דַּבֵּר אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי ה' אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם׃
Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God, Hashem, am holy. (19:2)
The Midrash makes a very enigmatic statement on this verse. Hashem is saying to us , "If you sanctify yourselves, I consider it as you are sanctifying me." Now,the Midrash continues, you might think that if you sanctify me then I will be sanctified and otherwise not. Therefore the verse concludes, “for I, your God Hashem, am holy.” I will be sanctified whether you sanctify me or not.
What does, "If you sanctify yourselves, I consider it as you are sanctifying me," really mean? Does Hashem need our sanctification? Isn’t Hashem inherently holy? And what does it mean to sanctify ourselves?
Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky (1913-1979), of blessed memory, explained that the purpose of creation is to proclaim Hashem’s honor and sanctify His name in the world. This means to declare and demonstrate that the world is His, that everything revolves around Him, and that everything exists to fulfill His will. We accomplish this by sanctifying ourselves.
Sanctifying ourselves means rising above the limitations of our physical being and withstanding the challenges of the material world that pull us away from being close with Hashem. Every time we find the strength to do this we are declaring that nothing is as valuable and worthwhile as following the will of Hashem. Thus our behavior automatically honors His name and proclaims His sanctity. That’s the meaning of, "If you sanctify yourselves, I consider it as you are sanctifying me.”
Let’s move on to the rest of this Midrash that states that you might think that if you sanctify Me I will be sanctified and otherwise not. Based on what we have just explained above we might mistakenly believe that Hashem’s honor actually depends on us because if we fail to withstand the challenges of the material world then what other way will there be for His sanctity to be proclaimed? Therefore the verse tells us, “for I, your God Hashem, am holy.” I, says Hashem, will be sanctified whether you sanctify me or not. Hashem has His ways to make sure that it is clear that the world is his and follows His will without us. But He has blessed us with the opportunity and privelage to bring about this sanctification through our actions.
Therefore we say in Shacharit (morning prayers) every day:
אַשְׁרֵינוּ מַה־טּוֹב חֶלְקֵנוּ וּמַה־נָּעִים גּוֹרָלֵנוּ וּמַה־יָּפָה יְרֻשָּׁתֵנוּ
We are fortunate! How good is our portion! How pleasant is our destiny! How beautiful is our heritage!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak