You must be Holy since I am God your Lord and I am Holy. (Leviticus, 19:2)
What does it mean? Is it for individual or for the nation as a whole?
Holiness means being different from the “normal”, earthly, well accepted by majority humankind (the one which is not attached to Divine and generally speaking is always secular in essence although society could be outwardly religious) – in the sense of making ourselves closer to God and being more in His Image and His Resemblance (as in Exodus 1:26)
Being Holy means being different form the worldly accepted norms, shifting our consciousness from mundane towards the Divine, living a life by imitating the Creator Himself in dealing with daily necessities, Following Him rather than other humans. Whence – the story of Passover teaches Israel to detach from being subordinate to the human power (Pharaoh), and instead accept the rule of the Creator of this world. Read more about the exodus.
This Holiness has two aspects or levels: one is individual, another one national. Individual Holiness is another definition for Self-Realization – this is a realization by a man of his Divine Origin, of the reality that he is Image of God! On individual level these laws apply to all the people of the world because each individual is evolving towards the Holiness which is the process of Self-Realization of our Divine nature. Each and everyone is evolving towards the Ultimate Goal – The Divine Bliss.
There is similar guidance here towards the Divine that can be found in every religious scripture in the world – the intended qualities of men to be able to evolve towards the Holiness.
But then we encounter the exclusive phenomenon, Divinely decreed, which makes Jewish theology different from other religions. On the national level the Divine message is very specific –
I am the Lord your God who separated you from all other nations. (Leviticus, 20:24)
And you are to be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy and I separated you from the nations, so that you may be my people. (Leviticus, 20:26)
What is the purpose for this national seclusion?
It is as part of the “macrocosm” scenario in the Divine Movie called “Life on Earth” where whole nations act as individual personalities displaying their character traits, projecting the intended evolution of the human individuals into the evolution of the whole nations. Each movie has it’s main actor of the play and many others participating around him. So is in the “Life on Earth” movie –
The main act here falls on Israel.
And, just like in any other movies, the main character is positive one.
How do we know? Doesn’t Israel sin all the time? Just read Judges or Chronicles …? And after all today Israel created so much mess …
Because the Heavenly Author says this in his written scenario:
God said to Abram … “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you great. You shall become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you I will curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis, 12:2-3)
God said to Jacob … All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. I am with you. I will protect you wherever you go and bring you back to this soil. I will not turn aside from you until I have fully kept this promise to you. (Genesis, 28:14)
And it just happened that the above quote shed another light on the definition of the world Holiness as applied to the chosen nation.
To be continued …
