Qedushah
(The following was used for a derashah at Bar Yochai Sephardic Congregation in Sunnyvale California on parashas Qedoshim. It's the further development of a number of ideas R' Gil Student and I wrote for Mesuqim MiDevash.)
The question of qedushah is central to the title phrase of parashas Qedoshim. “Qedoshim tihyu… – Be qadosh for I Am Qadosh.” (Vayiqra 19:2) But what is qedushah? Translating it as “sanctity” or “holiness” falls short as first, the meaning of the English words is not too clear, nor are we sure that they truly capture the connotations of the Hebrew original.
The Toras Kohanim on the pasuq writes “qedoshim tihyu – perushim tihyu, you shall be separated”. Along these lines, Rashi understands the pasuq as referring to the list of laws of intimacy with which the previous parashah concluded, as well as other transgressions. And he gives other examples where such a separation is associated with the concept of qedushah. The Ramban writes “make yourself qadosh with that which is permitted to you” by refraining from the permitted. It would seem that they are both defining qedushah as separation.
But there is also a real difference. Rashi discusses things that are specifically prohibited. The Ramban is quite specifically speaking about separating oneself from things that are not the topic of a specific prohibition – there is no ban on the action, but rather the action isn’t in concert with being a holy person.
However, Rav Shimon Shkop (Sha’arei Yosher, introduction, definitely worth printing up and reading!!!) notes that this definition fails for the clause – “for I am Qadosh”. There is no purpose or meaning in Hashem restraining Himself. (For that matter, it is arguable that perishus on His part would mean the item in question would cease to exist!)
Perhaps we could also note that the Ramban could not be defining qedushah since he uses the word “qadeish” in the purported definition. Rather, the Ramban is suggesting the way in which to obey the pasuq and become qadosh to someone who already knows what qedushah is.
In parashas Sheqalim, when we are told to take “half a sheqel of a sheqel haqodesh”, the Ramban explains that these sheqalim were considered sacred because they were used for holy purposes. The funds gathered by this census were donated towards the construction of the Mishkan, other “sheqel haqodesh” were used for buying qorbanos and utensils for the Mishkan or Miqdash, for pidyon haben. Rabbeinu Bachya also writes, "Since all mitzvos are the core of holiness and some mitzvos require this currency," the currency takes on a holiness corresponding to its use.
The Ramban continues, Hebrew is called lashon haqodesh - the holy language - because it was and continues to be used for holy purposes. It is the language in which G-d said “yehi or – let there be light”, in which He gave us the Torah and the Tanakh was written, the language in which our ancestors were named, etc…
Howerver, the Ramban notes, the Rambam has a very different understanding of why Hebrew is called lashon hakodesh. In Moreh Nevuchim (3:8), Rambam explains that Hebrew is called sacred because it has no specific words for uniquely male and female body parts, for the acts that lead to conception of a child, nor does it have precise terms for the various bodily emissions and excretions.
(The following idea from R' Romm is with thanks to R’ Gil Student.) R' Shimon Romm, a student of the pre-war and Shanghai Mirrer Yeshiva and later a rabbi in Washington Heights and a rosh yeshiva in Yeshiva University, explains this dispute between Rambam and Ramban as being a fundamental disagreement over the nature of qedushah, holiness. According to Ramban, holiness comes from being committed for a purpose. When currency is used for a mitzvah it becomes sacred and when a language is used to create the world and convey the Torah it becomes sanctified.
According to the Rambam, however, holiness is not due to a positive usage but to a lack of diminution of its purity. A language is inherently sacred and only loses that status when it contains less than holy words. Presumably, the Rambam would explain that the shekel haqodesh is called holy because, as the Ramban himself suggests at the beginning of his comments, the shekel coins used in the Torah were entirely pure, lacking all dilution. This purity of content, rather than its sanctity of use, is what earned for these coins the title of qadosh.
R' Romm continued that it would seem that Rashi agrees with the Rambam. By not engaging in tamei action, one lives up to “qedoshim tihyu”.
Rav Shimon Shkop (ibid.) notes that what we know about Hashem is that He desires leheitiv, to bestow good upon others. Then entire universe exists so that Hashem could have someone to receive His gift. Rav Shimon translates “ki Qadosh Ani” as “for I am fully committed to helping others.” The call to be qadosh is the call to live one’s life for the sake of bettering others. To be qadosh is to avoid that which serves no one but the person himself.
In other words (my words), qedushah isn’t merely separation; it’s separation FOR a given purpose. “kedoshim atem Lashem” Or the formula for marriage, “Harei at mequdeshes li” – and there the purpose isn’t G-d’s it’s to be united with her husband’s! In my humble opinion, this unites the position of the Rambam and Rashi with that of the Ramban. They focus on the word “separation”, he, on the “for”. It’s a definition of being qadosh that would explain both descriptions of what it means to act qadosh.
We say in davening: “You Are Qadosh, and Your Name Is Qadosh, and qedoshim praise You every day. Selah! [For you are G-d, King, Great and Qadosh. –Sepharad] Baruch Atah … the Kadosh G-d.”
According to Rav Shimon Shkop, this berachah becomes, “You are committed to being meitiv others, and your reputation (shimkha) is that of an undivided commitment to being meitiv others, and people who live entirely for doing good to others praise you. Selah!” It is not simply that the class of people who are committed to working for others rather than being self-focused also praise Hashem. It is working for the betterment of others which itself is praise.
It is not coincidence that there are three clauses, and three iterations of the word “Qadosh” in the verse at the heart of Qedushah (Yishayahu 6:3). As we say in UVa leTzion, Targum Yonasan explains the pasuq as follows: “Qadosh in the heavens above, the home of His Presence; Qadosh on the earth, the product of His Might; Qadosh forever and ever is Hashem Tzevakos – the whole world is full of the Radiance of His Glory.” The “home of His Glory” is where Hashem is Qadosh. The earth, is where Hashem’s name, how people perceive him, is Qadosh. And the qedoshim, the people who allow others to experience Hashem’s good, fill the world with His Glory – their sanctity is his praise.
The question of qedushah is central to the title phrase of parashas Qedoshim. “Qedoshim tihyu… – Be qadosh for I Am Qadosh.” (Vayiqra 19:2) But what is qedushah? Translating it as “sanctity” or “holiness” falls short as first, the meaning of the English words is not too clear, nor are we sure that they truly capture the connotations of the Hebrew original.
The Toras Kohanim on the pasuq writes “qedoshim tihyu – perushim tihyu, you shall be separated”. Along these lines, Rashi understands the pasuq as referring to the list of laws of intimacy with which the previous parashah concluded, as well as other transgressions. And he gives other examples where such a separation is associated with the concept of qedushah. The Ramban writes “make yourself qadosh with that which is permitted to you” by refraining from the permitted. It would seem that they are both defining qedushah as separation.
But there is also a real difference. Rashi discusses things that are specifically prohibited. The Ramban is quite specifically speaking about separating oneself from things that are not the topic of a specific prohibition – there is no ban on the action, but rather the action isn’t in concert with being a holy person.
However, Rav Shimon Shkop (Sha’arei Yosher, introduction, definitely worth printing up and reading!!!) notes that this definition fails for the clause – “for I am Qadosh”. There is no purpose or meaning in Hashem restraining Himself. (For that matter, it is arguable that perishus on His part would mean the item in question would cease to exist!)
Perhaps we could also note that the Ramban could not be defining qedushah since he uses the word “qadeish” in the purported definition. Rather, the Ramban is suggesting the way in which to obey the pasuq and become qadosh to someone who already knows what qedushah is.
In parashas Sheqalim, when we are told to take “half a sheqel of a sheqel haqodesh”, the Ramban explains that these sheqalim were considered sacred because they were used for holy purposes. The funds gathered by this census were donated towards the construction of the Mishkan, other “sheqel haqodesh” were used for buying qorbanos and utensils for the Mishkan or Miqdash, for pidyon haben. Rabbeinu Bachya also writes, "Since all mitzvos are the core of holiness and some mitzvos require this currency," the currency takes on a holiness corresponding to its use.
The Ramban continues, Hebrew is called lashon haqodesh - the holy language - because it was and continues to be used for holy purposes. It is the language in which G-d said “yehi or – let there be light”, in which He gave us the Torah and the Tanakh was written, the language in which our ancestors were named, etc…
Howerver, the Ramban notes, the Rambam has a very different understanding of why Hebrew is called lashon hakodesh. In Moreh Nevuchim (3:8), Rambam explains that Hebrew is called sacred because it has no specific words for uniquely male and female body parts, for the acts that lead to conception of a child, nor does it have precise terms for the various bodily emissions and excretions.
(The following idea from R' Romm is with thanks to R’ Gil Student.) R' Shimon Romm, a student of the pre-war and Shanghai Mirrer Yeshiva and later a rabbi in Washington Heights and a rosh yeshiva in Yeshiva University, explains this dispute between Rambam and Ramban as being a fundamental disagreement over the nature of qedushah, holiness. According to Ramban, holiness comes from being committed for a purpose. When currency is used for a mitzvah it becomes sacred and when a language is used to create the world and convey the Torah it becomes sanctified.
According to the Rambam, however, holiness is not due to a positive usage but to a lack of diminution of its purity. A language is inherently sacred and only loses that status when it contains less than holy words. Presumably, the Rambam would explain that the shekel haqodesh is called holy because, as the Ramban himself suggests at the beginning of his comments, the shekel coins used in the Torah were entirely pure, lacking all dilution. This purity of content, rather than its sanctity of use, is what earned for these coins the title of qadosh.
R' Romm continued that it would seem that Rashi agrees with the Rambam. By not engaging in tamei action, one lives up to “qedoshim tihyu”.
Rav Shimon Shkop (ibid.) notes that what we know about Hashem is that He desires leheitiv, to bestow good upon others. Then entire universe exists so that Hashem could have someone to receive His gift. Rav Shimon translates “ki Qadosh Ani” as “for I am fully committed to helping others.” The call to be qadosh is the call to live one’s life for the sake of bettering others. To be qadosh is to avoid that which serves no one but the person himself.
In other words (my words), qedushah isn’t merely separation; it’s separation FOR a given purpose. “kedoshim atem Lashem” Or the formula for marriage, “Harei at mequdeshes li” – and there the purpose isn’t G-d’s it’s to be united with her husband’s! In my humble opinion, this unites the position of the Rambam and Rashi with that of the Ramban. They focus on the word “separation”, he, on the “for”. It’s a definition of being qadosh that would explain both descriptions of what it means to act qadosh.
We say in davening: “You Are Qadosh, and Your Name Is Qadosh, and qedoshim praise You every day. Selah! [For you are G-d, King, Great and Qadosh. –Sepharad] Baruch Atah … the Kadosh G-d.”
According to Rav Shimon Shkop, this berachah becomes, “You are committed to being meitiv others, and your reputation (shimkha) is that of an undivided commitment to being meitiv others, and people who live entirely for doing good to others praise you. Selah!” It is not simply that the class of people who are committed to working for others rather than being self-focused also praise Hashem. It is working for the betterment of others which itself is praise.
It is not coincidence that there are three clauses, and three iterations of the word “Qadosh” in the verse at the heart of Qedushah (Yishayahu 6:3). As we say in UVa leTzion, Targum Yonasan explains the pasuq as follows: “Qadosh in the heavens above, the home of His Presence; Qadosh on the earth, the product of His Might; Qadosh forever and ever is Hashem Tzevakos – the whole world is full of the Radiance of His Glory.” The “home of His Glory” is where Hashem is Qadosh. The earth, is where Hashem’s name, how people perceive him, is Qadosh. And the qedoshim, the people who allow others to experience Hashem’s good, fill the world with His Glory – their sanctity is his praise.
posted by micha @ 5/19/2005 09:34:00 PM
