Adding Kedusha to What We've Done All Along

Parshat Kedoshim uses the term “Kadosh, “Holy” a number of times. 

At the beginning of the Parsha, Rashi suggests that Kedusha comes about by abstaining from those activities which are forbidden. The Ramban also suggests that Kedusha is primarily expressed through abstaining, but add that Kedusha can be found even in areas of life that are technically permissible (please see their comments inside for their full impact).

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch takes the Ramban and expands even further our assumptions about Kedusha. He writes that no natural human tendency or power is inherently good or evil. The Torah gives all activities a positive aim and a negative limit. In the service of the purpose indicated by God, and within the limits set by Him, everything can be good and holy. Rabbi Hirsch notes that kedusha, holiness, is mentioned in connection with the prohibition of Pigul, not eating the Shlamim sacrifice after 2 days. Of all sacrifices, the shlamim is the sacrifice that is most eaten by people.

Shlamim are a path towards Kedusha, ie we must spiritualize and instill with morality and purpose even the enjoyment of our sense. As Rav Hirsch puts it, the goal of Kedoshim Tihyu finds fulfillment when our dinner table is transformed into an altar for Hashem, and we appreciate the religious value of even seemingly mundane acts like eating.  Outlets for Kedusha must inform the entirety of a Jew’s life. This is an idea that we find in the writings of Rav Soloveitchik. For instance, in this quote from Halachik Man:

“Halachik man does not chafe against existence, rather he reads with the simplicity and innocence that is typical of him the verse in Genesis, ‘And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good’ and accepts its verdict.”

Everything in this world and all of our actions have the potential to tap into that goodness identified by God. Even mundane activities must have the potential to be viewed as opportunities to express holiness.

Let us think about Kedusha, and our religious growth, not only in terms of “doing more”: accepting new mitzvoth, but also in terms of adding depth and meaning to those activities that we have been doing all along.