I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Abba Wagensberg entitled ‘Holy Measures’ sharing a beautiful idea from the Slonimer Rebbe.
This week's Torah reading tells of the Exodus from Egypt. In his monumental work, Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe writes that the Jewish people merited to leave Egypt only because they cultivated within themselves a concept of kedusha (holiness). This is based on the verse: "And Moses took the bones of Yosef" (Exodus 13:19). However the word for "bones" - "atzamot" - is very close to another Hebrew word, "atzmuto," which means "his essence." Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, did not only take the bones of Yosef; he also took with him the essence of Yosef.
What is the essence of Yosef? [...] Yosef HaTzaddik, Yosef the righteous one, [...] withheld himself from engaging in immorality with the wife of Potiphar and anyone else. So Moses took with him not just the bones of Yosef, but also the essence of what Yosef represents - which is kedusha, separateness from immorality. Only in the merit of kedusha are the Jewish people redeemed from Egypt.
The commandment to be holy is repeated more often throughout the Torah than any other mitzvah. [...] Obviously, being holy is a very central part of being Jewish. So, the Slonimer Rebbe asks, why isn't it counted as one of the 613 commandants of the Torah? He answers that holiness is not a specific or technical issue that can be addressed by Jewish Law. Rather, it is what being Jewish is all about. If a person is not holy, he is not just lacking in one particular area, his Judaism is deficient as a whole. Holiness is the true measure of a Jew and any lack in this area is a blemish on one's entire being. The Slonimer Rebbe maintains that just as there is no commandment to "be Jewish," so too "being holy" is so much of the essence, that it cannot be an individual commandment.
As the Torah says: "You are a holy nation unto God your God and God has chosen you" (Deut. 14:2). It is only when we choose to live the lives of a holy people that we merit being the chosen people. Instead of being numbered among the 613 specific commandments, holiness is a "global mitzvah." [...]
May we all think holy, and be holy, and live up to the innate holiness that lies inside us. Just as our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of their holiness, so we too should be redeemed from our current exile in the merit of our own efforts to be holy.
Have a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
