Parshat Emor  19 Iyyar 5761, 12 May 2001

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - The Biblical Book of Leviticus is called the 'Book of Holiness,' because it is suffused with 'varieties of holy experiences;' the supreme place of holiness, the Holy Temple, the seminal events of holiness, our Festivals, and the familial "tribe" set aside for holiness, the Kohanim - Priests.

The Hebrew word "Kadosh" or holy literally means separate and exalted, an "other" which relates to the most supreme "other one". Rudolph Otto, in his work The Idea of the Holy, calls the holy the numinous, the mysterium tremendum; mind wrestles with language to discover a proper metaphor for exploring the aspects of life most related to the Holy One, Blessed be He. Our Bible associates holiness with time and place: On certain occasions, G-d allows us to have a special connection, a rendezvous, with Him. The festivals, Moadim, are the "dates" He makes with us to enjoy His fellowship; there are certain places in which 'we can best feel His Divine Presence', such as the synagogue and study hall, places of worship of His Name and the study of His word, all pale reflections of our destroyed Holy Temple.

Is there a difference between the holiness of time and the holiness of space? Is one 'holier' than the other? Hassidic tradition records a fascinating conversation between two 19th century giants, the Kotzker and the Voorker. The Voorker Rebbe was known for his love of every Jew, and the Kotzker Rebbe was known for his surgical precision in dissecting truth from sham. True to form, the Voorker explained to the Kotzker that when it comes to the festival of Sukkot, he prefers the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah to the commandment of the Four Species because when you let go of the Four Species, you let go of the sanctity, whereas in the sukkah, the sanctity grasps and surrounds us.

The Kotzker proposed that the sukkah, when compared to Shabbat, also falls short; after all, one can walk out of a sukkah, but no one can walk out of Shabbat. In effect, the Kotzker and the Voorker were debating the sanctity of time versus the sanctity of space. In praising the sukkah, the Voorker was praising the sanctity of space. The Kotzker pointed out that since space exists in a three-dimensional plane, it might be abandoned, ignored, or even destroyed. However, since time is not physical, its sanctity can never be undone, can never be destroyed. And indeed historically speaking the Jewish People could survive without the Holy Temple but could never survive without the Sabbath!

I would like to suggest that beyond the holiness of space and time, there is also a third and supreme window from which to gaze upon holiness - the human being created in the image of G-d, containing within him/her self an ineffable and inextinguishable spark of Divine holiness. After all, the human being can choose to walk out of the Sabbath - if, G-d forbid, he desecrates it by ignoring it or turning the Sabbath table into an expression of slander or familial jealousy and cruelty. After all, it is ultimately the human being who must endow the special times and special places with their holiness. Consider: once a year the highest expression of the sacred converge, when the High Priest, holiest of people, entered the Holy of Holies of the Holy Temple on Yom Kippur, the Day of Forgiveness, also known as Yom Hakadosh, the Day of Holiness. Yet Talmudic law insists that if the High Priest, on his way to the Holy of Holies, comes upon a corpse with no relative to bury him (met mitzvah) the High Priest must forego the Temple Service and bury him himself! And if such is the human body after its soul departed, how much greater sanctity is contained within a living human being, imbued with the image or shadow of the Divine. Clearly, the sanctity of the human being transcends the sanctity of time and place.

In today's world, in which we so often disregard other human beings, even and maybe especially fellow human beings in distress, - when we rarely speak to people in an elevator and we walk "through" the homeless lining some of our most affluent streets, - it is crucial that we appreciate and recognize our fellow human being as the essential ingredient of holiness, not the mysterious Other, but rather the familiar Other. We can all learn an important lesson about the basics of human holiness and comportment from the following story I heard from Mr. Mendel Reich, whose father's life in Auschwitz was saved by an extraordinary coincidence. His father, a devout Jew, was especially scrupulous about the adage in Ethics of Our Fathers to ".Receive every person with accepting warmth and joy." (3:16) Gentile, as well as Jews in the Hebrew context (Kol adam), and a ringing testimony to every individual's inherent holiness.

The Polish town where his father lived was near the German border, and each morning on the way to prayers, he would meet a German nobleman out walking his dog, and every morning Mr. Reich would be the first to warmly address his neighbor. A gutt morgen Herr Guttman, a gezunten tag Herr Guttman." And Herr Guttman would coolly nod in return.

Years passed, and the elder Mr. Reich was sent to Auschwitz. One day, weakened from pneumonia, he found himself on the line of selection, certain he would be sent to the left, where the crematorium awaited. As his turn neared, he began to recite the final vidui confessional. And then he was standing in front of the Nazi guard, who looked vaguely familiar.. The Jew barely whispered A gutt morgen Herr Guttman, gezuntan tag Herr Guttman. The Nazi guard looked at the Jew, and a flicker of recognition crossed his eyes. Rechts! He called out. And Mr. Reich lived.

Shabbat Shalom.

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