Parshas Kedoshim: Sanctifying Hashem | Rabbi Nachum Binder

Parshas Kedoshim. Chazal in Toras Kohanim tell us, The Ribono shel Olam tells Klal Yisroel, If you sanctify yourselves, I consider it, Hashem says, it's just like you made me holy. And the words of Chazal are very hard to comprehend. What does that mean, it's like we made the Ribono shel Olam holy? And the Malbim shares with us a fascinating Pshat. The Ribono shel Olam has two ways of how He runs this world. There's the conduct על פי דרך הטבע, the natural way, the way things go from day to day, and then there's שלא כדרך הטבע. There's a conduct of the supernatural, of wonders, of miracles and wonders. And Chazal are telling us, We, too, have two ways to live. A person can live naturally, what comes easy for him, what's natural for him to withstand, what's natural for him to turn away. But then there's the supernatural. There are things that are a little difficult, there are things that get hard, there are those moments where it's so difficult. And the Ribono shel Olam tells Klal Yisroel, If you will act beyond your nature, if you will hold yourselves back in those moments where you find it so difficult and so hard, then my conduct with you, my dear children, will also be beyond nature, supernatural, wondrous. Morai v’Rabosai, it's not just about what we do or we don't do. It's about those difficult tests, those difficult moments. It's about strengthening ourselves when we feel that we really can't. And when we do that, we’ll merit Yeshuos that are beyond nature. But there's one condition. The Medrash tells us, You might think that your holiness, Klal Yisroel, is similar to my holiness, says the Ribono shel Olam. The Torah therefore says: For I am holy. My holiness is higher than your holiness. Says the holy Tiferes Shmuel from Aleksander, We know the Ribono shel Olam’s holiness is not dependent at all about any type of situation that it finds itself in, so to speak. The Ribono shel Olam’s holiness is even in a place ‘Who dwells with them even in the midst of their impurity,’ even in a world that's full of impurity, even in a world that's full of such filth, such dirt, the Ribono shel Olam’s holiness remains untainted, remains so pure. And the Ribono shel Olam tells Klal Yisroel, My dear children, don't think that you're like me. Klal Yisroel, to maintain our holiness, we have to make sure that we don't find ourselves in places that's the antithesis of holiness. We maintain our purity, our holiness, and we keep ourselves in places and situations that's holy and pure. Morai v’Rabosai, if we work on this and we work on ourselves, on our ‘you shall be holy’, Chazal promise us we will merit a conduct beyond nature.