ב דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.
What is holiness? Rambam in Hilchot De’ot 1:6 tells us:
ומצווין אנו ללכת בדרכים אלו הבינוניים, והם הדרכים הטובים והישרים, שנאמר "והלכת, בדרכיו". כך לימדו בפירוש מצוה זו: מה הוא נקרא חנון, אף אתה היה חנון; מה הוא נקרא רחום, אף אתה היה רחום; מה הוא נקרא קדוש, אף אתה היה קדוש
(My paraphrased translation) –
We are told to follow these ways that are the mean. They are the good and straight ways that copy HKBH as it says in Devarim 28:9 you should follow in His ways. This is how to Rabbi taught this Mitzvah: Just as He is gracious so shall you be gracious; just as He is compassionate so shall you be compassionate; just as He is holy so shall you be holy.
Holiness therefore means to act in a way that is balanced. In the Halachot preceding this one Rambam explained that we all have natural tendencies that are not always in balance. Some of us, for example, are more prone to anger while others are more prone to passivity. The correct way is to be able to show anger (note my choice of language – one may never be really angry – a discussion for another time) when necessary and be passive when it is proper. To train in controlling his impulses, an angry person must at first teach himself to never become angry, even at times when he should. After learning to control his impulses he then allows himself slowly to act as needed. A person that has perfected a trait is considered holy.
The Torah teaches us the balanced or to be more exact how to follow the mean- the middle road. In MN 2:39 Rambam states:
“It is clear that the Law is normal in this sense; for it contains "Just statutes and judgments" (Deut. iv. 8); but "just" is here identical with "equibalanced." The statutes of the Law do not impose burdens or excesses as are implied in the service of a hermit or pilgrim, and the like; but, on the other hand, they are not so deficient as to lead to gluttony or lewdness, or to prevent, as the religious laws of the heathen nations do, the development of man's moral and intellectual faculties.”
In other words following the Mitzvot trains us to maintain a balanced way of life without giving in completely to materialism but also not rejecting it completely. We do have to live and act in a material universe and our spiritual existence is impossible without our material wellbeing. The Torah is teaching us to find the right balance.
This explains Rambam in Sefer Hamitzvot:
ספר המצוות לרמב"ם שורש ד
. כאילו יאמר היה קדוש בהיותך עושה כל מה שצויתיך בו ונזהר מכל מה שהזהרתיך ממנו. ולשון ספרא קדושים תהיו פרושים תהיו. רוצה לומר הבדלו מן הדברים המגונים כלם שהזהרתי אתכם מהם….כי זה הצווי אינו צווי עומד בעצמו אבל הוא נמשך אחר מצוה שנצטוו בה ומקיים הצווי ההוא יקרא קדוש. ואין הפרש בין אמרו קדושים תהיו או אילו אמר עשו מצותי..
(My translation/paraphrase with comments)
Discussing the words קדושים תהיו : It is as if God says - be holy by doing all that I ordered you and refrain from doing all that I forbade. In other words, keep away from the ugly things I warned you against… When the Torah tells us to be holy it is not a separate mitzvah (the context of this discussion is whether קדושים תהיו is a Mitzvah on its own or as Rambam explains here an admonition to keep the Mitzvot in general) but is a description of a person that keeps a Mitzvah that he was ordered to do. There is no difference between if He would have said be holy or if he would said do My Mitzvot.
The Torah’s purpose being to make us into better people by being following the mean makes us holy, which is the word that describes a person that is perfectly balanced.
This is quite a different understanding of holiness than the popular concept of it being some mystical state.
If I get around to it I will discuss Ramban’s understanding of this verse.
Some observations regarding your latest post –
ReplyDelete1) Chapter 1 from Hilchot De’ot does not appear to be discussing kedusha, it is discussing the way one should live one’s life, following the golden mean, etc. Rambam there describes a person who acts in this way as a חכם or חסיד.
Although the word קדוש is mentioned in that one quote – I do not think it is a fair inference to say that Rambam there was defining קדוש.
2) The second quote you bring doesn’t mention kedusha and the third quote which is all about kedusha doesn’t mention the golden mean. The third quote seems to equate kedusha with refraining from all that is prohibited by the Torah (or at least from the ugly/distasteful things). And the Sifra defines the core meaning of kadosh - separating oneself from… Rashi makes the point that the passuk is referring to sexual/marriage transgressions in particular. If I recall correctly, Rabbenu Hakadosh, (R. Yehudah HaNasi) is described that way because of his particular care in this area.
I think it is interesting in this quote that the Rambam goes beyond the Sifra and adds that holiness includes fullfilling the positive commandments as well.
To sum up, I don’t think that the Rambam is describing kedusha as you posit; there are really two separate ideas being discussed here.
However, I must admit that I don’t understand how the Rambam derives his golden mean from
“Just as He is gracious so shall you be gracious; just as He is compassionate so shall you be compassionate; just as He is holy so shall you be holy.”
And even more fundamentally, which is where I thought you were heading – what is the meaning of kadosh as applied in its most essential way, as a description of Hashem?, e.g., כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי.
PG
R. Phil Goode,
ReplyDeleteNice to see that you are still following my blog.
In Hil de'ot Rambam is telling us that the way to become a Chacham is to follow the mean. He then tells us the basis for that is to emulate Hashem, vehalachta bidrachav which translates into Chanun, Rachum and Kadosh. Kadosh is therefore not doing more than Mitzvot but just keeping them.
In MN he tells us that the Torah is a way to the mean. (not too much deprivation etc...)
In Sefer Hamitzvot he tells us that Kadosh is one who keeps the Mitzvot of the Torah.
Does it not therefore lead us to understand that Kadosh is one who follows the Mitzvot which is the mean?
Now you are correct it still does not tell us what Kadosh is as it relates to Hashem. That is for another and much lengthier post.
I just happened this morning to look at the ramban on this passuk and as usual one needs to read Rambam first as Ramban talks to him openly or with him in mind.
Thank you for reading.
>Kadosh is therefore not doing more than Mitzvot but just keeping them.
ReplyDeleteAs I reread my commnet this belongs after the quote from sefer hamitzvot.
Would you say that acc to Rambam the concept of kedusha is inseperable from mitzvos - i.e. you cannot be a spiritually 'holy' person without fulfilling commandments?
ReplyDeleteR. Chaim, you are bringing up an interesting point. What comes to mind is Rambam at the end of Shmita veyovel:
ReplyDeleteולא שבט לוי בלבד, אלא כל איש ואיש מכל באי העולם אשר נדבה רוחו אותו והבינו מדעו להיבדל לעמוד לפני ה' לשרתו ולעובדו לדעה את ה', והלך ישר כמו שעשהו האלוהים, ופרק מעל צווארו עול החשבונות הרבים אשר ביקשו בני האדם--הרי זה נתקדש קודש קודשים
We are talking about someone who may not even be a Jew "Mikol Ba'ei Olam"!
Also see the Braita of R. Pinchas ben Ya'ir "Yre'at Chet meivi lyedei kedusha, Kedusha meivi ly'edei ruach hakodesh" (as you know there are many versions of this braita).
I would say that what Rambam is telling us is that the goal of mitzvot is to make us balanced people which will allow us to be Masig HKBH to the best of our ability. That would also be the braita where kedusha brings about Ruach hakodesh which again means Hassaga. There may be other ways to do that as the Kol Ba'ei olam suggests.
So I would reverse your statement - Kiyum mitzvot properly (this is the key) is inseparable from Kedusha in the sense that it will not fail to bring it about, Kedusha is not necessarily inseparable from Mitzvot.
The interesting thing though is that in the case of a Jew, there is no other way to get to kedusha. For him rejecting Kiyum Mitzvot is prikat ol which is counter the whole idea of avodah. Kafa aleihem har kegigit!