Holiness and Loneliness - Commentary of Parashat Kedoshim

Weekly Torah reflections from Matthew Schultz, a rabbinical student at Hebrew College.

“You shall be holy,” says this week’s Torah portion, but perhaps a better translation would be: “You shall be separate.” 

The Hebrew word for holiness, Kedusha, does not mean what its English equivalent means. The English “holiness” comes to us from proto-Germanic and is connected to health and wholeness. 

In Hebraic thought, on the other hand, to be holy is to be consecrated—set aside for a sacred purpose. 

We see this at play in the laws of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. A holy incense was burned as an offering to God, but it was expressly forbidden to compound this incense for profane uses, such as perfuming one’s home. 

The Kodesh (the Holy) was an area in the Temple which only priests were allowed to enter. The Kodesh Ha’Kodeshim (the Holy of Holies) was an area into which only the High Priest was allowed to enter.

The holiness of a thing or a space is thus determined precisely by its separateness and exclusivity.

To someone raised in a Western/Christian culture, this sounds somehow unfitting. Holiness ought to be inclusive. It ought to be about communion, not separation.

When we hear the word “separation” we think of alienation and loneliness.

But there is nothing alienated or lonely about the Jewish concept of Kedusha. Holiness, in the Torah, is about intimacy with God.

In Parashat Kedoshim, the entire Jewish people is called to join the priests in this intimate space.

In the religious world of the ancient near east, the idea that the entire people—men and women, rich and poor—would all be “holy” was radical.

“You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you.”

To be “kadosh” is to be different from those around you. There’s no denying that this message can feel painful, especially at a time of shocking antisemitism in America and increasingly vigorous attempts to isolate Israel on the world stage. 

But the portion also contains a consolation. 

”וִהְיִיתֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֑ים כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם”

“You shall be holy for I, Hashem, am your God.”

We are not alone if we know where to look.