Holiness & k’dushah
The sidra tells us to be holy people (Lev. 19:2).
The word “Holy” is from a Middle English word for “whole”. It tells us that holiness is not something that is limited to certain places and times. It unites all things.
People become holy if they elevate every aspect of life, both heaven and earth, both the connection to Heaven and the connection to earth.
Maybe you think there is a contradiction between the Hebrew kadosh (“separate”) and the English holy in the sense of whole – but there really is no contradiction.
If you try to be holy and to unite heaven and earth what you are trying to do is to separate everything from ordinariness, to raise every aspect of life onto the highest possible level.
