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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

In the middle of “Yachatz,” a blind man attending a Seder began to feel the middle matza all over. After a few minutes of running his fingers over the bumps in the matza he said, “Who wrote this nonsense?”

HOLIER ART THOU

This week’s parsha (Acharei Mos-) Kedoshim is considered one of the most comprehensive parshiyos in the Torah. It is one of the only parshiyos in the Torah that was said ‘Hakhel’ style (albeit not in a Hakhel year) in the presence of all the Jewish people. This shows how important it is. The holy Zohar says that when the ‘holy fellowship’ joined together to learn parshas Kedoshim, they rejoiced since it is ‘klal’ and the ‘signet of truth’ of the entire Torah.

The question is, what is kedusha and (of course) how does kedusha get us to the Geula? Chassidus teaches us (based on Rashi at the beginning of the parsha) that kedusha is “havdala,” the ability to be different than the other nations around us. Not only in matters having to do with Torah and mitzvos but also in mundane, optional matters such as eating and drinking, business etc., those areas where a Jew ostensibly seems the same as other nations. As our sages say, “Sanctify yourself in that which is permitted to you.”

One of the main novelties of the Geula will be in the area of kedusha. The Gemara (Bava Basra 75b) says, “in the future, the tzaddikim will have ‘Kadosh’ said before them [by the ministering angels] just as it is said before the Holy One blessed be He, as it says (Yeshaya 4:3), ‘And it shall come to pass that every survivor shall be in Zion, and everyone who is left, in Jerusalem; ‘holy’ shall be said of him …’” That means that in the future not only will Hashem be called “holy” but every Jew will earn this title because then it will be revealed to all that “and Your nation are all righteous” – all will be righteous, and if all are righteous, they are also all holy, just like Hashem Himself!

This is one of the reasons brought in Chassidus for the fact that the Torah does not say “be holy” in the form of a command but “holy shall you be,” to teach us that the holiness of the Jewish people is certain and assured to the extent that the Torah does not need to command us about it.

The question then is, how? How do we achieve this kedusha? How can we internalize and reveal it within us? And what is the difference between the holiness of the Jewish people while in exile to when they are in the Geula?

We find the answer within the verses of the Torah. The Torah describes the source of holiness and our ability to connect to it, with three words: “ki ani Hashem” (because I am G-d). Every Jew is connected to G-d who is the source of kedusha. Through intensifying that innate bond with G-d, he receives and becomes a part of the kedusha. If we wonder from where do we have the ability to conduct ourselves with kedusha and tahara at a time when we are a tiny percentage of Jews within the big world, the answer is that each of us is walking about with the power of Hashem, the infinite Creator who is omnipotent and who gives us the power to overcome all.

Despite this, the kedusha of the Jewish people while in exile is not complete; it will reach perfection only in the Geula because only then will kedusha penetrate even our physical bodies. In exile, kedusha is expressed mainly in our spiritual bond with G-d. That means that while in exile, the source of kedusha comes from the neshama which cleaves to G-d. A Jew tries to express this kedusha in everything he does, even the physical. The G-dly soul tries to influence the body from within to change and sanctify his thoughts, speech and actions, to change his manner of eating and drinking, how he makes a livelihood, etc. But even if the neshama is successful in its efforts to influence the body, there is still the sense of that influence coming from an external source; it is still not “I.”

In contrast, in the true and complete Geula, the kedusha of the Jewish people will be from the body itself, not just as a “mekabel” but as a “mashpia.” Not just as an aspect imposed from without but as an inseparable part of one’s inner sense of self.

HOLY IS FOREVER

In exile, even tzaddikim who serve G-d and cleave to Him are not called kedoshim in the sense that kedusha is openly apparent in them, to the extent of absolute reality.

But in the Geula, every Jew (not just tzaddikim) will merit a state of refinement of the corporeal so that his physical body will express and reveal G-dliness, to the exclusion of all else. That is why the angels will then say about all the Jewish people that they are “holy.”

This essential difference is also expressed in the channeling of G-dly light in all the worlds. Chassidus explains that the word “kadosh” is comprised of the word “kodesh” with the addition of a “vav” which is a line that is drawn down. It represents the spiritual hamshacha/channeling to this world. Throughout exile, the angels say “kadosh” before G-d in order to drawn down and receive a bit of chayus and spiritual light, while we receive the chayus and light down here in this world through their agency.

But in the Geula it will all change. The angels will say “kadosh” to us because it will be revealed how the kedusha is present inside of us, inside of every Jew. Therefore, the angels will seek to get some light and chayus for themselves from us.

This spiritual difference (which may sound a bit philosophical or otherworldly to some of our readers) has practical ramifications for the era of the Geula. For example, the Gemara (Sanhedrin 92a) learns that in the future time “tzaddikim will never return to their dust,” i.e. tzaddikim (“and all Your people are righteous) will live forever! What is the source for this fantastical statement? The same verse from which the Gemara learns that in the future “kadosh” will be said to the tzaddikim! That means that kedusha and eternal life go hand in hand. Every kadosh is eternal, and everything eternal is kadosh! As the Gemara puts it, “Just as kadosh exists forever, so too they exist forever!”

So whoever wants eternal life should focus on a life of holiness, because our personal sanctification in this world, not only when we are involved in Torah and mitzvos, but at every moment, hastens and advances our eternal life! Put simply, when we try to adopt an approach of “for the sake of heaven” in our daily lives, and remember that “not everything that is permissible is necessary,” then we hasten the realization of the promise, “In the future, the tzaddikim will have ‘kadosh’ said before them.’”

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a short, powerful story about our ability to sanctify ourselves. There was a need for an additional secretary in the Rebbe’s office. Rabbi Chodakov, the head secretary, heard about a young, Yerushalmi bachur (Rabbi Binyamin Klein a’h) and decided to include him in the secretarial staff.

On his first day on the job, R’ Chodakov said to the young secretary: Many personal and communal secrets abound here. I am not demanding that you not see, because you will see. I don’t demand that you not hear, because you will hear. I do demand that you not speak, because this is within your control.

Good Shabbos!

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