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The Jewish people is in the throes of an ongoingdilemma: on the one hand we are enjoined to be a holypeople (Exodus 19:6), which is our very raison d’etre.On the other hand, we live in the midst of a culturewhich glorifies actions and values in direct oppositionto sanctity and modesty. Certainly our life purpose islinked up with our own generation with all its defects.It is inconceivable that we fulfill our purpose by totalwithdrawal and total segregation from our surround-ings. Surely it is our challenge and obligation to over-come and transform rather than retreat.

Yet our involvement makes us vulnerable to thecrudities and temptations of the dominant culture.Can we remain unaffected by the shocking coarse-ness of media speech, the rampant defamation ofcharacter and slander and the decline of businessintegrity and honesty? The recent question of coeddormitories highlighted the precarious quandarieswith which our generation is presented in strugglingto maintain its position as a Holy Nation.

It is therefore all the more essential that we main-tain Jewish standards of proper speech and properaction to prevent our succumbing to the temptationsof the dominant culture. We need to be more, ratherthan less scrupulous about halachic standards whichserve as a bulwark against challenges to our valuessystem; we need to combat coarseness with an evergreater emphasis on refinement. We also need toseize the moments of sanctity and intensify themoments of withdrawal. Thus, for example, we mustprepare for the Sabbath with greater care and thusderive so much more from the day itself. We need toassociate much more with those individuals whothemselves reflect sanctity. All of this will enableeach of us to experience God in our daily lives andreach the spiritual core within ourselves.

We have asked a group of individuals who are them-selves involved in bringing the sanctity of Torah to ourgeneration to explore from their different perspectiveshow we can indeed continue to be a holy nation.

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SPECIAL SECTION

When you lived in the rocky cave, there did you acquire your splendor and your beauty (From the poem Bar Yochaiby Rabbi Shimon Lavi).

My Lord, before I was created I was not worthy (Ne’ilah Amidah). All of historical time prior to my birththere was surely no need for me, for if there had been a cosmic purpose for my presence, I would have

been created earlier. It must be that the need for me arose just when I was created, for the time has comefor me to fulfill something which the cosmos requires for its consummation

(Olat Riyah,HaRav Kook).

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Fall 5762/2001 JEWISH ACTION

The past two centuries have been, forJews, a time of trauma for which itwould be hard to find a precedent sincethe days of ancient Rome. They began inhope and ended in nightmare. Europeanemancipation and enlightenment her-alded an era of equality. The rule of rea-son would conquer ancient prejudiceand offer Jews an honored place as citi-zens of Europe. It was a promise unful-filled. Instead—beginning with thepogroms that broke out across Russia in1881 and culminating in the Shoah—Jews found themselves subject to ahatred that knew no bounds.

Then, a mere three years later, theState of Israel was proclaimed, andwith it the enactment of the propheticdream of the return of a people to itsland. Tragedy and triumph followedone another with such intensity andspeed that, to this day, we remainunsure of the meaning of these events.Jewish life was dislocated and trans-formed. Hardly a Jew today—Ashkenazi or Sefardi, in Israel or out-side—has been unaffected. Somewherein most of our family histories, in thepast three generations, is the story of a

This has been the way of the classicyeshivot and most Chasidic groups,sometimes called “segregationistOrthodoxy.” A holy people in thissense is one that steps aside from therushing stream of history, an intima-tion of eternity in the midst of time, anation that, regardless of what is hap-pening in the world outside, staysfaithful to its eternal mandate. That is

a position with deep roots in our tra-dition and it has its own manifestintegrity. What is more, it works. Ithas been precisely this sector of Jewishlife that has most successfully sus-

journey, a flight, a relocation, anescape. We are still strangers to thisnew world.

To all this, there have been twoextreme reactions. One is to say that inessence nothing has changed. TheMessiah has not come. We are not liv-ing in atchalta d’geulah or even sefahd’galut, either the beginning ofredemption or the end of exile. Anti-Semitism has not disappeared; it hasmerely been transposed from Europeto the Middle East, from Christianityto Islam and from hostility to Jews tohostility to a Jewish state. The worldcontinues on its accustomed path.Global peace has not broken out sincethe collapse of the Soviet Union. Ifanything, the Cold War has been suc-ceeded by a new international instabili-ty marked by regional and ethnic con-flicts, intractable and fierce.

Nor has there been the dawn of amore spiritual age. The culture of theliberal democracies of the West isrelentless in its secularity. So our tasktoday is what, according to this under-standing of Judaism, it always was—tobe holy, meaning to be set apartremoved from the culture that sur-rounds us, practicing our ancient voca-tion, keeping mitzvot, learning Torahand sustaining strong communities.

Shatter ing the Idols:The Struggle for Holiness in a Secular Age

Rabbi Professor Sacks is chief rabbi ofthe United Hebrew Congregations ofGreat Britain and the Commonwealth.

By Jonathan Sacks

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Never have webeen freer to beJews, but rarely have we faced aculture more antithetical tothe values ofJudaism….


tained itself against the inroads ofassimilation and secularization.

There was, however, another view.This argued that something qualitativehad changed in the Jewish situation.With the birth of the State of Israel,the Jewish people had re-entered histo-ry. They had acquired, to a degreeunknown in 2,000 years, a capacity forcollective self-determination. Not onlyhad the prophetic dream been fulfilled;the very world in which the prophetsworked—the world of politics andpower—had come to life again, andwith it a range of spiritual and ethicalchallenges that had remained dormantsince the days of Malachi.

The Diaspora too had changed, partlybecause, having a home in the RobertFrost sense (“the place where, when youhave to go there, they have to let youin”) Jews everywhere had the potentialrefuge they lacked for so long. Partly toothe change lay in the nature of contem-porary liberal democracies. No longerdriven by the nineteenth century ideolo-gy of the nation-state as a single culture,they became more culturally pluralistand diverse. Jews no longer had to pre-tend to be other than they were. A plu-ralist culture gives us the space to beourselves.

The range of responses to this situa-tion—broadly labeled “ModernOrthodoxy”—drew on a variety ofsources of inspiration, above all on thework of Rav Shimshon RaphaelHirsch, Rav Kook, and Rav Joseph B.Soloveitchik. Under the rubric ofTorah im Derech Eretz, Torah u’Madda,or Torah v’Avodah, proponents ofModern Orthodoxy anticipated a newsynthesis, or at least a creative tension,between Torah and contemporary cul-ture. Drawing on the prophetic ratherthan the priestly sensibility withinJudaism, they understood the conceptof a holy people as one that does notstand aside from its surrounding cul-ture. Instead it seeks to sanctify thesecular, recasting it in the fires ofkedushah. As Rav Hirsch put it, atzaddik b’toch ha'ir, a righteous personwithin the city, “is not one who keepsto his own four walls…who thinks he

has done quite enough if he saves him-self and at most his own household.”Instead he is “in lively connection witheverything and everybody,” activelyengaging with the wider society andproviding it with a compelling moralvision. Or as Rav Kook put it, moremystically and ambitiously, the raysemanating from the life of the mitzvotwere like tzitzit on the garment of cul-ture, bringing to the surface its hiddendimension of holiness.

It is fair to say that this essentially

optimistic vision reached its heights inthe 1960s. Since then it has been sig-nificantly muted. Israel has not madepeace with the Palestinians. It remainsisolated and exposed. Nor did secularculture prove receptive to the moralmessage of Judaism. Indeed, the liberaldemocracies of the West have passedbeyond modernity, with its faith in rea-son, science and progress, into post-modernity, the culture of disillusion-ment. Reason failed to cure prejudice.Science, far from saving the world,threatens its very future, whether bynuclear weaponry, environmental dam-age or genetic manipulation. Progress,as Robert Bellah memorably said,seems less compelling an ideal when it

may turn out to be progress into theabyss.

Post-modernity is marked by anawareness of the limits of reason. It isskeptical of the Enlightenment projectof uncovering rational foundations tohuman knowledge. It is distrustful ofmorality, meaning and meta-narrative.It finds no sense in the word “progress,”the certainty that some states of affairsare objectively better than others.These doubts have wrought chaos inour social life. Marriage is no longer asocially sanctioned ideal. The stablenuclear family is becoming not a normbut a rarity. The bonds of communityhave become attenuated. We prefer, inRobert Putnam’s phrase, to go “bowl-ing alone.” We are living, for the firsttime in two millennia, in an age ofradical individualism and libertarian-ism, the condition that Sefer Shoftimdescribes as ish hayashar b’einav ya’aseh,“each doing what is right in his owneyes.” This presents Jews with a para-doxical situation. Never have we beenfreer to be Jews, but rarely have wefaced a culture more antithetical to thevalues of Judaism, not superficially butat its very roots.

Under such circumstances, not onlysegregationist Jews feel estranged fromthe world around them. So too doJews who grew up believing in integra-tion. In words that resonate with ourtime, the Rambam wrote in HilchotDei’ot:

It is natural to be influenced, in senti-ments and conduct, by one’s neighborsand associates, and observe the customs ofone’s fellow citizens…. So, if one lives ina country where the customs are perni-cious and the inhabitants do not go inthe right way, he should leave for a placewhere the people are righteous and followthe ways of the good. If all the countriesof which he has personal knowledge, orconcerning which he hears reports, followa course which is not right—as is the casein our times…he should live by himselfin seclusion, as it is said, “Let him livealone and keep silence” (Lam. 3:28).

It was just this conclusion that wasreached by the contemporary non-Jewish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre

Many today rightly feel that

the risk of exposing

our children tothe Madonna-MTV culture isjust too great.

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in his great work, After Virtue.Comparing our time with the declineof the Roman Empire and the subse-quent Dark Ages, he writes:

A crucial turning point in that earlierhistory occurred when men and womenof good will turned aside from the taskof shoring up the Roman imperium andceased to identify the continuation ofcivility and moral community with themaintenance of that imperium. Whatthey set themselves to achieve instead—often not recognizing fully what theywere doing—was the construction ofnew forms of community within whichthe moral life could be sustained so thatboth morality and civility might survivethe coming ages of barbarism and dark-ness. If my account of our moral condi-tion is correct, we ought also to concludethat for some time now we have reachedthat turning point. What matters at thisstage is the construction of local forms ofcommunity within which civility andthe intellectual and moral life can besustained through the new dark ageswhich are already upon us.

The traces of this awareness are visiblethroughout contemporary Orthodoxlife. Parents who felt drawn to ModernOrthodoxy or Religious Zionism havebegun sending their children toschools and yeshivot of a more segre-gationist character. The center nolonger holds. Many today rightly feelthat the risk of exposing our childrento the Madonna-MTV culture is justtoo great. Nor is it, as it once was, ayouth or counter-culture. It pervadeseverything from the great universitycampuses to the American and IsraeliSupreme Courts. Western civilizationhas moved from what was once calledthe Judeo-Christian ethic to a con-sumer-driven, choice-fixated culturewithout norms, ideals or shared valuesbeyond the sovereign self, the freedomto be whatever one chooses, and to dowhatever does not immediately harmothers. Such a world is not chol butchiloni, not secular but secularist. It isimpermeable to the values of kedushah.

This must force us to reconsider therelationship between Judaism andWestern culture. They are no longer

visual arts, sport and the cult of thebody. As in ancient Greece, euthanasia,abortion and even infanticide (by thephilosopher Peter Singer) are beingopenly advocated. Quality of life isreplacing the sanctity of life as a deci-sion-factor in medical ethics. Popularentertainment (Star Wars and the like)has moved from the moral seriousnessof the novels of Dickens and Tolstoy tothe realm of myth. Indeed the meta-physics of post-modernity—the expand-ing universe, the global economy, the“blind watchmaker” and the “selfishgene”—is essentially mythological,meaning a world governed by multiple,conflicting forces each of which is fun-damentally indifferent to mankind. Insuch an age it is not surprising that thedominant philosophies are hedonismand stoicism, the archetypal Greekresponses to an essentially tragic world.

Such an age needs a Jewish voice. Ido not believe that Judaism contains amessage for Jews alone. Such a viewruns counter to the statement ofMoses: “Observe [these laws] carefully,for this is your wisdom and under-standing in the eyes of the nations,who will hear about all these decreesand say, ‘Surely this is a wise andunderstanding people.’” It conflictswith the promise, made repeatedly inBereishit, that through the covenantalpeople all the families, or nations, ofthe earth will be blessed. There is amystery here that our age calls on us todecipher. What is the telos, the point ofJewish existence? What, in a globalcontext, does it mean to be a “king-dom of priests and a holy nation”?

Judaism is structurally unique. TheGod of Israel is the God of all theworld, but the faith of Israel is not thefaith of all the world. Judaism is therarest of religious phenomena, a par-ticularist monotheism. Insufficientthought has been given, in our tradi-tion, to what this might imply for ourrelationship with the wider world.There is a reason for this: Judaism wasnot and never will be a missionaryfaith. Jews did not feel impelled toteach their truths to others, nor werethey given the chance to do so. For

readily compatible. The world outsidehome, school and shul does not con-firm, instead it directly challenges, theconstitutive values of Judaism. Jewisheducation must go deeper and theexperiential dimensions of Judaismmust become more intense, if we areto give our children a moral-spiritualcompass by which to chart their way

in the wilderness of secular time. Does this mean, though, that

Judaism has nothing to say to theworld outside? Quite the opposite.Precisely now are we called on to takeup our classic vocation as the counter-voice in the conversation of mankind.In 1869 Matthew Arnold published abook, Culture and Anarchy. In it heidentified the two shaping influenceson Western culture, which he calledHebraism and Hellenism, the legaciesrespectively of ancient Israel andancient Greece. In his high Victorianday he felt that society was leaning toofar toward Hebraism. It had too muchmoral rectitude, too little room for thefree play of the imagination.

Today it would be fair to say that oursituation is exactly the reverse. Ourpost-modern situation is dangerouslyclose to that of ancient Greece. Theplace of religion is being usurped by the

Are We Still aHOLY

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The world outside home,

school and shuldoes not confirm,instead it directlychallenges, the

constitutive valuesof Judaism.


most of our history, our ancestors wereconcerned with more immediate goals,ensuring their own survival, livingtheir way of life and handing it on tofuture generations. Now, however, anopportunity has arisen. In a confusedand chaotic age, the Jewish voice is lis-tened to, often with immense respect.Precisely as the voice of ancient Israel,which entered the West throughPuritanism, is being threatened by aneo-pagan ethic, we are called on toarticulate it again, this time not viaChristianity but directly, in the fullself-confidence of a faith that has sur-vived every trial and affirmed life inthe presence of the angel of death.

The Torah tells a story. Human cul-ture began in a largely undifferentiatedway. After Babel, however, it split intoa multiplicity of languages, culturesand faiths. None of these intrinsicallyexcludes any of the others. None isdiminished by the existence of theothers. Each has something to con-tribute to the total project ofmankind. In this diverse world, thepeople Israel is called on to fulfill aspecific task: to become, in Isaiah’sphrase, God’s witnesses, a living exam-ple of what it is to be a nation underthe sovereignty of God. From the daysof Avraham and Sarah onward, to be aJew is to be an iconoclast, prepared tochallenge the idols of the age in everyage. What might this mean today?

The key lies in the word chol. TheHebrew word for “secular” also means“sand.” Sand is never stable on its own.It shifts and moves; it is swept by thesea and blown by every passing wind.For chol to be stable it needs vegetationwhose roots go deep into the earth andwhose leaves draw energy from thesun. That is what kodesh is—our con-nectedness to the past and our faceturned to what is above. Kodesh is theantidote to the rootlessness of chol.

At the heart of contemporary culture isthe atomized individual, detached fromany constitutive commitments to thepast, the future, tradition, a set of rela-tionships, a substantive identity, a sense ofbinding loyalties. That individual, thebearer of rights but not responsibilities,

free to enter any lifestyle but at home innone, is the human equivalent of chol, theperson whom Psalms describes as “likechaff blown by the wind.” Society cannotsurvive such atomization. No one put thismore eloquently than Edmund Burke inhis Reflections on the Revolution in France.In an anti-traditional culture, he wrote,“The whole chain and continuity of thecommonwealth would be broken. Noone generation could link with theother—and thus the commonwealth itselfwould, in a few generations, crumbleaway, be disconnected into the dust andpowder of individuality, and at length dis-persed to all the winds of heaven.”

Kedushah in this context means con-nectedness to the universe beyond theself, to generations past and future, to acommunity of meaning, and to a tran-scendental reality that links us, ethicallyand existentially, to the totality of being.Today the liberal democracies of theWest need to hear a Jewish voice speak-ing persuasively of the covenant of mar-riage, the sanctity of the family, themoral challenge of parenthood. Theyneed to hear the Jewish view of commu-nity, collective responsibility, and thevalues of tzedakah and gemilut chasadim.We must remind others as well as our-selves of the importance of education asthe conversation between the genera-tions, and the school as the citadel ofcivilization. We should be prepared toarticulate the nuanced, deeply humaneJewish view of the sanctity of life and itsimplications for medical ethics. Weneed to restate our responsibility asguardians of the natural environmentfor the sake of future generations.

Above all, we must make the case timeand again for what ancient Israel heardand what ancient Greece, despite itsmyriad accomplishments, failed tounderstand, namely, the personal realityof the universe as the work of God indialogue with His image, the human

person. No civilization has insisted morepowerfully on the dignity of human lifeand the meaningfulness of history as thearena of redemption. We must becomewhat we were called on to be, God’sperennial question mark against the con-ventional certainties of the secular mind.

In case anyone should doubtwhether this can be done, it can. Mywritings are read, and my broadcastsresponded to, as much by non-Jews asJews. In the United States last year, areligiously observant Jew was able tostand as a vice-presidential candidateand win general respect for his strongethical convictions—again, I suspect,as much from non-Jews as from Jews.The Jewish voice should be heard inthe public square, speaking what JohnRawls calls “the language of public rea-son.” Ralbag (commentary to parshatVa’etchanan) is clear on this point:“Our Torah is unique among the lawsand ethics of the nations in that it con-tains nothing that does not flow fromright and reason (hayosher v’habinah).That is why this Divine law draws peo-ple to it by virtue of its essence so thatthey behave in accordance with it.”

Let me be clear. I am not advocatingthe idea of or lagoyim as it was under-stood in the nineteenth century, nor

tikkun olam as it has often been under-stood in our day. These phrases wereoften interpreted to signify a deracinat-ed universalism voided of specific con-tent. Judaism is not political correct-ness wearing a yarmulke, nor is itdeconstructing our sacred texts so thatthey coincide with the latest intellectu-

Are We Still aHOLY

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...to be a Jew isto be an iconoclast, prepared to

challenge theidols of the

age in every age.


At Mount Sinai, when God firsthinted to us what it would be like tolive Torah lives, He promised: “Youwill be a kingdom of priests and a goykadosh—a holy nation.”1 Now, 3,300years later, what adjectives most accu-rately describe our daily experience?Many might sum up their existentialreality with terms like “harried” and“pressured.” A few might describe their

lives as generally “joyous” or “fulfill-ing.” A tiny minority might go so faras to say that their lives are often“moral” or even “heroic.” But howmany of us feel that significant chunksof our existence are kadosh—holy? Is itpossible that we unknowingly live livesof kedushah, or are we a generation thathas begun to lose contact with the veryessence of what it means to be a Jew?

Defining Kedushah and TumahWhat exactly is kedushah? A superficial

survey of Talmudic sources lends theimpression that kedushah is the oppositeof tumah. However, this does not clarifymatters much since it is difficult to definetumah in concrete or practical terms.Rashi offers an extremely helpful clue todefine both terms. In his commentary onthe Torah2, Rashi reveals that God spoke

By Lawrence Kelemen

al fashion. Nor do I intend a return toTorah im Derech Eretz or Torahu’Madda if these are taken to implythat there is a ready compatibilitybetween our faith and the mood andmores of the age. There is not. Judaismis fundamentally at odds with theassumptions of post-modernity. It isnow a counter-culture.

My argument is nothing less than arejection of the paradigm that has domi-nated Jewish life for two centuries—thatwe are forced to be either universalistspreaching an ethical message to mankind,or particularists behind the walls of a self-imposed ghetto. To the contrary, our par-ticularism is our universalism. Only bycreating strong marriages can we argue thecase for marriage. Only by sustainingstrong communities can we speak with

authority about community. Only byintense dedication to Torah study can wetalk compellingly about education and thespiritual significance of the life of themind. Only by being different can weoffer an alternative to the prevailing cul-tural paradigms. Only by being true towhat we are uniquely called on to be, canwe give humanity what only we can give.To be a Jew is to live particular expressionsof universal truths. Not everyone is calledon to be a Jew. But everyone is called onto build a social order of justice and com-passion, freedom and human dignity. Asthe Catholic writer Paul Johnson put it,despite and even because of their different-ness, Jews became “exemplars and epito-mizers of the human condition.”

That is why we must both strengthenthe institutions of Jewish life and articu-

late a compelling alternative to the pre-vailing libertarianism of secular culture.It was precisely Abraham, who livedapart from the cities of the plain, whocame to their aid in war and prayer. Theword Tzion, Zion, meaning somethingdistinctive that stands apart from its sur-roundings, is related to the word tziyun,a signpost, that signals a direction tothose who would otherwise be lost.That is our classic vocation; it is nowour present task. We may succeed, wemay fail, but let it not be said that wewere silent when the West needed tohear our voice. “Whether they listen orfail to listen…they will know that aprophet has been among them” (Ezekiel2:5). A holy people does not fear tobring its holiness to the broad sharedspaces of mankind. JA

Are We Still aHOLY

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Too Distracted:Understanding the Lack ofKedushahin Our Li ves


to the gentile prophets using lashontumah (impure language) but He spoketo Moses using lashon chibah (affectionatelanguage). Both chibah (affection) andkedushah are the opposite of tumah.Therefore affection and kedushah must berelated. Perhaps kedushah is some sort ofcloseness or intimacy.

Describing the ideal relationship withGod, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto(Ramchal) reinforces this impression.Writing in the 26th chapter of MessilatYesharim, Ramchal defines kedushah asa state in which a person, “even in themidst of performing those physical actsnecessary to sustain his body, neverstrays from the highest intimacy.”According to Ramchal, kedushah is astate in which there are no distractions.It is an experience in which a personbecomes so fully united with God that

all else is irrelevant. It is the statedescribed by David HaMelech, “Mysoul clings to You.”3

If kedushah is intimacy, then itsopposite, tumah, would be distanceand disconnection. Lashon hara—speech that destroys relationships—isinherently tamei and during Biblicaltimes produced visible leprous lesionsrequiring quarantine and ritual purifi-

cation.4 Whenever a human ovum orsperm is discharged separately, insteadof coming together to form a newunity, there is tumah.5 When body andsoul part, there is tumah.6

In a comment far deeper than weare likely to comprehend, RabbiShlomo Wolbe writes, “Kedushah is thepreservation of the unity of the worlds,and tumah is the ‘troublemaker whoseparates close-ones.’”7 The referenceto a “troublemaker who separatesclose-ones” is borrowed from Mishlei,8

and classical commentaries offer vari-ous interpretations: according toRashi, the “troublemaker” is a gossiperwho separates himself from God;according to Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra,it is men who inspire violence andcause a breakdown in all social rela-tions; and according to the VilnaGaon, it is one who destroys a rela-tionship between a man and his wife.According to all, the “troublemaker”—what Rabbi Wolbe defines as tumah—is distance; implying that its opposite,kedushah, is closeness.

Creating IntimacyParadoxically, creating intimacy requires

separation. First we must remove all thatcan come between us and our beloved. Inparshat Kedoshim9 God proposes, “Be mykedoshim,” and Rashi explains the offer:“If you separate yourselves from the otherpeoples, then you will be mine.”Similarly, a man draws a woman closethrough kiddushin, a process which for-bids her to all other suitors.10 Accordingto Ramchal,11 we take the first steptowards personal kedushah by separatingourselves from those physical indulgencesthat would distract us from the One welove. The common theme in all these ini-tial steps towards kedushah is the removalof distractions and elimination of interfer-ence. Absolute connection requires twosurgically sterile surfaces.

Achieving kedushah seems to be a two-step process, however. Ramchal explains:“Its beginning is labor and its endreward; its beginning is exertion and itsend a gift. It begins with one sanctifyinghimself and ends with his being sancti-fied.”12 By actively removing distractions,we create a space in our lives for real inti-macy. All we can do is prepare theground. The closeness that is kedushah—be it between man and God, betweenhuman beings, or between body andsoul—is a gift from the Holy One.

Making Room for a BelovedIt is beginning to become apparent

why we might feel a lack of kedushahin our lives. There is not a lot of spacefor intimacy. There is not a lot of roomfor closeness. Never has a generationbeen more bombarded with distrac-tions, with troublemakers who separateclose-ones, in a word, with tumah.

Sometimes we allow technology to getin the way of kedushah. Once upon a timewomen only had to battle the televisionand newspaper for their husbands’ atten-tion, and no one would dream of listeningto the radio during the chazzan’s repetition.Today the Internet holds the attention ofall but the most devoted husbands (andwives), and worshippers routinely scan thestocks and headlines on their Palm Pilotsbetween Kedushah and Kaddish. Cellphones and pagers, ostensibly created toenhance connectivity, follow us into theshul, beit midrash, and most private quar-ters of our homes, shattering the intimatemoments that make life worth living.

Sometimes we allow food to get inthe way of kedushah. We love sweetthings; we love fattening things. We usethat word without realizing the fright-ening truth it conveys. Too often weare so distracted by the chocolate chipcookies, that we don’t notice the spousewho made them for us. Too often weare so distracted by the myriad kosherrestaurants and products available tous—and the gustatory experience theypromise—that we don’t notice the realMashgiach behind the banquet. If onlywe studied the bencher with as muchkavanah as we study the menu.

Rabbi Kelemen’s latest book is To Kindle aSoul: Ancient Wisdom for ModernParents and Teachers (Targum/Feldheim). Heis also the author of Permission to Believeand Permission to Receive, translator ofRabbi Shlomo Wolbe’s Planting andBuilding: To Raise a Jewish Child, and ateacher at Neve Yerushalayim Women’sCollege of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

Are We Still aHOLY

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How many of usfeel that significant

chunks of ourexistence are

kadosh?


Often we allow clothing, housing,career, and an endless list of other trou-blemakers to come between us and realintimacy. Perhaps a normal Jew living inthe twenty-first century can only experi-ence kedushah by stepping back fromthese distractions. It is possible that theancient formula for achieving connec-tion—“Kedoshim tihiyu—Prushimtihiyu”13—never deserved more attentionthan in this most modern of generations.

A Practical Plan for AchievingKedushah

The sober reality is that we cannothave the best of both worlds. Selfishindulgence raised to the level of addic-tion interferes with closeness. Thoseinvolved in the treatment of alcoholics,narcotics addicts, and compulsiveovereaters have long known this. Weneed to create more space and time forthose whom we want to love. We needto break modernity’s mesmerizingstranglehold so that we can refocus on

relationships. We don’t necessarily haveto make sweeping changes in our lifestyletomorrow. Indeed, almost withoutexception, real spiritual progress happens

in tiny but consistent steps forward.But we cannot allow ourselves to bedistracted by the onslaught of diver-sions we are exposed to throughout ourwaking hours and expect to focussimultaneously on a significant other.

The pursuit of kedushah doesn’tdemand that we rid ourselves of cellphones and pagers, although it mightrequire that we turn them off duringcertain crucial hours every day. Usedintelligently, certain technologies, likeanswering machines and voice-mail ser-vices, can even help create the privacyand quiet necessary for kedushah toflourish. Breaking our food fascinationdoesn’t require abandoning Chinese cui-sine or Ben and Jerry’s, but it might helpto limit such indulgences to Shabbat,chaggim, and other smachot that help usfocus less on the repast and more onGod and our loved ones. Many Jewsalready concentrate their clothing pur-chases in the periods around thechaggim; more rigorous adherence to thisregimen would free us from ritual put-tering around the mall and chronicrifling through clothing catalogs andadvertising supplements during theinterim months. Although we don’t needto walk away from a successful career inorder to live a life of kedushah, we mightneed to make room in our professionalschedules for Shacharit, Minchah, andMaariv, daily Torah learning, and per-haps even dinner with the kids.

This is not an exhaustive or universal-ly applicable list of recommendations;nor can all of these be instituted atonce. But we could make it a familyminhag to take one small, practical steptowards kedushah every Rosh Hashanah.The effects of such a minhag over a fiveor ten year period are probably beyondanything we can imagine.

A Holy NationSeveral years ago, a secular single

woman joined my family for the Shabbatmeal on Friday night. She sat very quietlywatching us talk, laugh, and sing. At theend of the evening, she turned to me andwith burning seriousness asked how Imanaged to have such warm relation-ships with my wife and children. Likemany people growing up at this point in

human history, this Jewish woman hadnever seen kedushah, and it shook her.

The truth is that virtually everyOrthodox Jew has real kedushah in hisor her life. We have Shabbat. We have

chaggim. During these special times, wewithdraw from distractions and try tofocus more on God and family.Kashrut limits our culinary indul-gences, just as shatnez limits the sort ofclothing we can purchase. The intricatehalachic systems that we allow to struc-ture our lives create some time andspace for closeness. God told us “Youwill be a kingdom of priests and a goykadosh,” and we often experience thefulfillment of that promise. We wouldjust like to experience it a bit more. Ifwe make a courageous commitmenttoday, perhaps next Rosh Hashanah wewill look back on this year and declare:“Its beginning was labor and its endreward; its beginning was exertion andits end a gift. It began with our sancti-fying ourselves and ended with usbeing sanctified.”

Notes1. Shemot 19:6.2. Vayikra 1:1.3. Tehillim 69:3.4. Vayikra 13.5. Vayikra 15. A man becomes tamei even whenconception occurs, since most of his sperm is stilldischarged in a state of “separation.”6. Bamidbar 19.7. Olam HaYedidut, p. 37, based on com-mentary of Rabbi Menachem Recanati onShemot 20:14.8. 16:28.9. Vayikra 20:26.10. Kiddushin 2b.11. Messilat Yesharim, chapter 26.12. Ibid.13.Midrash Torat Cohanim on Vayikra 19:2.

If only we studiedthe bencher withas much kavanah

as we study the menu.

JA

Cell phones andpagers, ostensiblycreated to enhance

connectivity, follow us into theshul, beit midrash,

and the most private quarters

of our home, shattering the

intimate momentsthat make life worth living.


A sad and poignant commentary onthe state of society today is the popu-larity and acclaim of two booksregarding the sexualization of societyand the objectification of women. InReviving Ophelia,1 a study about thegrowing emotional problems of adoles-cent girls today, psychologist MaryPipher decries the threat to our young-sters based on the spread of what sheterms “lookism,” the evaluation of aperson on the basis of appearance.Pipher describes how in many Americancommunities, girls are pressured towear designer clothes, have straightwhite teeth, beautiful hair and fit intoa size four. Then they read teenagemagazines which tell them, “Don’tworry about feeling good or beinggood, worry about looking good”(40).Pipher mourns that “adolescence iswhen girls experience social pressure toput aside their authentic selves and todisplay only a small portion of theirgifts” (22).

In her book, A Return to Modesty,2

Wendy Shalit, a young WilliamsCollege graduate, describes similartrends on the college campus and in thecareer world. Shalit laments a society

where New Year resolutions in a typicaldiary in the 1990s could so differ fromone written in 1890. “Resolved,” writesa young woman of days gone by, “tothink before speaking. To work moreseriously. To be self restrained in con-versations and actions. Not to let mythoughts wander. To be dignified.Interest myself more in others.” Hermore modern sister writes, “I will try tomake myself better in any way I possi-bly can. I will lose weight, get new lens-es, already got new haircut, good make-up, new clothes and accessories” (142).Let us not delude ourselves that thisphenomenon is limited to secular soci-ety; we too are affected and influencedby these trends.

One of the purposes of tzniut (mod-esty) in Jewish society is to liberate

women from exactly these social pres-sures and constraints.3 The halachah isdesigned to make the world relate to awoman as a person and not soley as afemale. The laws regarding length ofskirts and sleeves, etc. are a set ofguidelines which limit the exposure ofwoman’s body, and should serve as areminder to her as to how to comportherself with dignity.

Women who see tzniut as an injunc-tion to cover up and hide themselvesmiss the point entirely. Tzniut ismeant to de-emphasize the physical in

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

Dr. Sosevsky teaches in Michlala andMachon Gold and is the resident direc-tor of Touro College Israel Option.

A Modest Proposal:How Tzniut Liber ates and EnrichesBy Chana Sosevsky


Unfortunately, while many educa-tors stress the benefits of tzniut for awoman vis-à-vis society, they tend tooverlook the rewards tzniut brings fora woman vis-à-vis herself. Recently, astudent of mine mentioned howimpressed she was when one of herteachers taught an entire course onmodesty without mentioning meneven once. Instead, the teacherfocused on modesty as a vehicle forself-respect and a healthy developmentof a sense of self, avoiding all mentionof what many of my students cynical-ly call the “Men Problem.”

And yet, how we are seen and treat-ed by members of the opposite sex isimportant as well. In a recently broad-cast call-in radio program in Israel, aguest psychologist and career counselordiscussed the frivolous attitude busi-nessmen generally have towards theirfemale coworkers. The female callerscomplained that during crucial busi-ness meetings male customers wouldregularly ignore the business agendaand ask them out. The program hostsrepeatedly asked these callers todescribe in detail the outfit, hairdo andmakeup they wore to work. They thenadvised these women to wear lessprovocative clothing in order to be seenas business colleagues and not asprospective dates. In the US, whereprofessional dress codes are more con-servative than in Israel, male-femaleinteraction at work tends to be moreprofessional and less sexualized.Interestingly, the guidelines for properprofessional attire are very similar tothose of tzniut. The one very signifi-cant distinction between the profes-sional and Jewish worlds, however, isthat in the Jewish tradition a woman isalways to be treated with respect. She isto be regarded as a personality and aneshamah, and not as a body. With theexception of the marriage relationship,halachah strives to de-emphasize thephysical side of men and women inorder to allow for the full expression ofthe human personality.

However, modesty also serves anotherpurpose. The halachic Jew—man orwoman—is not only concerned with his

order to allow the intellectual and spir-itual aspects of oneself to shinethrough. Once women understandthis, tzniut becomes a tool and anadvantage, rather than a restrictive ele-ment in their lives. Pipher speaks of a“protected space” in which women cangrow and develop a strong sense of self(241). Halachah provides just thatspace.

The famous injunction of the SeferHachinuch, “Acharei hama'asimnimshachim halevavot”4 (our hearts areinfluenced by our actions) is particular-

ly relevant in this context. A woman, orman, for that matter, who dressesappropriately usually acts appropriately.As a teacher in various women’s seminariesin Israel, I’ve often heard my studentssay that when they used to conform tothe dress codes of their religious highschools, they felt restricted; since theywere dressing like bnot yisrael, they feltcompelled to act less free and more dig-nified. Indeed, such dress codes giveyoung women a more authentic freedom:the freedom to focus on their spiritualrather than their superficial selves.

Pipher speaks ofa "protectedspace" in whichwomen can growand develop astrong sense ofself. Halachahprovides justthat space.


place within society; he is concernedwith his relationship with God as well.Modesty is essential to both spheres.The most important halachic source forthe laws of modesty is derived from theTorah injunction5 “Vehaya machanechakadosh velo yeraeh becha ervat davarveshav meachorecha,” (therefore shall thycamp be holy, that He see no licentiousthing in thee and turn away fromthee).6 Sifri adds, “From here we learnthat licentiousness banishes the DivinePresence.” Similarly, in parshatKedoshim (Leviticus 19:1) we find thatRashi links holiness to the absence offorbidden sexuality. Obviously, those inour community who pursue true holi-ness will be strict in their standards ofmodesty. One can therefore understandKimchit,7 of hair covering fame, whowhen asked why she merited havingseven sons attain the high priesthood,replied that the hair of her head hadnever been exposed before even thewalls of her house. Did Kimchit arbi-trarily choose to excel in modesty andwas therefore rewarded with such holysons? Or, perhaps she acted so modestlybecause she saw herself continually inthe presence of the Divine? Thus, evenwhile caring for her children, preparingfood or being otherwise involved inmundane tasks, she sensed God’s near-ness and as a result, her children grew tobe unique in their spiritual sensitivity.

As explained above, modesty is avehicle for keeping the Shechinah inour midst. Thus, there are those in thecontemporary Jewish world who arevery stringent in their observance ofmodesty not only to avoid objectifyingeither of the sexes, but more impor-tantly, to preserve the presence of theShechinah and enhance the overallkedushah of the community.

And yet, while tzniut protects andsantifies us, it is not an easy mitzvah tokeep. Can we honestly say that we donot lose out on some aspects of ourself-expression and that we do not sac-rifice worthwhile and innocent friend-ships when we adhere to strict halachicstandards of modesty? I think wewould be deluding ourselves to thinkthat the laws of tzniut are not

demanding and that we don’t relin-quish certain positive experiences inthe process. Rav Kook, zt”l, in MiddotHaraya, provides for a realistic way toview the issue:

The attribute of tzniut causes muchgood in this world, and because of that itis permitted to push away many thingsthat would have been worthwhile in andof themselves, because man’s weaknesseswould cause him to cross the boundariesof tzniut which uphold the existence ofthe spiritual and material world. Theattributes of love and friendship in all itscomfortable actions and conversations,should have been equal between the sexes,but it is because of the great value oftzniut that derech eretz is sometimes[sic] pushed aside so much so that onedoesn’t even ask about the welfare of awoman. The tzanua person knows that itis not because of the derision of the oppo-site sex that he keeps his distance anderects barriers, but because of the greatergoals of tzniut [translation mine].

As the Yomim Noraim approach,we should perhaps pause and considersome new and different approaches totzniut. In practical terms, what canwe do? Firstly, let us keep “lookism”at bay in our households. Shalitquotes a mother pressuring her 16year-old actress daughter, “I wish youwere more outgoing in the way youdress” (67). Daniel Goldman, in hispopular work, Emotional Intelligence,8

squarely lays the responsibility onparents to develop empathy in theiryoung children by modeling empa-thetic responses when the occasionsarise. Similarly, in our homes, if wecomment on the external appearanceof our family members and friends,how are children to know that peopleare not to be measured and judged bythe way they look? If shadchanim inNew York and Yerushalayim reportthat the girl wearing the size four

dress is far more marriageable thanher less slender friend, does that notmean that we, the parents, have edu-cated our sons to be just that shallow?Why are we shocked that eating dis-orders are becoming a problem in ourcommunity? If our attitudes mirrorthose of the secular world, so will ourchildren’s problems.

Secondly, it is worthwhile to study thephilosophy of this mitzvah so that we caneducate our sons and daughters to appreciatethat tzniut refers to matters that are morethan skin deep. A positive attitude towardsthese halachot will go a long way in helpingus attain halachic correctness with less dis-comfort. I’m always impressed with my stu-dents’ happy surprise when we study theresponsa in the Igrot Moshe where RavMoshe Feinstein, zt”l, mentions that haircovering is a positive rather than negativecommandment for women.9 Perhaps thissubtle point in Rav Feinstein’s approachshould tell us that when it comes to tzniut,we should not focus on the negative butrather on the positive and enriching aspectsof this mitzvah.

Notes1. NY: Ballantine Books, 1994.2. NY: Free Press, 1999.3. Almost any contemporary article or bookon tzniut will invariably begin with the dis-claimer that tzniut is not for women aloneand that in its essence it does not deal withdress code. The two verses in Tanach whichrefer to tzniut are: “He has told you, man,what is good and what the Lord seeks fromyou, only to act justly, love kindness and walkmodestly (hatzneh lechet) before your Lord”(Micha 6:8), and “Those who are private(tznuim) will achieve wisdom” (Mishlei,11:2). These verses very obviously do notrefer to the concept of dress. Moreover, theyare directed to men and women alike.However, this article focuses on the dresscode aspect of tzniut for women. 4. Mitzvah 20.5. While the halachic parameters of tzniut arebased on this verse, Rabbi Pesach EliyahuFalk in Oz Vehadar Levusha (NY: Feldheim,1998) mentions other verses which impacton different dimensions of tzniut.6. Deuteronomy 23:15.7. Cited in Yuma 47a.8. London: Bloomsbury Books, 1999.9. Even Haezer 58.

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

JA


Rabbi Schiller is a maggid shiur atYeshiva University High School for Boysin Manhattan.

We are repeatedly summoned in theTorah “to be holy.” The exhortation

features prominently at the begin-ning of parshat Kedoshim where it isbased upon the Creator’s own holiness.We are to be “holy” for He is “holy.”1

In addition to this bold imperative, weare also informed by the Torat Kohanimthat “by making ourselves holy it isconsidered as if we have rendered theCreator holy.”2 Indeed, the finalexpression of this concept in theparshah3 links the pursuit of holinessto the division between the Jewishnation and the rest of mankind: “Andyou shall be to Me holy for I, Hashem,am holy; And I will separate you fromthe nations to be for Me.” Thus, we arefirst to sanctify ourselves. By so doing,we attach ourselves as a people to theCreator who, in some manner, is ren-dered sacred by the process.

Definition of HolinessWhat is this oft cited, but seldom

defined, quality (kedushah) that figuresso centrally in our Jewish spiritualagenda? How can we, physical crea-tures living in this world, in a decided-ly intolerant, secular age (at least inWestern Europe and North America),achieve, what seems to be, a most loftyideal? In parshat tzitzit we are told that“remembering” and “performing” theDivine commandments yield somestandard of holiness. Yet, surely eventhe most punctilious observance of

mitzvot is but one aspect of, or con-tributing factor to, our pursuit of holi-ness. From other sources it seems thatthere is an important negative compo-nent to this Divine injunction as well.

In a well-known disagreement, Rashiand Ramban offer two definitions ofkedushah that point us in the directionof this other factor. The former sees itprimarily as the avoidance of lust andsexual sin. The latter broadens the com-mandment to forbid luxury and excessof any kind and demands that we dothis in order that “we be worthy toattach ourselves to Him when we areholy.” What emerges from the forego-ing is that both the meticulous obser-vance of halachah and the shunning ofthis-worldly desires, (certainly thoseforbidden but extending even to thepermissible if pursued with inappropri-ate and distasteful zeal) create kedushah.This is the formulation of Rav ElyahuVedesh in Reishit Chochmah where heexplains at length that fleeing evil anddoing good creates within us the abilityto receive holiness from Above. It is aDivine response to our actions.Holiness is a Divine quality of soulwhich people are granted in proportionto their devotion to the above dualagenda.4 Thus, kedushah cannot beachieved if we are to be lax in the prac-tice of any area of Torah, regardless ofthat area’s importance in our own partic-ular version of Orthodoxy. The kadosh isfocused on God, not communal accep-tance. In Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’sformulation, the kadosh is seeking an“attribute of My essence.”5 The resultof the pursuit of kedushah is attachment

to the Divine, the ultimate goal of allour spiritual strivings.

Kedushah and the WorldIs this aspiration realistic for the Jew

who is not immersed in full time Torahstudy? Can he too escape “desire” andcleave to the Creator? Most important-ly for many of our readers, what is thepursuit of holiness to those who valuethe totality of creation as it reveals itselfin knowledge, beauty and human expe-rience and who see work as possessingother than functional value? In sum, isthere a contradiction between the pur-suit of holiness—involving as it does astrenuous shunning, not only of theexplicitly evil, but the sensual, needlessand frivolous as well—and the notionsof Torah im Derech Eretz and Torahu’Madda, tikkun olam and activeengagement with the marketplace inpursuit of a dignified living? (Our con-cern is, at present, only with thosewhose Torah commitment is firm in allfour volumes of the Shulchan Aruchand follow its strictures even when theyconflict with comfortable citizenship inthe secular cities of modernity.) Mustthe practitioners of these broader pathsin God’s service exhibit less zeal for theholiness-agendas outlined in ReishitChochmah, Chareidim, ShaareiKedushah, Shelah and earlier and laterworks? On the contrary, it seems thatthe reverse need be true. These paths,by virtue of their engagement with thenon-explicitly spiritual manifestationsof existence, create the need for morepowerful spiritual filter systems and fargreater discipline of mind and soul

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

An All-Embr acing KedushahBy Mayer Schiller


than do those of the Torah-onlyworlds, if they are to realize the goal ofkedushah. Those who venture alongthese paths need a clear and unyieldingcommitment to avoid the occasion ofsin, impurity and heresy, while coinci-dentally seeking that which uplifts andcan be uplifted from the world.

Kedushah-Consciousness of theDivine

The Nefesh haChayimpoints in the direction ofthis greater devotionwhen he posits6 that theexemption from devakutgranted during Torahstudy doesn’t extend tothe pursuit of one’s liveli-hood. There the mindshould allow for themingling of “workthoughts” with those ofTorah and holiness. AsRambam writes:7 “Theintellect which emanatesfrom God is the link thatjoins us to God. Youhave it in your power tostrengthen that bond ifyou choose to do so orweaken it.” This focuson the Divine isachieved, continues theRambam, by absoluteconcentration, duringTorah study and prayer, upon themeaning of the words we speak. Then,after having linked ourselves to thesetwin sources of spiritual sustenance weare to occupy our minds during freemoments “when alone by oneself orawake on your couch with the intellec-tual worship of God to approach Himand serve Him.” Eventually, devotedstudy and prayer and occupying one’smind during “free moments” withthoughts of love, fear of and attach-ment to God will enable a man to real-ize a stage when “while speaking withothers, or attending to our bodilywants, our mind is all that time withGod; when our heart is constantly nearGod, even while our body is in thesociety of men.”8 This, then, is an

inkling of the demanding task of theservant of God who seeks to pursueHim, who seeks kedushah, even outsideof the confines of the beit midrash.

Is all this way beyond the reach ofthe “average Jew”? Actually, Rav MosheIsserles makes it the very basis of theCode of Jewish Law, when he quotesextensively from the conclusion ofRambam’s Moreh Nevuchim in hisopening paragraph: “We are to con-

stantly think about being in God’spresence.” This awareness should causeus to be overwhelmed with “humility”and “fear [of Him].”All this is probablymore easily achieved within the con-fines of Torah only-ism. However, it isthe belief of many, this writer included,that given the bounty and beauty ofcreation, the diversity of mankind andthe insights and marvels of man’s cre-ativity, that the Torah-only approachdoes not lead to a kedushah that is l’me-hadrin. It denies far too much of theCreator’s handiwork. How then to pur-sue God’s world given its disfigurementat the hands of so many, Jews andGentiles, over recent centuries? First,one must clearly understand the para-meters of faith and heresy, and of good

and evil. To pursue the good, or touplift the neutral in existence, requiresconstant attention to filtering out thebad. The lust and luxury that Rashiand Ramban see as holiness’ primaryenemies, must be fearlessly defined andruthlessly defeated before higher levelsmay be aspired to. This demands theability to say “no,” even when that“no” leads to social opprobrium.Indeed, it is the same Rambam who

pursued God through the philosophi-cal and scholarly speculations of hisgeneration who is the most adamantabout the need to flee the negativeinfluence of cultures, individuals andeven family members who embraceevil.9 Thus, there would seem to be lit-tle room on the agenda of the Torahu’Madda or Torah im Derech Eretz ovedfor almost all of contemporary popularculture. Obviously there are exceptions.Our concern is with the norm. Thefoundation stone of God’s service is thetruth of Torah. The seeker of kedushahwould have no tolerance for the assort-ed Jewish heresies that today confuse somany of our people. Nevertheless, hewould have love for those of ourbrethren captured by toxic doctrines.

Morning Light by Ferenc Flamm*


Tikkun OlamYet, we are summoned to spread the

boundaries of kedushah beyond our-selves. Indeed, as we recite three timesdaily in Alenu, we must “repair theworld with the Kingdom of God.”Thus, the Torah Jew who seeks thespread of kedushah via tikkun olamwould have much to say to Westernnations stripped of soul, memory andfaith by secularist intellectuals, educa-tors, politicians and courts. The ideo-logical assumptions of contemporaryWestern elites would be firmly abjuredby the kadosh—not despite his Torahim Derech Eretz or Torah u’Maddabeliefs but precisely because of them.He would find no solace or pride inpublic Jews embracing the legitimiza-tion of sodomy, feticide, or rejectingthe God-ordained distinctionsbetween men and women. His everyengagement with mankind would bean attempt to protect and proclaimDivine truths among men, as

Rambam has it in Sefer haMitzvot, “topublicize the faith of God in theworld.”10 Among his natural allieswould be like-minded Gentiles of allcultures, whether or not they besocially acceptable. And, in all his sal-lies forth under the banner ofkedushah he would be imbued withand exude the “fear” and “humility”of which the Rambam speaks. Thus,before, during, and after his non-explicitly holy pursuits he would focushis mind on the Creator and how theactivity at hand is to bring him closerto God. The exact division of day ofthe kedushah -seeker would vary. But,always he would subject his scheduleto one criteria—Is this the best path Ihave to God? There are no answers tothis question that will fit all men. Butalways it is the call of kedushah thatmotivates, demands and measures.The avodah of the kadosh is primarilyinternal, as Rav Hirsch writes, “eachperson, according to his own unique

qualities, should work on his innerself; and he should train quietly in amanner known only to himself.”11

However, the impact of kedushah isfelt by all who encounter it. This pathmay not be well trod in our age but itsserene, God-centered dignity, integrityand purity beckon us all.

*Courtesy of Judaica Art Is...Ltd., 80Surrey Place, Jamaica Estates, N.Y. 11432Notes1. Vayikra 19:2.2. Kedoshim 1:1.3. Vayikra 20:26.4. Reishit Chochmah, Shaar Kedushah 1.5. Commentary, Vayikra 1:2.6. 1:8.7. Moreh Nevuchim 3:51.8. Ibid.9. See his Epistle to Yemen where thistopic is expanded far beyond its exposi-tion in Hilchot De'iot 6:1.10. Positive Commandments: 60.11. Commentary, Vayikra 1:2.

The confrontation between Jewishlife and values and the surrounding cul-ture takes many forms and the ensuingconflicts have varied from generation to

generation. At times, the conflict waspractical, as it was in the Americanexperience a century ago, when therewere almost insurmountable obstaclesto observing Shabbat and kashrut. Attimes, the issues have been cultural.The confrontation of Jewish ideas andvalues with Hellenism during the

Maccabean days, with Greek ideas andvalues during the Golden Age of Spainand with western ideas and values fol-lowing the Enlightenment have all pro-vided serious challenges to the continu-ity of Jewish life.

However, western life at the begin-ning of the twentieth-first century is

JA

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

By Moshe Meiselman

Rabbi Meiselman is rosh yeshivah ofYeshivas Toras Moshe in Jerusalem andauthor of Jewish Women in Jewish Law.

Judaism and ContemporarySpirituality


not marked by an overwhelming seriesof new ideas. Contemporary westernlife is decidedly non-intellectual. Welive in an era where many pursueunbridled materialism and physicalpleasures. According to the Biblicaldescription, the dor hamabul pursuedpleasure mikol asher bacharu1—with-out limitation. With the birth ofNoach, an unprecedented prosperitycame to the world.2 Man, devoid ofspiritual goals and freed from thearduous task of providing for his dailymaterial needs, was free to turn hisattention to fulfilling all of his naturalphysical desires and thereafter, creatingnew desires to pursue and fulfill.

However, it would not be accurateto say that ancient pagan life wasdevoid of spiritual content.3 Idolatryprovided the ancient world with aspiritual dimension that could coexistwith unbridled hedonism. The Talmudtells us4 that this is what attracted theJewish people to idolatry. The Torahviewed man’s quest for spirituality asbeing in conflict with his pleasuredrive. Pagan culture attracted Jews as away of accommodating both. Thus,the daughters of Moab and Midian5

attracted Jewish men to simultaneous-ly worship Peor (idolatry) and engagein immorality.

Similarly, the contemporary pursuitof happiness and pleasure has not beenat the total expense of the humanyearning for spirituality. Human cre-ativity enables man to create gods inhis own image to satisfy both his drivefor spirituality and his drive for plea-sure. This dual drive has a deep influ-ence on many in the modern obser-vant community who seek to accom-modate the pleasures and materialismof western life with a commitment toTorah. This is nowhere more evidentthan in the gross materialism rampantin many sectors of the observant com-munity.

For those in the non-observant com-munity, and in western society as awhole, the need for spirituality has ledto the current fascination with Easternsects and mysticism. Tens of thousandsof secular Israeli youth seek spiritual

fulfillment in India. They look to fillthe spiritual void in their lives whileenjoying the licentiousness and drugculture that India offers. Unwilling togive up the materialistic focus of theirlives, they can only experience the fan-tasy of spiritual fulfillment in such acontext.

But Judaism has always been suspi-cious of such accommodation. Man’s

self definition as a spiritual being—whose life goal is spiritual develop-ment—is vitiated by his preoccupationwith his physical self. With the eatingof the fruit of the etz hada’at, Adamand Eve became aware of their physicalidentity as distinct from their spiritualidentity. Consequently, human beingswere required to wear clothing. Theunclothed human being experienceshimself overwhelmingly as a physical

being. To heighten one’s sense of spiri-tual self-awareness, we were command-ed at that juncture, with the obligationof tzniut—clothing one’s self. Tzniut isa necessary component of kedushah. Itis the means to experience ourselves asspiritual human beings and to projectthat image to others.

We are required to become a mam-lechet kohanim vegoy kadosh6–a king-dom of priests and a holy nation—andto achieve personal holiness with thecommand of kedoshim tihiyu.7 The OrHaChaim points out8 that this is notmerely a suggestion or lofty ideal, butan absolute command applicable to allJews, no different from other mitzvot,such as Shabbat and kashrut. He fur-ther points out9 that the Torah specifi-cally tells us that the exigencies of ourown specific social milieu do not pro-vide us with an excuse to opt out ofthis mitzvah. The Torah tells us thatwe are not to follow the immoral prac-tices of Egypt and Canaan. It singlesout Egypt,10 where you have lived,and Canaan, where you are going tolive, as a way of underscoring that thedemands of kedoshim tihiyu are absolute,irrespective of one’s specific social con-text.

However, the command of kedoshimtihiyu does not mean the simple pur-suit of spirituality, but rather the pur-suit of spirituality at the expense of thepursuit of physical pleasure. Spiritualitycomes with limitation. The Rambanwrites11 that the mitzvah of kedoshimtihiyu12 comes to fill a major gap inthe Torah. It forbids setting up ofphysical pleasure as a life goal. Itmeans that we—in our lifestyle andapproach to life—must strive towardkedushah and eschew the gross materi-alism of the world around us. Withoutthis mitzvah, it would be possible for aJew to be a menuval—a low life—within Torah parameters. Nothing inthe Torah prohibits a person from get-ting drunk and rolling in the gutter,except kedoshim tihiyu.

These issues are described in greatdetail in the story of Purim. The storybegins with the lavish feast ofAchashverosh. The Talmud tells us13

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

Western life atthe beginningof the twenty-first century isnot marked byan overwhelm-

ing series ofnew ideas.

Contemporarywestern life is

decidedly non-intellectual.


of a mitzvah, as a way of serving God.He must be uplifted by it rather thanbe degraded and debased. The essenceof gross materialism, the essence of theyetzer hara, is when one focuses on me,me and me.

In this sense, Jewish spirituality is atgreat variance with Eastern spirituality.Eastern spirituality demands self-involvement, focusing on one’s ownbeing and blocking out the world,especially other human beings. Easternmeditation, with its ultimate goal ofself-transcendence and self-abnegation,16

is preoccupied with the self. Beforeone transcends or denies one’s self, onemust be absorbed with the self. Thus,it is not surprising that many easternspiritual texts are concerned withintensifying the pleasure experience. Infact, heightening the pleasure experi-ence is a recurring theme in manyHindu texts. Being self-centered andthe pursuit of pleasure go hand inhand.

Jewish spirituality, on the otherhand, is achieved in a number ofways—through chesed,17 mitzvot,prayer and the study of Torah. Butmost importantly, Jewish spiritualitycomes in response to the Divine com-mand. It is initiated by God’s call, notby man. The first step to kedushah isthrough chesed. When one focuses onothers and forgets about one’s self, thepath towards kedushah has begun.When one disciplines one’s selfthrough mitzvot and is preoccupiedwith the service of God, one movesfurther on the path to kedushah. Onewho works hard on kavanah duringtefillah and on the learning of Torahand one whose mind is focused on theDivine moves even further on thatpath. However, kedoshim tihiyu tells usthat this will lead to spirituality only ifwe discipline our physical selves. Thereis no spirituality without physicaldenial and discipline.

There are two types of religiousservice: those mitzvot that we dophysically—which are our primaryform of Divine service—and thosemitzvot that are exclusively spiritual,such as praying and learning of

of the Beit Hamikdash.15 Achashveroshrejoiced in the fact that his calculationshowed that 70 years had passed sincethe Exile had begun, and according toJeremiah’s prophecy the Exile shouldhave ended. He fantasized that he didnot have to worry about God anymore. To celebrate, he drank from thekelim of the Beit Hamikdash. The Jewswere sitting there and drinking too.How could they be so insensitive toAchashverosh’s getting drunk on winethat he was drinking from the kelim ofthe Beit Hamikdash? The answer is thatonce one gets involved in a lifestylethat is devoid of any kedushah,kedushah simply ceases to exist. Suchan incredible desecration of kedushahlost any meaning. The Jews were total-ly insensitive to the desecration ofkedushah. The experience was tooenjoyable to notice context.

Ideally, the Jewish people’s uniquelifestyle should serve as an example forthe nations. Our mission is to showthe world how to live an uplifted lifeand not sink to it's depths. However,tragically, we are so overwhelmed bythe nations around us that theirlifestyle becomes very attractive. Whileit is “a lot of fun” out there, we pay abig price for that fun.

The national purpose of the Jewishpeople is to be a spiritual nation whosegoal is kedushah. This lesson is soimportant it was made an integral partof the Jewish calendar through Purim.Every year we repeat this lesson again soas never to lose focus of who the Jewishpeople are supposed to be and on whatlevel they are supposed to live their lives.

Purim teaches us to eat and drink asthe servants of God, not in a selfish,self-seeking manner. We make sure thata poor person has matanot le’evyonim.We share our food with our friends. Ifone sits down to eat, he must ensurethat the next person can also eat. If oneeats, he must do it within the context

that the Jews were threatened withdestruction because they participatedin that feast—despite the fact that itwas completely kosher.

Achashverosh lived a life of luxuryand gross materialism. His non-stop187-day feast was consistent with thatlifestyle. Wanting to curry favor withthe people and nations that he ruled,he invited them to join him. However,participation in the feast was a contra-diction to the Torah’s message.Certainly, the Jews in attendance madesure that it was kosher lemehadrin.14

While they did not violate the 612other mitzvot, they did violate themitzvah of kedoshim tihiyu and there-by, the entire purpose of the Torah.Kedoshim tihiyu is especially relevantwhen Jews are involved in and becomepart of a non-Jewish lifestyle, theessence of which is to continually sat-isfy all human desires, without limit.This lifestyle becomes the entire focusof one’s existence. When Jews embracesuch values, they often justify it byasserting that “the food is kosher andhas the right hashgachah.” The foodmay be kosher, the aveirah is thelifestyle.

There is an interesting custom,familiar to all who listen to theMegillah. The phrase vekelim mikelimshonim (and vessels were of differenttypes) is sung to the tune of Eichah.Chazal tell us that these were the kelim

Are We Still aHOLY

NATION?

Jewish spirituality...

is achieved in anumber of ways-through chesed,mitzvot, prayerand the study of

Torah.


reserved for those who had achieved ahigh level of Jewish spiritualitythrough a deep understanding of allbasic Jewish learning, and had imple-mented all of this learning into theirdaily life. Kabbalah then provided aconduit to higher levels of spirituality.In this generation, where people wantthe fast lane to spirituality with fewlimits on their daily life, popular kab-balah provides a “quick fix.” However,this route is often at serious odds withclassic Jewish spirituality and vitiatesour goal of being a mamlechet kohanimvegoy kadosh.

Jewish spirituality is achievedthrough our response to the Divinecommand as embodied in the mitzvotand the self-discipline involved, as wesay “who has sanctified us through Hismitzvot.” It demands that we focus onothers and not be preoccupied withourselves. It demands that we involveourselves in prayer and the learning ofTorah. However, in order for all this tobe effective, our lives must be focusedon spiritual rather than materialisticgoals. This will enable us to be a true“light unto the nations.”

Notes1.Genesis 6:2.2. Bereishit Rabbah.3. Spiritual content can exist withoutspiritual goals.4. Sanhedrin 63b.5. See Numbers 31:16.6. Exodus 19:6.7. Leviticus 19:2.8. Commentary to Leviticus 19:2.9. Commentary to Leviticus 18:2.10. Leviticus 18:2.11. Commentary to Leviticus 19:2.12. Maimonides in Sefer haMitzvotdisagrees with the inclusion ofkedoshim tihiyu as a separate mitzvah.Kedoshim tihiyu demands that we pur-sue spirituality through the perfor-mance of all of the mitzvot. However,the prohibition of lo sasuru achareieineichem forbids the pursuit of plea-sure in an unlimited manner.13. Megillah 12a.14. This is a common theme in allsifrei mussar vedrush. This is based on

JA

Torah. Why do we need mitzvot?Why can’t we serve God by justlearning Torah and praying?

God created the world in a dualmanner—physical and spiritual.

Throughout creation there is a dichoto-my between the two. The humanbeing stands astride both parts of cre-ation. We are unique in creation inthat we are both physical and spiritu-al, and have to serve God, not asangels, but as human beings, usingboth our physical and spiritual selves.This is what it means to be a truehuman being. At the same time, werecognize that as human beings wehave physical needs. The Torah doesnot denigrate physicality, butdemands that we use it for spiritualgrowth. This is the nature of theDivine challenge. This is the requiredhuman response. Otherwise, the Jewcannot achieve spirituality.

The present day attempt to achievespirituality, while simultaneouslyenjoying the unlimited materialism ofcontemporary culture, is at odds withthe basic message of Jewish spirituality.A lifestyle devoted to the pursuit ofhappiness and pleasure contradicts theJewish concept of spirituality.

The contemporary search for spiri-tuality has drawn many people to thestudy of kabbalah. Kabbalah learningby the uninitiated does not seem todemand the change in behavior that isimmediately demanded by the otherareas of Jewish learning. However,nothing could be a greater violation ofthe concept of Jewish spirituality.Classically, the study of kabbalah was

the fact that the Midrash Rabbah andTargum on Esther 1:8 say that specialprovision was made for the Jews. Inaddition, the Talmud (Megillah 12a)according to Rashi’s comments and theYalkut Shimoni on Esther 1:8, says thatMordechai managed part of the feast.See for example, among countless oth-ers, Or Yahel vol. 2 p.79. 15. Esther Rabbah 2:11.16. While self-abnegation and preocu-pation with self seem to contradicteach other, in reality the process ofmaking the ego disappear requires oneto focus on one’s ego. The process

requires self involvement despite thegoal. This is also true in the Hindupreoccupation with pleasure that theyclaim leads to a higher spiritual rein-carnation in a later life. The Jewishattitude is that the process itself conta-minates.17. See Maimonides, Hilchot Megillah2:17 “For the one who gladdens theheart of the downtrodden is likened tothe Shechinah.”

There is no spirituality

without physicaldenial

and discipline.In this

generation,where people want the fast

lane to spirituality

with few limits

on their dailylife, popular

kabbalah provides a

“quick fix.”


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