Don’t Worry, Be Holy!
Thursday May 5, 2022 – ד׳ אִיָיר תשפ״ב
“הַיָּשָׁן יִתְחַדֵּשׁ וְהֶחָדָשׁ יִתְקַדֵּשׁ” – (הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק)
“The Ancient Shall Be Renewed and the New Shall be Made Holy”
~ Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook
Today we celebrated Yom Haatzmaut, through which Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, thoughtfully instituted a new holy day on the Jewish sacred calendar. He placed it on the calendar with all the symbols and rituals of other Jewish holidays (a festive meal, special liturgy, a scroll/text to be read, etc.) with the clear intention that the modern miracle be seen through the lens of the Divine/human encounter and to actualize that theology and philosophy into a human endeavor.
What does it mean actually to be holy? Holiness is a term we throw around a lot, but my guess is that for many liberally religious Jews it has little to no effect on our lives. We may talk about holy time and holy space, however, I’m not sure what we mean. And I’m certain that we each mean different things.
Jewish theology is actualized through human activity. We are not a people who are concerned only about philosophy. We are a people very much concerned about human behavior. Through the mitzvot (the commandments), we actualize our covenant with God and attempt to understand the Divine/human encounter on an ongoing basis. It is the mitzvot that motivate our lives and uplift our behavior into realms of sanctity and holiness. In this week’s Torah portion we are commanded about holiness.
“וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֧ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃”
“ יהוהspoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, your God יהוה, am holy”
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook (1865-1935), the first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel and one of the early leaders of religious Zionism, wrote that the Jewish people possess two aspects of holiness. The first he described as an inner force that resides naturally in the soul, a spiritual inheritance passed from the patriarchs and matriarchs to us which Rav Kook referred to as an innate “segulah-holiness.” This type of holiness is an intrinsic and immutable part of the Jewish soul.
The second aspect is based on our efforts and choices. Rav Kook called this “willed-holiness” as it is acquired consciously through our actions and Torah study. Innate-holiness is infinitely greater than willed-holiness, but it is only revealed to the outside world according to the measure of acquired holiness. It is difficult to perceive an individual’s inner sanctity unless it is expressed in external actions or character traits.
Rav Kook attributed the first aspect of holiness, innate “segulah-holiness,” to the period of the First Temple in Jerusalem. This era of history was still characterized by prophecy. Books were still being added to the TaNaKh (Bible) and our sages believed that God’s revealed Presence dwelt in the Temple.
However, after the time of Shivat Tzion (return to Israel from the Babylonian exile in the 6th-century B.C.E.), and the building of the Second Temple, holiness took on a different form. The Second Temple did not benefit from the same miraculous phenomena as the First Temple. Prophecy ceased, and the canonization of the TaNaKh was complete (circa 1st Century C.E.). This was a time when Oral Law flourished, the Mishnah was compiled (circa 200 c.e.), and new rabbinical decrees were established securing Halakha (Jewish law) as the true authority. The main thrust of Jewish connection to God was the second aspect of holiness that Rav Kook called “willed-holiness,” which was acquired through Torah, Avodah, and Gmilut Hasadim – the study of Torah, worship, and performing acts of love and kindness.
And Today?
I argue that the modern State of Israel is the Third Temple. It is the Third period in our people’s history in which we have sovereignty as a free people in our own Land. We often casually refer to Israel as the Holy Land. But what specifically is Holy about it? Is it holy by virtue of certain events having taken place there such as the birth of our rituals and religious life, or as Christians claim that Jesus was crucified and then resurrected, or because Muhammad ascended to heaven from what they call the Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem?
Or is the Land Holy because of some intrinsic value inherent in that geographical and physical terrain?
Rabbi Tuvia Ben Chorinz”l, believed the latter, that the Holy Land has intrinsic religious value. One of the early Israeli Reform rabbis of our Movement’s first Israeli congregation, Harel in Jerusalem, Rabbi Ben Chorin, who passed away just over a month ago, once shared with me that he deeply believed in what he called the Geo-Mystical quality of the Land. He saw in the physicality of the Land of Israel itself a spiritual energy that travels and expands throughout the world. Otherwise, he pondered, “Why would there be so much interest in this small strip of territory?”
What kind of Holiness do we seek for this Third Temple, for the Modern State? It could be an innate “segulah-holiness” that exists in Jewish space and time.
It could be a sense of “Geo-Mysticism” or “segulah-holiness” as Rabbi Ben Chorinz”l believed. Or it could be geo-theological, as the late Professor Eliezer Schweid expounded on the concept of holiness:
“The uniqueness of the Land of Israel is… ‘geo-theological’ and not merely climatic. This is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world, that sphere of existence that lies beyond the physical world known to us through our senses. This is the key to the land’s unique status with regard to prophecy and prayer, and also with regard to the commandments.”[1]
It could be a “willed-holiness” (the second kind of holiness) where people experience divine encounters inspired by the study of Torah and the doing of Mitzvot, and where so many are on a unique and personal spiritual journey. Still, part of the second kind of holiness is doing deeds of loving-kindness, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick, and consoling the bereaved.
Another way to bring “willed-holiness” into the world is through the work of social entrepreneurs (of which Israel leads the world per capita), who try to make the world a better place and who refuse to accept the status quo, nor turn a blind eye when they see awful things happening.
The Holiness of the Third Temple is acknowledged by those who offer prayers of gratitude for the privilege of being part of the story of the modern State of Israel, by reviving our ancient Hebrew language (and even inventing the term for independence – עצמאות), and by gathering in the exiles., State of Israel holiness comes from those who toil in the weeds of this historic project, and who say “לא אני בן/בת חורין להיבטל ממה – I am not free to desist from it – I do not have the luxury of wringing my hands and walking away.” This holiness ties each of us to the nationhood of the Jewish people and who reach out to all other nations and ask “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?”[2]
So, on this Yom Haatzmaut, and in reading this week’s directive to “be Holy” I hope that each of us finds a way to incorporate a bit of kedusha into our lives, and to partner in renewing the old, and making the new holy.
[1] Schweid, Eliezer (1985). The Land of Israel: National Home Or Land of Destiny. Translated by Deborah Greniman. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, p. 56.
[2] Malachi 2:10