Friday, March 19, 2010
More on Kedusha
“You are Holy, and Your name is Holy, and Holy ones will praise you daily”
Besides for being a popular Israeli song, these words are part of the Shemona Esrei that we recite three times each day.
The strange thing is that we only mention the idea of “praising G-d Daily” when it comes to holiness. We don’t praise G-d for daily wisdom, daily health, or daily forgiveness. What is the connection between Holiness and the fact that Holy beings offer their praise daily?
It seems to me that Holiness is intrinsically connected to consistency. Only by doing something regularly can we be considered holy.
Consistently is not the same as Constantly. Rashi writes clearly that the word Tamid (usually translated as always) means regular. The Menorah was not always lit, but it was lit every day. The sacrifices were not constantly being brought, but the Korban Tamid was brought every day.
The component that separates the Men from the Boys, the Women from the Girls, and the Holy from the Unholy, is consistency. It is easy to quit smoking twelve times. Truly holy people are able (if they so desire) to quit smoking once and stick to it.
I once asked Reb Nota Greenblatt why he didn’t ask potential converts if they would be willing to sacrifice their lives for Judaism. After all, we are supposed to examine converts on the easiest and the hardest Mitzvos. Kiddush Hashem, it would seem, is the most difficult of Mitzvos. Rabbi Greenblatt explained to me that dying for G-d is an easy mitzvah. It is living in a G-dly way that is a challenge. He preferred to verify that potential Jews would live as Jews and was willing to assume that, given their sincerity, they would be willing to die as Jews as well.
I once shared this thought on Kedusha with Rabbi Mordechai Dolinsky of Jerusalem. He agreed with me wholeheartedly and pulled a Mesillas Yesharim out of his briefcase. He turned to the chapter on holiness and showed me that he had underlined each of the many times that theRamchal mentions Consistency and regularity in conjunction with Holiness.
Inspired people do something once; Holy people do it again and again and again.
I recently received a phone call from a relative of someone who had passed away here in Virginia. “I’ve been davening for that man”, the relative said, “for forty-two years”. I hope that one day I can say that I have done something consistently for forty-two years.
This is the second of my thoughts during Kedusha. The first is here.
