Parashat Sh’mini: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47
Shabbat Parah: Numbers 19:1-22
The ending of this Torah portion conveys significant aspects of kashrut – of the dietary discipline mandated by God. There have been many explanations for these rules and commandments. The message highlighted in our Torah reading is that kashrut is a way to become holy. “For I am the Eternal Who took you out of the land of Egypt to become your Almighty God, and so that you shall become holy, for I am holy.” (Lev. 11:45) This translation cannot do justice to the nuances of the Hebrew original. We should notice that the term “holy” is applied to Israel and to God. But, while it is used in the singular for God, it is used in the plural for Israel.
This is not a grammatical accident. As Rabbi Hertz, in his classic commentary notes (to Ex. 22:30): “The philosopher Moritz Lazarus calls attention to the fact that whenever the duty or ideal of holiness is spoken of in the Torah, the plural is invariably used… because mortal man can only attain to holiness when co-operating with others in the service of a great Cause or Ideal, as a member of a Community, Society or Kingdom. Of God alone can we say, the Holy One.”
Only God can attain holiness alone, say Lazarus. We humans need each other. This difference is expressed in the way the adjective is applied to God and to us. Yet, I would suggest that this this radical difference between God and humans is then softened and overruled by the rest of the verse. It links God’s Holiness to God’s decision to take us out of Egypt. What is the connection? Perhaps it is precisely the essence of holiness as a collaborative, relational value, that compelled God to liberate us – for God’s Holiness demanded a partner for its fulfillment. God needed to liberate us so that God could realize God’s own Holiness, as it were. For holiness can only be achieved in partnership, even for God.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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