דַּבֵּר אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי ד’ אֱלֹקיכֶם
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.” The Midrash continues that 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.
This is very puzzling. Does Hashem need our sanctification? Isn’t Hashem inherently holy?
Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky (1913-1979), of blessed memory, explained this Midrash with an important insight into what the meaning of קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ, you shall be holy, means. When the Midrash states that we are sanctifying Hashem by sanctifying ourselves it means that we are fulfilling the purpose of creation which is to proclaim His honor and sanctify His name in the world. 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 as following the word of Hashem. 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 now to the rest of this Midrash that states that you might think that if you sanctify Me I will be sanctified and otherwise not. One might mistakenly believe that Hashem’s honor actually depends on us and if we fail to withstand the challenges of the material world there will be no other way 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 the world recognizes Him without us. But He has blessed us with the privelage to bring about this sanctification through our actions.
As we say in the Shacharit (morning) prayers, 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