KEDOSHIM - TAHARA AND KEDUSHAH

 November,4, 1992

"You shall be holy; for I the Lord your G-d am holy."  Leviticus 19:2

A few weeks ago, when I was in Shul, I looked around at my fellow congregants and noticed something that I had sensed many times before but had never been able to verbalize.  They were all good frum Jews, who daven and learn regularly, and carefully observe Hallachah.  They feel proud that their G-d given life style protects them and their families from the Tumeh that is ravaging the external society that surrounds us.  As Rabbi Akiva says in the last Mishna of Yuma, the Torah is like a Mikveh, and by immersing ourselves in it, we become Tahor.  My friends in Shul that day had striven to achieve that state of Tahara, and I believe their family lives by and large showed that they were successful.

But still, I sensed that day that something very important was still lacking.  And then it hit me:  I sensed a great deal of Tahara, but not a high level of Kedushah.

I seemed to remember that this topic is covered in Misilas Yeshorum, so I reviewed this issue a few days later.  The book describes the levels that a Jew tries to achieve in his struggle for perfection.  Tahara is at a middle level, and Kedusha is at the highest level.  Tahara can be generally defined as being separated from things that are Tomay, impure.  But the Misilas Yeshorum says that to achieve Kedusha, one must try to become separated from all aspects of the physical that distance us from the spiritual.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explains: "(Kedushah) consists in one's completely separating and removing himself from earthiness, and clinging always, at all periods and times, to his G-d." (Page 327 in Feldheim edition).

Kedusha is described as the ultimate spiritual destination, the goal of Jewish life that we must all strive to attain.  Tahara is a necessary stage along the way.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto highlights the distinction:  "Note the distinction between one who is Tahar and one who is Kadosh.  The earthy actions of the first... escape the Evil in earthiness and remain pure.  But they do not approach Holiness...One who is Kadosh, however, and clings constantly to his G-d, his soul traveling in channels of truth, amidst the love and fear of his Creator ... Such a person is himself considered a tabernacle, a sanctuary, an altar." (page 329)

Being Tahar is a good and essential step in a Jew's spiritual journey.  But what is necessary for him to reach the higher level of Kedushah?  Luzzatto explains that he must develop the trait of anivus, humility. And he must overcome his attachments to wealth and honor:

"It is the desire for wealth which binds a man with worldly bonds and places the thongs of labor and preoccupation upon his arms... It is this desire which removes one from Divine service... The desire for honor is even greater than the desire for wealth, for it is possible for a person to overcome his inclination for wealth and the other pleasures, and still be pressed by the desire for honor being unable to tolerate being, and seeing himself beneath his friends." (p 167, 169)

As I thought about this distinction, many ideas became clearer to me.  This is why Shabbos is called the day that is Kadosh.  Shabbos is a day dedicated to Hashem.  Our homes become a mini Bais Hamikdosh, we dress in our best clean clothes likea Kohen, and our table is like a Mizbeach, where our meals are a form of Avodah.  We feel the Kedushah of Shabbos because it is essentially spiritual.  We are to leave behind thoughts of money, fixing, and materialism.

This doesn't mean that a person who strives for Kedushah should give up his physical possessions. But the physical things should be used in service to Hashem, and one should give up the 'attachment' to the physical.  Rebbi Yehuda Ha Nasi was one of the richest Jews who ever lived.  But he is called Rebbi Ha Kodesh because as he said on his death bed, he never got as much as a finger nail's pleasure for himself from the wealth, he used it all in service to Hashem.

I have been in Shul's where I didn't feel the warmth, humility, and openness that come from people who are Kadosh, but rather the protectivenss and distance that might characterize people who feel that Tahara is 'good enough'.  I have known Shul's where newcomers don't get a warm welcome, and where talk of helping the non-religious or singles leaves the members cold and uninterested.

Perhaps they see remaining Tahar as the goal of Judaism, and Kedushah as consigned to the realm of the 'tzaddik'.  Or perhaps they sense that to strive harder for Kedushah means trying to eradicate the trappings of materialism and desire for honor that are hallmarks of our modern age.

But perhaps that is a very real mistake.  Perhaps Judiasm that rests on the plateau of Tahara, and does not strive energetically and effectively towards the goal of Kedushah is a shadow of what Judiasm is meant to be.  Hashem said on Mount Sinai He wants us to be a 'Goy KADOSH', a HOLY nation.

In a sense, Tahara can be the opposite of Kedushah.  Someone who is Tahar can be cold, stand offish, and even selfish, as long as he separates himself from Tumeh.  But someone who is Kadosh feels the Neshamah in other people and is warm and expansive.  Perhaps a Judiasm that lacks the warmth of that Kedusha is not enough.

The Gemorrah describes in Baba Metziah how Rebbi Yochanan and his talmidim were walking in Yerushalim and found a wallet in the street. He pointed out that according to Hallachah, the person who lost the wallet was Meyayish, had given up hope of finding it again, and therefore the finders did not have to return it according to the strict letter of the law.  But of course, if a person wanted to go beyond the law, and act lifnim meshuras hadin, he would certainly return it.  The Second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed, he said, because the Jews didn't go beyond the letter of the law.

A person who has only reached the level of Tahara is capable of not returning the wallet, especially if he has not shaken off the desire for material possessions.  Look at the money he'd be giving up.  But someone who is Kadosh certainly would return the wallet, because he would feel the pain of the person who lost it, and would have overcome the desire for the money.  In these terms, perhaps the Bais HaMikdosh was destroyed because they felt satisfied with the level of Tahara and weren't striving hard enough to reach the level of Kedushah.

In Nedarim it says that the second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed because they learned Torah without a Brocha.  It's been explained that they learned Torah for Honor and competitiveness.  Not having overcome the desire for Honor is a sign of being Tahar without being Kadosh.

And in Yuma it says that the Bais HaMikdosh was destroyed because, even though the people excelled in Torah and Mitzvahs, they were guilty of Sinas Chinim.  Torah and Mitzvahs can be attained by someone who has reached the level of Tahara.  But someone who is Kadosh cannot hate others without cause, doesn't talk Loshon Hara, because he feels the pain of others so strongly, and he feels the bond between his Neshama and that of other people.

After all, the name Bais HaMikdosh signifies a House of Kedushah.  And if the Jewish people are not Kadosh enough, then perhaps we no longer merited a house of Kedushah where Hashem would dwell in our midst.  The Ramban in his famous explanation of the sentence 'Kedoshim tehu (you shall be holy)', says that obvserving all the mitzvos without striving for Kedushah is just not enough for the Jewish people.  Our sages criticize Noah because Tahara was enough for him, but praise Abraham who scaled the heights of Kedushah and reached out to other people.  Jews mark their spiritual heritage from Abraham, not Noah.

Certainly it is important to be Tahar before we scale the heights of Kedushah.  There were severe penalties for people who entered the Bais Hamikdosh when they were Tomey, and a Kohen who knowingly does the Avodah when he is Tomay is liable to the death penalty from Heaven.  Perhaps Nadav and Avihu reached for Kedushah before they were Tahar.  Misillas Yasharim says that a person must be Tahar before genuine Kedushah can take hold.

But although the struggle to protect ourselves from the Tumeh in our society remains the primary fight, it is not enough.  We must strive for Kedushah.  Remaining complacent with Tahara often comes hand in hand with underestimating the destructive effects of the attraction of materialism and the desire for honor.  Moshe Rabbenu warned us of the problems that would occur when we become fat and rich.

Perhaps someone who rests on the plateau of Tahara is even fooling himself with regards to the safety of the Tahara.  To illustrate this, one can look at the Mishna in Messechet Taharas, 4:8.  It describes a situation where there are objects that are Tomay floating in water, and there is a question whether or not a person touched them.  'Reb Yehuda says, if a person is rising (aliyoso) he is considered Tahor, but a person who is falling (yeridoso) is considered Tomay'.  The pshat is that when a person rises out of water, the water and the objects in it are pushed away from him, and we assume they didn't touch him.  On the other hand, someone who goes down into the water creates a kind of hole in the water that the objects flow into, and therefore we suspect they touched him.

But there is a powerful implication here.  We are surrounded by Tumeh, and quite often there is a question whether we have been affected in some way by its effects.  If we are rising (spiritually), and striving towards the level of Kedushah, then we can assume that the Tumeh didn't touch us.  But if we are going down(spiritually), then we have to assume that the Tumeh did touch us, making us Tomey.

Perhaps the subtle seduction of materialism and the attraction to honor, so prevalent in the general society, has touched us more than we realize.  Perhaps it has caused us to compromise, to settle for Tahara instead of striving harder for Kedushah and the ideal of the Holy Nation that Hashem wants us to be.