With Parashat K’doshim, we begin what the rabbis of the Midrash recognized to be a distinct section of the Torah, "the section dealing with holiness". In this estimation, they anticipated modern scholarship, which also recognizes a distinct "Holiness Code" within the various strands that comprise our Torah. Characteristic of this portion of Scripture is the repeated injunction, "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
I can think of no more sublime religious imperative. Yet, its lofty elegance and moral rigor notwithstanding, it also raises a problem for us and for our ancestors. In repeating the instruction to be holy, the Torah tells us what to be without telling us what that attribute entails. What exactly does being "holy" mean?
We are not the first generation to be perplexed. In Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah, different rabbis perceived different definitions lurking underneath this enigmatic term. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai links holiness to a sense of justice, quoting the prophet Isaiah that "the Lord of hosts is exalted through justice." Rabbi Judah reads a notion of distinctiveness into the term "holy," saying "the distinction You (God) conferred in Your world is eternal." Rabbi Levi understood holiness as inextricably connected to the unique status of the Land of Israel, or--like Rabbi Judah--to distinctiveness. Thus, Rabbi Levi quotes God as saying to the Jewish People: "My children, as I am separate, so you be separate; as I am holy, so you be holy." While this ancient rabbinic debate about holiness shows no sign of slowing down in our own time, one ancient discussion about holiness bears particular relevance to the reality of Jewish life in America.
Much grief and regret is expressed in print and in rabbinic sermons about the abysmal level of Jewish learning in America. Through the loving blur of nostalgia, Jews look back to the "good old days" of Eastern Europe when every male was a yeshivah bochur (a rabbinic student), everyone was pious, and everyone was observant. (Never mind that millions left that community at the first available opportunity!)
Time and again, we are scolded that all Jews must be learning Jews, and that American Jewry is only a pale imitation of "real" Jewish life, meaning one in which every Jew is a Torah scholar of sorts.
As laudable as that goal may be, it never represented the reality of Jewish living. Nor, according to the rabbis of Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah, did it represent the only way to embody holiness.
Recognizing that holiness comes from the Torah, they noticed that the Torah itself says, "She is a tree of life to them that hold fast to her," and they understood the "she" in question to be self-referential. They are quick to recognize that the Torah doesn't claim to be a source of life only for those who study it, or even just for those who observe it, but rather for all who hold fast to it." Anyone who contributes, in whatever way they can, to the collective relationship between the Jewish people and the Torah merits inclusion in our ultimate redemption.
Rabbi Huna is explicit on that point: "If a person feels weighed down by transgression, what action will merit life? If accustomed to read one page of Scripture, let that person read two pages. If accustomed to study one chapter of Mishnah, study two chapters.
"But what if that person was not accustomed to read Scripture or to study Mishnah at all? What then should that person do to merit life? Such a one should get an appointment as a communal leader or as an administrator of tzedakah and will thereby merit life."
While learning remains the ideal, Rabbi Huna and his colleagues, our Sages of blessed memory, recognize that not everyone would be able to study our sacred writings. That deficiency, while regrettable, does not sunder a Jew from our collective heritage of Torah and its rewards. Rather, the rabbis instruct, let those who cannot study perform acts of charity to support Jewish institutions, thereby perpetuating the values and learning of our ancient heritage. Let those who cannot themselves learn assist other Jews by strengthening our synagogues, our religious schools and day schools, our rabbinical schools and Universities. Let those who cannot learn volunteer their time to serve on the endless committees, boards, and organizations that keep the Jewish people coherent and vibrant wherever we may dwell.
Not being able to study Torah does not sunder a Jew from membership in the Jewish People, nor in our redemption. Any Jew who supports Jewish living and Jewish community, who makes Torah study possible for others or who devotes time to protecting the interests and needs of the Jewish community remains inseparably linked to our ancient covenant with God and our ever-renewing folk.
May all of us, joined in a single band, soon merit the redemption of our people, of all humanity, and of all the earth.
Shabbat shalom.