I was in New York on Wednesday for less than half a day. I went to visit the Shiva of R’ Nota Greenblatt, ztz’l, who passed away last Friday. I went to the Shiva in the morning and then I spoke about him in Brooklyn in the afternoon. I hope to speak about him here close to the Sheloshim, at the end of May.
Last Friday night, I shared part of a Dvar Torah from him. And I thought it would be appropriate to let him speak again this morning. R’ Nota’s only Sefer is on the Chumash, and he has a fascinating thing to say about the attribute of Kedusha in this week's Parasha.
Kedoshim Tihiyu is an imperative to create separation. Rashi says it has to do with separation from illicit relationships. The Ramban says it is separation even from things which are permitted, especially things which corrupt one's personality. The verb “L’hakdish” means to separate; making Kiddush on Friday night is about separating Shabbat from the rest of the week. We can’t achieve separation as much as Hashem does, but apparently we are supposed to imitate to some degree Hashem’s Kedusha.
What do we see in Hashem’s separation? Does it make it so that he is uninvolved? Of course not. It is from the fundamentals of Emuna to know that Hashem cares not just for the great among us but also for the least among us. The Prophet says Hashem looks after the destitute and the handicapped of spirit. It is apparently not a contradiction to Hashem’s holiness for Him to care about the lowliest on earth.
And we see the same thing with Moshe Rabenu, who is described by the Rambam as angel-like. The angels complain that he does not belong in the heavens only because he is “of woman born.” They do not object that he is not angel-like. But even as he maintained this status, it was not noticeable to others. His own brother and sister think he’s no different than them. And he deals with domestic problems, with interpersonal disputes -- as he says in Parashat Mishpatim, any difficult matter that arises should be brought to me.
R’ Nota also talks about a trip he once took to Europe, where he saw the monument on the grave of R’ Yonason Eibshutz, ztz’l, in Northern Germany. On the grave, he is called “Rabenu Hakadosh.” Not many people have been called by that name, even in the time of the Mishna. R’ Nota puzzled over this and then he heard that during the most disruptive time in his life, even when he was fighting against charges that he was a heretic, R’ Yonason still kept a normal schedule of classes as though nothing was happening. That is a separation from the difficult events swirling around him; that is Kedusha.
R’ Nota says he saw the same quality first hand when he watched R’ Moshe Feinstein, ztz’l, during the war. He learned in R’ Moshe’s Yeshiva from 1942 until 1946. From the time that word got out of Europe about the extent of the catastrophe, R’ Moshe maintained his learning. During Davening, and in saying Tehilim, there were rivers of tears, but he was also able to sustain his learning. The Iggoros Moshe, R’ Moshe’s Halachic Seforim, began years before. But R’ Nota says that the foundations for R’ Moshe’s Seforim in learning were forged during this time. All of this while R’ Moshe led the efforts to save Jews in Europe and to establish Day Schools all over the country. That private work amongst all of those public projects is also Kedusha.
I want to add one thing about the attainment of this level of Kedusha. The achievement we are trying to imitate is that Hashem cares for everyone despite the fact that He is far removed from us. We see in the Parasha that it mandates all kinds of care for all kinds of people. The Mitzvot in this Parasha even include matters having to do with agriculture in both Israel and abroad. This care for everything is actually a characteristic of humility. That character trait is often thought of as controlling one’s self-esteem. But it is really a quality that means spreading oneself out in all directions without a concern for one’s status -- without any pretensions. The Mesilat Yesharim says that the development of humility is a prerequisite for developing Kedusha in the religious personality. The Mitzvot of the Parasha presuppose this development of humility. To be holy, like the examples above, means to busy oneself with all of these Mitzvot while maintaining the personal and private growth which is also part of the religious personality.
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