Parshas קדושים starts with the פסוק
קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה’ אלוקיכם.
The obvious question is, how can we, ordinary people, be expected to be קדושים?
Sefer נתיבות שלום quotes תנא דבי אליהו:
קדושת הקב”ה, קדושת שבת וקדושת ישראל שלשתן חשובות כאחד
. There are 3 equal קדושות:
הקב”ה, שבת, כלל ישראל.
How can we understand this comparison?
We know that unlike יום טוב, which is dependent on כלל ישראל determining its day, the קדושה of שבת is not dependent on anything external, rather הקב”ה himself infuses שבת each week with קדושה.
Similarly, says the נתיבות שלום, the קדושה of each and every Yid is also not dependent on anything external. Rather it was infused in us by the רבש”ע. As we say אשר קדשנו במצוותיו Hashem gave us of His own קדושה.
We can now understand how we can be given the commandment to be קדושים. The expectation is not for us to generate קדושה on our own. Rather we just need to tap into and connect to the great קדושה that was already put into us by the רבש”ע, in our role as His nation.
We’ll conclude with a story that highlights this point. Rav Yisrael Reisman was recovering from surgery in a local hospital when he was approached by the surgeon.
” Rabbi, is it true that you give a lecture every Saturday night that’s attended by hundreds of men and women?” After Rav Reisman answered in the affirmative, the doctor continued, ” Do the attendees get any certification or continuing education credits by coming? When answered in the negative, the doctor astonishingly asked: ” If there’s no credits or certification, why in the world do hundreds of people leave their homes on a Saturday night to attend?” Replied Rav Reisman, ” Doctor, this is something you’ll never understand.”
Indeed, the nations of the world cannot understand our connection and attachment to תורה and קדושה. But we do understand it:
קדושים תהיו- כי קדוש אני ה’ אלוקיכם
May we merit to live a life of קדושה every day of out lives.
Weekly Parsha Shiur 