Parshat Kedoshim begins with, “דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל ואמרת להם קדושים תהיו,” famously asking Moshe to call upon the entire Jewish people and command them with the necessity of being קדושים. What is so special about this commandment that requires all of the Jewish people to be gathered to hear it? The other mitzvot are of less importance?! What does being קדוש mean, and how are we meant to succeed in fulfilling this mitzvah?

Rashi explains based on the juxtaposition of this specific mitzvah and the restrictions on sexual immorality listed in the chapter prior that קדושים תהיו simply refers to the necessity of fulfilling these restrictions and distancing ourselves from sexual immorality. The Ramban on the other hand seems to argue and explain that the requirement of being a קדוש is beyond the simple fulfillment and distancing from that which Hashem has told us to do regarding sexual immorality but rather it is the idea of קדש עצמך במותר לך and not to be a נבל ברשות התורה. 

Rav Shimshon Pinkus z”l points out that although they seem to argue, Rashi and the Ramban are really teaching us the same idea.  The Gemara in Kiddushin teaches (30b),”בראתי יצר הרע ובראתי תורה תבלין”, the antidote for the evil inclination is only through the ways of the Torah.  Meaning, in order to truly succeed in separating one’s self and distancing from sexual immorality, one must use the ways of the Torah to accomplish that successfully. In other words the prisha of Rashi can only be accomplished with the kedusha of the Ramban. If we really want to succeed in the סור מרע we need it to be accompanied by the עשה טוב. 

I recently returned from a trip to Poland with a group of talmidim.  The stories, places, and personalities we met all spoke about what it means to be a קדוש. When Hashem commands the Jewish people, the entire Jewish people, to be קדושים, he is demanding and showing us that the only way to live our lives is to allow the Torah and its values to pave the way for us.  When we embrace that we truly can become קדושים, as the posuk ends, “כי קדוש אני ד’ אלוקיכם”.

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