
peoples) is in My name, in the name of Heaven; This is holiness par excellence.
It is said that "one mitzvah brings another mitzvah"; in the same way "one holiness brings another holiness".
The Torah requires the person to be of the "Sacred shall be" class at the beginning, sanctifying himself with what he is allowed, with common things, such as, for example, diminishing his conversation on trivial matters with the woman, or decrease the food you eat or the wine you drink.
Then it requires the person to be upright in their service to Hashem, as the verse says:
"and you will observe My statutes", in the sense of "By My statutes you
you will guide ”(Vaikrá 25: 3) , which are the laws and statutes that illuminate the path of the person; in this way, the person becomes closer to the Blessed Creator.
Then the verse says: "And you will be holy to Me" , that is, they become part of the Blessed Creator with which the difference between Israel and the nations. This is the greatest sanctification of the Name of Hashem that exists, as we say in the Shabbat prayer:
"And all Israel shall rest in him, who sanctify Your Name" , which means that Shabbat is one of the highest levels that the People of Israel have, and with it we sanctify Hashem. Furthermore, the more we separate ourselves from the nations, the more they give us respect; But when we try to copy their lifestyles, their hatred of us increases. (All this as we have seen, is allowed by the Blessed Creator, since He is the one who wants us "Holy or sacred" The word found in the Torah in the verse of Vayikra 19,2 is "Kadosh" that his translation can also be "Separated or Separated"
May it be His will that we have the merit of approaching and rising in the levels of holiness in the sense of “And they will be saints for Me.” Amen, so be it!
Dedicated for the Refua "healing" of all the sick of Am Israel and the world, also for all the people who are going through situations of need, that have Parnasa and Hatzalaja "Good sustenance and success"
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