By Rabbi Joshua (cooperatively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman z"l
This week's parsha, Kedoshim, begins with God telling Moshe, "speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them : 'You shall be holy, for holy am I, God, your Lord.' "(Vayikra 19:2). Rash cites the Sifra, which says that this parsha was said at a gathering of the entire assembly of the b'nei Yisroel, because the majority of the essentials of the Torah are included in it. Rabbi Nissan Alpert, in his Limudai Nissan, asks, in what way was this section of the Torah taught to the people differently from the rest of the Torah? The Talmud in Eruvin (54b), tells us that Moshe taught each parsha of the Torah, as it was given, to the entire nation, first to Aharon, who then sat down at Moshe's side, then to his sons, who then took their seats, then to the elders, who then took their seats, and, finally, to the rest of the nation. What was different about the way he taught parshas Kedoshim?
Rav Alpert notes that Rav Eliahu Mizrachi, in his super-commentary to Rashi, already asked this question, and answered that while, in regard to the rest of the Torah, Moshe taught each group separately, when it came to the parsha of Kedoshim, he taught all of them together. The reason for this, explains Rav Alpert, was to demonstrate to the nation that even though it consists of different groups, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses, when it comes to achieving holiness, as outlined in the mitzvos in this parsha, all Jews are capable of attaining this goal. In this way, says Rav Alpert, we can understand the answer of the Ohr HaChaim to this question, in which he says that while Moshe taught the other sections of the Torah only to the men, he taught this section to everyone, including men, women and children. Here, too, says Rav Alpert, Moshe wanted them all to know that they should strive to attain kedusha in their lives, and that they are capable of doing so. I would like to offer a somewhat different answer to the question, based on a comment of Rabbi Mordechai Ilan in his Mikdash Mordechai.
Rav llan mentions the teaching of Rav Pinchas ben Yair, which is brought in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 20b, and also at the end of Sotah), and which serves as the pivot around which Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's work, Mesilas Yeshorim, or Path of the Just, revolves. In this teaching a step-by-step program towards religious perfection is presented, ending with the attainment of ruach ha-kodesh, or divine inspiration, and, ultimately, techiyas hameisim, or resurrection of the dead. In the list, we find that kedusha leads to anovoh, or humility. He points out that each stage in the program is dependent upon the attainment of the previous stage. Therefore, in order to attain humility, one must first attain kedusha, or holiness.
Actually, there are several different versions of this teaching, and in the version which is brought in the intoduction to the Mesilas Yeshorim, humility precedes the fear of sin and holiness. Rav Reuven Margolios, in his notes to the Talmud, Nitzozei Ohr, writes (in his notes to Sotah 49b), that these two traits, humility and fear of sin, go together, and refer to fear of sin that is coupled with humility. The format of Netvort does not lend itself to a complete presentation of Rav Margolios's reason for saying this, but connecting humility and fear of sin as a unit, and then connecting the attainment of humility to the next stage, holiness, has special meaning when we view this process of religious perfection from the viewpoint of the Jewish nation as a collective unit.
The task of the Jewish nation, as it was charged at Mt. Sinai before receiving the Torah, is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Shemos 19:6). We have mentioned many times Rav Kook's explanation of this charge, that the Jewish people needs to demonstrate holiness within the context of a nation, with all the political, economic and social elements that are involved in the dynamics of a nation. Every person, and every sector in the nation has its own task to fulfill within the larger goal, and none can reach the ultimate goal without the help of all the other members and sectors. This awareness of mutual dependency requires a sense of humility, an acceptance of the fact that one cannot do everything on his own, and must work together with the rest of the nation to attain his goal. Perhaps, then, it was in order to inculcate this sense of mutual dependency in attaining the national goal of being a holy nation that this parsha was taught to all sectors of the nation at the same time, without the distinctions that were made in teaching the rest of the Torah.
