How do we become holy? (Jewish thoughts)

Last Shabbat (4/20/13), I had the opportunity to give another d'var Torah, another exegetical "word of Torah", at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. The weekly portion was Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, Leviticus 16-20. This davar was not mandatory for school, but just something extra that I did for practice. Since it was a Shabbat davar, it is about twice as long as my first one (this one was about 11 minutes long). While there was a relatively small number of HUC-JIR students in the audience, there were about fifty visitors from various congregations in the U.S. Because the davar was not mandatory, and because it was given on Shabbat, it was not recorded. However, here is the text of what I read:

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"קְדוֹשִים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יהוה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם" (k'doshim tih'yu ki kadosh ani Adonai Eloheichem) - "You shall be holy, because I, Adonai your God, am holy." This week's double portion, Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, is all about holiness. But what does holiness, what does being holy, actually mean?

Leviticus is the middle book, the heart of the Torah. Kedoshim, including Leviticus Chapter 19, also called the Holiness Code, is at the heart of Leviticus. And at the heart of the Holiness Code is a single verse, which is crucial to the entire understanding of the Torah: "וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ אֲנִי יהוה" (v'ahavta k'rei'a'cha kamocha ani Adonai) - "Love your neighbor as yourself, I am Adonai." This verse, Leviticus 19:18, is so important to the Torah that, according to Rashi citing Rabbi Akiva, "זֶה כְּלָל גָּדוֹל בַּתּוֹרָה" (zeh k'lal gadol ba-torah) - "This is the central principle of the Torah."

This is not the only time we hear of this key idea of treating others well. Time and time again, doing good conduct toward other human beings is put above all else. The great sage Hillel was once asked to sum up the Torah while standing on one foot, and his response was the well-known quote, "What is harmful to you, do not do to your neighbor." Leviticus Rabba explains that the Holiness Code contains the most essential laws within in it. According to Sefer HaChinuch, traditionally the Ten Commandments are divided into two sections: commandments regarding relations between humans and God and commandments regarding conduct between humans and each other; and it is the latter set that is deemed more important.

In fact, this principle is so important that it is found in many other ancient cultures. Perhaps the most famous is Jesus' rewording into what is now known as the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Yet Confucius also had a similar maxim: "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself," and the Mahābhārata of India says "…treat others as you treat yourself." These are just three of many other similar sayings.

There are plenty of commandments in the Holiness Code that elaborate upon this idea of the importance of ethical behavior toward fellow human beings. "לֹא תִּגְנֹבוּ וְלֹא-תִכַחֲשׁוּ וְלֹא-תְשַׁקְּרוּ אִישׁ בַּעֲמִיתוֹ" (lo tignovu v'lo-t'chachashu v'lo-t'shak'ru ish ba'amito) - "You shall not steal and you shall not deal deceitfully or deal falsely with one another."             "לֹא-תַעֲשֹׁק אֶת-רֵעֲךָ" (lo ta'ashok et rei'a'cha) - "You shall not defraud your fellow." "לֹא-תְקַלֵּל חֵרֵשׁ וְלִפְנֵי עִוֵּר לֹא תִתֵּן מִכְשֹׁל" (lo t'kaleil cheireish v'lifnei iveir lo titein michshol) - "You shall not insult the deaf nor place a stumbling block before the blind." The list goes on and on.

Thus there is clearly a message of interpersonal ethics, of putting people before all else in your actions. And this is why this portion is so beloved to Reform Judaism. Parts of the Holiness Code even replace the traditional Yom Kippur afternoon Torah reading because of its emphasis on ethics. And this is part of the reason it speaks so much to me, as I'm sure it speaks to many of you.

And yet, next to all of these ethical laws, there are some other laws that do not appear to be based on ethics. "וּבֶגֶד כִּלְאַיִם שַׁעַטְנֵז לֹא יַעֲלֶה עָלֶיךָ" (uveged kil'ai'yim sha'atneiz lo ya'aleh alecha) - "You shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material." "לֹא תַקִּפוּ פְּאַת רׁאשְׁכֶם" (Lo ta'ki'fu p'at rosh'chem) - "You shall not round off the side-growth of your head." What do we do with the ritual commandments that are also found in Kedoshim?

According to Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, a sixteenth century Italian rabbi, God taught all the ritual laws so that we may be holy. He additionally says that to obtain this closeness with God, this holiness, we must observe the commandments on the first tablet of the Ten Commandments—and those are the ones that deal with humans and God. As Rabbi Bradley Artson, Vice President of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, once wrote, "One of Judaism's central insights is to fuse ritual and ethics into a single blazing light--the mitzvah--and then to reorient that new composite creation--holiness--to reflect the very nature of God."

So perhaps on a second glance, this portion is about more than simply being a good person. Maybe holiness goes beyond loving your neighbor as yourself. Philosophers may debate how to be a good person, but theologians debate how to be holy. The text does not say "טוֹבִים תִּהְיוּ" (tovim tih'yu)--you shall be good--it says "קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ" (k'doshim tih'yu) – you shall be holy. If we are holy because God is holy, then holiness must involve God. And that is why these ritual commandments are here: to connect us with God.

Reform Judaism once tried to get away from this emphasis on ritual, replacing much of it with an emphasis upon ethics and universal actions. When, as I previously mentioned, the Reform Movement replaced the traditional Yom Kippur afternoon Torah reading with the Holiness Code, they in fact skipped most of the verses that deal with ritual. The 1885 Pittsburgh Platform, which was composed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis as a declaration of shared principles, goes as far as to say that "…all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress…fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness…"

Yet after the two world wars and the Holocaust, things began to change, and ritual began to reenter Reform Judaism. Theologians such as Rabbi Eugene Borowitz started thinking of Reform Judaism as less of a universal religion and more of a specifically Jewish religion, with a unique relationship with God, which finds a balance between focusing on ethics and focusing on ritual. And this is where many see Reform Judaism today. Yes, we have commitments to ethics—one of many reasons why I personally am a Reform Jew—and institutions such as the American and Israeli Religious Action Centers are important; yet they are not the only important factors in obtaining closeness with God. As the Holiness Code teaches us, we need particularistic, Jewish rituals that can connect us to God and therefore help us achieve holiness. I know that for me, personally, I often feel closer to God when I am wrapped in tefillin (phylacteries, or Jewish prayer wrappings), or saying a blessing before eating, or lighting Shabbat candles.

So perhaps this is the answer. The Torah is teaching us that holiness is about two inseparable things: ethics and ritual. Performing both ethical and ritual mitzvot (commandments) will make us holy.

Yet if this is the answer, then how do we handle all of the commandments that do not speak to us? On the one hand, we have the ethical, universal values, which seem to be eternal and unchanging. Showing respect for one's elders, for example, seems to be relevant for all time, as does refraining from insulting the deaf and many other ethical mitzvot. Yet on the other hand, we also have commandments that seem to be no longer necessarily applicable. Is avoiding divination or turning to ghosts really relevant to our modern intellects? Must we wear peyes (sidelocks)? Are tattoos really that bad? Then there are even more questionable laws such as "If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death…"

Clearly some of the rituals are still relevant, and yet some of them are not. And at the same time, some of the ethics are still relevant, and some of them are not. We could follow the traditional Orthodox way and keep it all or we could go the extreme liberal way and get rid of it all, but maybe there is a balance in between. Various modern theologians have their own ideas on this issue of obtaining holiness.

Hermann Cohen taught that rationality or reason is God's greatest gift to humanity, and that rationality combines three things: ethics, science, and esthetics. I believe that if you were to ask Hermann Cohen how to figure out which laws to keep and which to dismiss, he would say, "Use your brain." According to Cohen, rationality, including ethics, will achieve holiness.

Leo Baeck thought similarly to Cohen, and he too believed in rationality and ethics. Yet for Baeck, closeness with God involved not only rationality but also emotions. Rationality can only get us so far, but to truly approach God we also have to be spiritual, we have to use rituals, and we have to pray. Thus Baeck's view is that rationality, together with spiritual deeds, will achieve holiness.

Mordecai Kaplan agreed with Cohen and Baeck's rationalism, but rejected its emphasis. Instead, he focused on the social or group "Jewishness" for guidance. We all receive immense influence from our surroundings, and for Kaplan, this explained why we do what we do. Thus Kaplan's view is that rationality and emotions, but most importantly societal influences, will help achieve holiness.

So what do we do with all of this? It's fine that early Reform Jews determined what to do based mostly on ethics, and it’s fine to think that Cohen would determine what to do based off rationality—but what about the rest of us? How do we strike a balance between ethical and non-ethical commandments? How do we get close to God?

How do we become holy?

These are tough questions; and maybe that's just it. Maybe it's not about choosing ethics, and maybe it's not about choosing ritual, but maybe it's about the challenge to decide. After all, there are many ways to be a Reform Jew. We are living today in a world of Reform Judaism that is quite varied, from Classical Reform temples that require their rabbi to be without a kippah (skullcap) on the bima (pulpit), to post-modern Reform synagogues where women lay tefillin alongside men. Perhaps on some issues you will follow your head, like Cohen, perhaps on some issues you will follow your heart, like Baeck, and perhaps on some issues you will follow those around you, like Kaplan. It doesn’t matter which you decide—as long as you’re making a decision.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that maybe holiness is not what you ultimately decide to do, but instead it's about engaging the challenges you face to get to that point. Holiness is about struggling with tough decisions. After all, it was only when Jacob struggled with God that he became Israel. And in this struggling with God, he became more holy.

Thus our challenge is this: never stop engaging. Keep facing those challenges. Your perspective can, and should, change. After all, the very name of this movement—Reform, not Reformed, Judaism—implies a constant struggle, a constant challenge to figure out how to live a modern and Jewish life.

So keep on engaging—and then you, too, can achieve holiness.