Efrat, Israel – What does it mean to be holy, to be spiritual, to be really and genuinely religious (and not merely observant)? And, especially in light of this particular period of the calendar year when we in Israel memorialize Holocaust Day and Memorial Day, and celebrate Israeli Independence Day and Jerusalem Day; what gives so many special individuals the courage to place their lives at risk – and even sacrifice their lives – for their Jerusalem, for their Israeliness, for their nationality and their religion, for their beliefs and their homeland?

The Hebrew word which encompasses the various aspects of the personality trait which leads to sanctity and martyrdom is Kadosh, usually translated as holy. In last week’s Biblical reading we came across the generic commandment “You shall be holy,” (Lev. 19:2), and in this week’s reading the Kohen – priests are commanded specifically to be holy (within the context of their prohibitions not to become defiled by contact with a corpse Lev.21:6), and the Jews are commanded to martyr themselves if need be (Lev 22:32, the Hebrew usage being vehikdashti, “I shall be made holy in the midst of the children of Israel, I the Lord who makes you holy”),  and the Festivals (our meeting days with G-d, Hebrew mo’ed) are called “holy convocations” (Lev 23:2). The source of this holiness is obviously G-d, as the Bible iterates and re-iterates, and as we have just seen in the Biblical verse referring to martyrdom. But what does “holy” actually mean, and how can we become holy people?

Conventional wisdom has it that holiness is linked to the mystical, the mysterious, the esoteric, probably emanating from a classical book on the subject of Rudolf Otto, “The Idea of the Holy,” wherein the term “numinous” is coined to describe this mystical connotation of the concept. I believe that the Bible, and especially the classical Biblical commentaries of the Bible, would suggest a far more prosaic but more profound meaning to holiness, one which it would behoove each of us to try to attain.

As early as in the opening verses of the second chapter of Genesis, the Hebrew word Kadosh (holy) appears for the first time: “And G-d blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” (Gen 2:3). The classical commentary Rashi (ad loc) explains both terms, blessing (berakha) as well as holiness (kedushah): “He blessed the seventh day by providing a double portion of manna for it, and He made the seventh day holy by not sending any manna on it.” Since manna was the special food provided by G-d for the Israelites in the desert (perhaps a metaphor for wandering humanity in a world of transition between primordial Eden and eventual Paradise), blessing refers to the extra physical portion provided on Friday night for the Sabbath table, whereas Kedushah refers to the lack of the physical manna which did not fall on the Sabbath day at all.

Now the usual Hebrew meaning of Kadosh  is separate, apart from (Kedoshim tihyu, persushim tihyu), and this definition would certainly be appropriate for G-d, who is theologically above, beyond, separate and apart from the boundaries and limitations of our physical, material world and existence. Since the human being is created in the Divine image, contains within his/her essential being a spark of the Divine, a portion of G-d from on High, each of us must develop within ourselves the ability to transcend the physical, to be involved in the more intellectual and other-than-worldly aspects of our life, which religious moralists would call the G-d within us rather than the animal within us. To do this is the higher purpose of the Sabbath days, twenty – five hours devoted to Prayer, study and loving familial (and communal) communication.

From this perspective, what does it mean to be holy? It means to be above the physical blandishments of monetary bribery, sexual seduction and temptation; it means not devoting oneself only – or mainly – to the acquisition of material wealth. A moral and ethical human being who knows how to say no to improper physical urges or suggestions and attempts to live his/her life in the pursuit of eternal values and ideals such as the acquisition of knowledge, the betterment of society, the propagation of compassion and peace between individuals and nations, is indeed holy.

I would take this one step deeper. If G-d is eternal and His values are eternal, and if there is indeed a part of that eternal G-d within each of us, then insofar as we develop that divinely endowed soul within ourselves, we too become eternal, we too have the ability to transcend this physical world and this physical life, we too share in the life after life of the King of all Kings, the eternal life of all worlds (El Hai ha-olamim). Indeed, for someone who devotes his time in this world to the development of the divine within himself, the transition from life to life becomes almost natural and seamless.

When Rav Yosef Yitzhak, the Rebbe just prior to Rav Menahem Mendel Schneerson ztz”l stood fearlessly before the Communist Commissar who had put a gun to his head, the atheist war lord gazed with astonishment at the rabbinic sage. “Many heads have already rolled onto the floor of this office,” he shouted. “You don’t understand,” replied the Rebbe. “I am constantly moving between this temporal world and the world of eternity. Mine is the G-d of eternity, so I need have no fear of you…”

Yosef Goodman, child of Efrat, son of Mordecai and Anne Goodman who own the pizzeria in Efrat, was a proud and outstanding member of the “Maglan” paratroopers of the IDF. When his parachute became entangled with that of his commander in a trial run, he had a split second to make a critical decision: either they would both crash, or he would disentangle his parachute plummeting to certain death but his commander would live. When he took the oath to defend the eternity of his nation with his earthly life, he had already made the decision. He disentangled his parachute….

When Roi Klein saw a hand-grenade about to explode in a closed area where he and his unit entered to evacuate a wounded comrade, he knew what he had to do: smother the grenade with his body. Roi  was killed instantly, but all the other soldiers remained alive. The reason he did what he did was clear; before he performed this act of Kiddush Hashem he cried out: “Shema Yisrael, HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Ehad.” As we say in our morning prayers: “O Guardian of Israel, protect the remnant of Your nation Israel, and do not destroy Israel, those who say, Hear O Israel… Protect Your holy nation, protect the remnant of Your holy nation, and do not destroy Your holy nation…”