“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” Parashat Kedoshim begins with this powerful command, telling us to be holy because God is holy. It pushes us, giving us an expectation that we just can’t work our way around. We aren’t commanded to be holy because it will extend our lives, or because it will bring us peace. We are told exactly why we must be holy— because God is holy. It is a beautiful command too, like a parent rejoicing in the similarity between themselves and their child, God’s desire for us to emulate God comes from a place of love. There is just one major issue— how do we know what makes a person holy?
The Torah never likes to give us easily found answers. Once the command to be holy is given, instead of telling us explicitly what it means it goes back to the usual content of Leviticus, telling us laws and at least once saying something that would be controversial today. While we may be sick of hearing these laws, many of which are rehashes of the 10 Commandments we’ve already heard, the key to finding out exactly how we can be holy is actually hidden in these laws.
Before we start picking apart what the laws later in the parsha offer as a workable definition of “holiness,” we should first look at traditional understandings of the command to be holy. One of the best places to begin a search is in the work of the legendary medieval commentator Rashi. Rashi teaches us that this is a commandment to separate ourselves from sexual immorality. He says “all places that you find a barrier to sexual immorality, you will find holiness.” Is that all though, avoid sexual immoralities and you will be a holy person? I think we can all agree there are plenty of people who are abstinent are not necessarily good people. Are those who practice abstinence, yet treat others like dirt still holier than others?
Sexual behavior is indeed important to understanding the concept of holiness, but it is not its defining element. Going back to the laws that are given in Kedoshim, they appear to touch upon random topics. We are commanded to honor our parents, and to not gossip. We are told to keep the Shabbat, and to make our sacrifices intentional. Beware idolatry and sorcery, and don’t pervert justice. The laws then close with a list of forbidden sexual acts. They jump all over, with seemingly little connecting them.
This randomness is intentional. The Torah is trying to show us that holiness encompasses a wide range of commandments. There are three ways in which we can do wrong, each demonstrated by these laws: First is through movement— we can steal from others or eat from a tree that we were commanded not to eat from. Second is through speech—we can bare tales or we can interrupt others in the middle of speaking. Third is thought—we can make a sacrifice without thinking, we can believe that worthless things have power. What do these laws then show us? Holiness comes from the ability to control our actions on all three levels. To be holy, we must beware of how we act, how we speak, and even how we think.
Where does sexual immorality fall into this? Sexual behavior is a mixture of all three categories. It is obviously a very physical act, but it is also deeply connected with speech and thought. The way we speak about those we are attracted to, or not attracted to, is often used in an objectifying manner. “He’s really hot” and “Check out her [tokhes]” are expressions that treat a person not as a human, but as an object, a piece of meat. In the world of thought, sex is said to be on every man’s mind for a reason. It has a tendency to dominate the way many people think, and thoughts, if not controlled, can lead to those negative actions and speech. Thinking of a person in an objectifying manner can be just as harmful as speaking about them that way.
Yet, are these reason enough for sexual immorality to be the capstone to defining holiness? No. What makes sexual immorality so important to understanding holiness is that it is such a strong temptation. Those other laws listed in the Kedoshim are not necessarily difficult to keep. They may require some self-control, but most people can easily subdue any desire to perform them. However, sexual temptation is a powerful force of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, that most people must struggle against.
The first century sage Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah taught that instead of pretending like we don’t desire things that are forbidden, we should rather think, “I want to, but what can I do? My Father in Heaven forbids it.” What this is really saying is that holiness is not found through the scrupulous following of divine laws, it comes from the actual struggle against temptation. That is why Rashi said that holiness is found where there are barriers against sexual immorality. It isn’t sex that makes a person unholy, or abstinence that makes them holy. It is the barrier, the attempt to control ourselves, that creates holiness.
The Torah uses sexual restraint as an example of strong self-control. Yet, it leaves this example until the end of the portion to show that we can’t defeat temptation in one great leap, we must tackle smaller temptations first. Learn to build small fences as barriers before moving on to great walls.
David Gutbezahl is a student at Gratz College.
