An old rabbinic joke tells of a young man who requested to become a Kohen (Jewish priest). When the board of the congregation refused, the young man offered a million dollars to attain this important status. The board capitulated. Days later, the congregation’s rabbi approached the young man, saying, “I know you wanted to become a Kohen, but a million dollars, isn’t that a bit much? Why were you so desperate to become a Kohen?” “I’ll tell you,” the young man said, “my father was a Kohen, my grandfather was a Kohen – so I figured why shouldn’t I become a Kohen as well?”
Of course, being a Kohen is inherent. You’re either born a Kohen or not. But in the portion of Naso, the Torah discusses the laws of the nazir, who can be viewed as assuming similar responsibilities to a Kohen (Numbers 6:1–21).
For example, much like a Kohen, the nazir is not permitted to have any contact with the dead. Additionally, as there are restrictions on a Kohen’s alcohol intake while serving in the Temple, a nazir is enjoined from drinking wine. And, much as a high priest is restricted from doing with his hair as he wishes (i.e., he may not dishevel it), a nazir is forbidden to cut his hair (Leviticus 10:9; 21:1, 2, 10, 11).
Life in many ways is the sum total of our being in a particular place at a particular time. Judaism defines three corresponding categories of holiness, sometimes emanating from God and sometimes initiated by humans:
• Kedushat gavra (holiness of person). There is a person, a Kohen, whose holiness is endowed by God. There is also the holiness of the person that emerges from the self – like a nazir who decides to assume priestly responsibilities.
• Kedushat makom (holiness of place). There is a place, the Holy Temple (and for that matter, all of Jerusalem), that is holy because its sanctity comes from God, from the Shechinah itself. As the Shechinah is eternal, so the Temple’s holiness lasts forever (Maimonides, Yad, Laws of Beit Habechira, 6:16). Yet there are other places whose holiness stems from human input, such as the holiness of a synagogue. It is as holy as we make it.
• Kedushat zeman (holiness of time). There is a holy day, the Shabbat, made holy by God, irrespective of human contribution. And there is the holiness of the holidays, whose dates are declared by humans (by the Jewish court).
The challenge is to make all of life holy: for every day to become like Shabbat, for all places to become holy, and for every person to become priestly. Unlike in our satirical rabbinic anecdote, doing so doesn’t cost anything. Instead, it requires a commitment to reach spiritually high, to reach for kedushah.
Candle lighting:
Naso parsha
June 14th at 7:56 p.m.
