Be Holy!
דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל ואמרת עליהם קדשים תהיו, כי קדוש אני ה’ אלקיכם
Speak to the entire congregation of the Jewish people and say to them “Be holy”, because [I (G-d) am] holy; I am G-d your Almighty.[i]
[i] Vayikra 19:2
Question[1]
On the surface, this is a straightforward command of emulation – “Be Holy, because I am”. However, when we apply rigorous logic to the mechanics of this verse, three questions emerge:
The First Difficulty: The Paradox of Emulating the Unapproachable
The root word קדוש – holy fundamentally means “separated,” “aloof,” or “set apart.” G-d’s holiness implies his absolute transcendence above the physical limitations of the created universe. When the Rambam[i] codifies the mitzvah of[ii] והלכת בדרכיו – walking in G-d’s ways, he writes: “Just as he is called Gracious, you be gracious. Just as he is called Merciful, you be merciful. Etc. “
Comprehending the human emulation of G-d’s mercy or graciousness is possible; these are traits that translate into human experience. But how does a physical human being, bound by biology and economics, emulate absolute, transcendent aloofness? If to be קדוש is to be completely detached from the mundane, is the Torah commanding us to abandon the physical world entirely, like Eliyahu the prophet?
The Second Difficulty: The Flawed Rationale
The Torah justifies this command with the phrase כי קדוש, אני, ה’ אלקיכם. Logically, this is a non-sequitur. Imagine a mortal king standing before his court and declaring: “You must all be royal, because I am royal!” By definition, a servant cannot be royal. The very essence of G-d’s holiness is that it is uniquely his. How does his infinite holiness serve as the reason we are demanded to achieve the same?
The Third Difficulty: The Astonishing Midrash
To address these verses, the Midrash Rabba[iii] brings an extraordinary teaching from Reish Lakish:
אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן לָקִישׁ, שְׁתֵּי פָּרָשִׁיּוֹת הִכְתִּיב לָנוּ משֶׁה בַּתּוֹרָה וְאָנוּ לְמֵדִין אוֹתָן מִפָּרָשַׁת פַּרְעֹה הָרָשָׁע… וְהָדֵין: קְדשִׁים תִּהְיוּ, יָכוֹל כָּמוֹנִי תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי, קְדֻשָּׁתִי לְמַעְלָה מִקְדֻשַּׁתְכֶם.
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Moshe wrote two verses for us in the Torah, and we learn their true meaning from the verse of the wicked Pharaoh… Regarding the verse “You shall be holy,” one might think [the Jewish people are] equal to Me [G-d]. Therefore, the verse teaches: “For I am holy”—My holiness is above your holiness.
The Midrash proves this boundary by citing Pharaoh’s words to Yosef[iv]
ויאמר פרעה אל יוסף אני פרעה
and Pharaoh said to Yosef, I am Pharaoh.
You might think that Pharaoh and Yosef were equals, therefore, Pharaoh corrected that impression by stating, “I am Pharaoh” – in other words, my greatness is greater than yours [Yosef].
The comparison between these two teachings; that we are to be holy, because G-d is holy, and that Yosef, the viceroy of Egypt is great because Pharaoh is great – implies that there is a preliminary supposition that we might think the two examples are actually similar. Just like one might think יכול כמוני that Yosef and Pharaoh were equally great [in Egyptian politics], so too we might think יכול כמוני that the Jewish people, when they are holy, are as great G-d himself – the Creator. How could a finite, created being ever suffer such an extreme delusion of grandeur?
Second, why in the world must we derive the ultimate theological boundary between G-d and humanity from the power dynamics of an Egyptian monarch and his viceroy?
The Fundamentals
The Two Modalities of אני
To resolve this, we must rely, together with the Kabbalistic framework of the Pardes Rimonim[v], based on theverse[vi] ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא – there are in fact two ways [two (2) levels of אני] in which the term אני – I, a first-person reference to G-d himself, are perceived:
- The אני of Bina (Transcendence):
This is G-d as he is entirely removed from creation – סובב כל עלמין (encompassing all worlds). It is the level of infinite possibility, completely unapproachable, which is derived from the power of the אור אין סוף itself, which reaches למעלה מעלה עד אין קץ – infinitely lofty without end.
- The אני of Malchus (Immanence):
This is G-d’s sovereignty as it interacts with the lower realms – ממלא כל עלמין – filling all worlds. There is a classic rule of traditional jurisprudence and governance[vii]: אין מלך בלא עם – There is no king without a nation. Sovereignty requires subjects; it requires engagement with the mundane. This power is derived from the power of the אור אין סוף itself, which reaches למטה מטה עד אין תכלית – to the absolute lowest pointlessness.
The Jurisprudence of Holiness
When G-d commands קדשים תהיו – Be holy, he is not asking us to detach from the physical world and achieve the אני of בינה. That is not our purpose in this world.
Instead, G-d is tasking us with the administration of the אני of מלכות.
The soul of a Jew is a חלק אלו-ה ממעל ממש.[viii] Our mandate is to enter the mundane world – the world of business, of legal theory, of the daily grind – and act as G-d’s viceroys and agents. By fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvos within the physical realm, we extend G-d’s sovereignty. We become the vehicle for מלכות to rest upon the earth.
Yosef was the ultimate viceroy – granted complete and absolute authority not only by Pharaoh but by the people themselves, who sold themselves to Pharaoh in order to survive the famine. Pharaoh remained detached in the palace, but Yosef was in the trenches. He managed the grain, he balanced the ledgers, he dictated the economic laws, and he kept the entire empire alive.[2] Yosef was the active, functioning sovereignty of Egypt.
In Jewish law, שלוחו של אדם כמותו – an agent is equivalent to the one who appointed him.[ix] When an agent acts with the full backing of the sovereign, the spiritual power coursing through them is absolute. When a Jew successfully channels Divine sovereignty into the physical realm, bringing order, light, and justice to the world, they wield the actual power of מלכות.
יכול כמוני – You might think you are like me
Because this power is so real and so absolute, the agent might suffer an ontological blurring of the lines. Wielding the very sovereignty of the Creator, the human being might think to actually seek to emulate G-d further, to recede from the world and attempt to express the אני of בינה.
Therefore, the Torah introduces the ultimate exclusionary clause, utilizing Pharaoh’s own legal framing אני פרעה. The אני that you seek to reach comes even before פרעה.
In Ĉassidic teachings, the term פרעה represents the natural blockage that exists between the upper intellect, the pure intellect, and the constraints of attempting to translate that intellect into emotional relationships and actions. That is why פרעה has the same letters as העורף – representing both stubbornness and the physical neck that serves both as a barrier and connection point between the heart and mind.
Extending G-d’s sovereignty into this world, the אני of מלכות, that is our mission. Our mission is not to break the neck (פרעה) and reveal the אני of בינה – that mission can only be accomplished by G-d himself.
קדשתי למעלה מקדשתכם – my holiness is above that holiness which you can reveal.
Flesh and Blood אני
This entirely changes our perspective on why we learn this from Pharaoh. We aren’t learning G-d’s nature from a wicked king; we are learning the strict legal mechanics of delegated authority, and the physical limitations of what can be revealed by us, vs what G-d himself will reveal.
This brings us to the conclusion of the Midrash:
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי לֵוִי, מֵאֲנִי שֶׁל בָּשָׂר וָדָם אַתָּה לָמֵד אֲנִי שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא… לִכְשֶׁיָּבוֹא אֲנִי שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא… עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה
Rabbi Yehoshua said in the name of Rabbi Levi: From the “I” of flesh and blood you learn of the “I” of the Holy One, Blessed be He… when the true “I” of G-d will be revealed… how much more so!
When we engage the world as Yosef did, refining the אני of flesh-and-blood, we become holy, the viceroys of מלכות – extending G-d’s sovereignty throughout the world.
And when that job is finally complete, the boundary shifts. The reward for perfecting our role in being the vessels of the אני of מלכות is ראו עתה we will now see, that ultimately אני אני הוא – both levels of אני are only expressions of G-d himself, and it is G-d himself, personally, who will be revealed to the world as אני ה’ אלקיכם – I am G-d your [personal] Almighty.
[1] Based on the teachings of the Magid of Mezritch
[2] When analyzing Yosef’s role as the viceroy of Malchus—managing the grain, the ledgers, the daily grind—there is a profound philosophical question to address: where does the true value of his holiness lie? Is it in the final net result (saving Egypt and establishing a platform for his family), or is it in the cumulative impact of the daily actions themselves?
According to the Alter Rebbe in Tanya (Chapter 37), the ultimate revelation of the Messianic era (the Ani Ani Hu) is brought about specifically through the cumulative impact of physical actions (Ma’aseh). Yosef didn’t just snap his fingers to achieve a net positive result; he engaged in the repetitive, exhaustive, step-by-step administration of the earthly realm. It is the cumulative weight of those finite, physical actions that actually refines the “neck” (Oref/Pharaoh) and builds the throne for the Infinite to rest upon. Adding this emphasizes that the “daily grind” you mentioned is not just a means to an end, but the very mechanism of Kedushah.
[i] Rambam דעות 1:5-6
[ii] Devarim 28:9
[iii] Vayikra Rabba 24:9
[iv] Beraishis 41:40
[v] Pardes Rimonim 23:1
[vi] Devarim 32:39
[vii] See Maharal – Gevuros Hashem 47:91
[viii] See Tanya
[ix] See Gem. Kiddushin 41b