Sabbaths & sanctuary – K’doshim
Vayikra 19:30 tells us, “Keep My Sabbaths and respect My sanctuary”.
Sabbaths are times; sanctuaries are places. The Torah wants high standards in both space and time, places and occasions.
If you wonder which is more important, the answer is “both”. Jewish life has its holy places and it has its holy days. Hallowing places is no more important than hallowing occasions – and vice-versa.
The Ramban asks why it is wrong to desecrate them. He answers that transgressing the holy days is an insult to God who gave them. Similarly, the rule against desecrating holy places is a denial of God’s Creation of the world.
We can also add the rabbinic idea that God endowed certain people with an extra dimension of holiness and decided to place them in the generation that needed them – and treating them without respect is an insult to the Almighty due to whom they live in our age.
