Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin
Parashat Kedoshim “Holy Ones”
By Avidan Halivni, Associate Director, Jewish Learning Collaborative
The opening words of Parashat Kedoshim are a challenge for humanity to strive for the highest ideal imaginable: “You shall be holy (kedoshim), because I your God am holy” (Lev. 19:1). This type of command is known by the fancy Latin phrase Imitatio Dei, the human endeavor to imitate God.
The reaches of this instruction are hard to put into context: What could it possibly look like to achieve this holiness, to reach the transcendent heights of this divine status? Must we create a whole universe in six days? Rain down plagues or manna from the heavens? Make a donkey speak English?
The rabbis of the Talmud confront this question directly in Tractate Sotah 14a. R. Hama bar Hanina explains that proper imitatio dei is to embody the divine attributes: Just as God clothes the naked (Gen. 3), so should you; just as God visited the sick (Gen. 18), so should you; just as God comforted the mourners (Gen. 25), so should you; and just as God buried the dead (Deut. 34), so should you. The essence of the rabbi’s take on imitatio dei is that if you really want to do Godliness in this world, then move towards others in their moments of vulnerability and pain, and learn to care for them.
Just like how God can make God’s creations holy, we have the power to make things holy too. How do you sanctify time? Space? Relationships?
