D'var Torah

Adar 5764

Clean Sweep

A new month is a time for renewal. On February 23, we celebrate Rosh Hodesh Adar. The Mishnah tells us that in ancient times, “On the first of Adar public announcement is made concerning the payment of the shekel and concerning the diverse kinds of prohibited seeds. On the fifteenth of the month the scroll of Esther is read in walled cities, and the roads and the major thoroughfares and the mikvaot [ritual baths] are repaired, and all the public duties are performed, and graves are marked, and messengers are sent forth also concerning the rules of the diverse kinds of seeds.” [1:1]

In an early version of the popular cable series “Clean Sweep, ”Adar was the month for cleaning out the shmutz. And, as we prepare for Purim and then for Passover, there is a word that threads itself throughout the Torah, making itself more visible. Much like the woof and warp of a finely woven carpet, the word appears and connects mitzvah after mitzvah. That word is kadosh, holy. The word kadosh first and only appears in the book of Genesis when we are told that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy

In the remaining books of the Torah and throughout the prophets, we encounter the word kadosh or a variant over and over again – sometimes referring specifically to sacred acts performed by the priests or to a sacred spot – but in the Torah reading that preceded Rosh Hodesh Adar, we are informed that all of us are to be mamlekhet kohanim and goi kadosh, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation made holy with the ritual, moral and ethical commandments that began with the recitation of the events at Sinai and continue through the multiplication of commandments throughout the Torah.

Just past the middle section of the book of Exodus, and just past the midpoint of this same reading, we are informed that we are commanded to be holy in how we eat: Anshei Kodesh Tihiyun Li, “You shall be holy people to Me: you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs” (22:30) In the Mekhilta, a rabbinic commentary to this passage, we are taught that this section goes well beyond our dietary regimen:

Rabbi Ishmael says: K’shatem kedoshim, harei atem sheli, If you are holy then you are Mine. Issi ben Akiva says: K’sh-hamakom m’hadesh mitzvah l’Yisrael hu mosif lahem kedusha, when God renews a commandment to the people Israel, God adds holiness to them.

This may be one of the origins of the prayer formula we recite by rote – Barukh … asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, when a physical craving is raised to the realm of the spirit and becomes a religious act. God makes us holy with commandments – not that God has made us good, or that God has made us better, or that God has made us superior – God adds holiness to our lives. Just as an apple is sweeter when shared, so, too, is a mitzvah more pleasant when shared.

One of the images that might best be used to describe our relationship with God is that of hide and seek – the question can be asked who is hiding and who is seeking – but it is in the doing of the mitzvot that we discover where we are, where God may be and in that relationship we find our own holiness as well as that of God

We Jews speak of sacred time and sacred space – a place becomes holy when we transform it with a sacred act – our ritual reality consecrates a place each time that we renew the performance of a commandment and it is into that space that we invite God and into that space that we invite members of a community to share with us in the transformation of space – and after all, is that not what Jewish community is supposed to be, uniting in holiness in our shared quest for God? Being a Jew is all about making, creating and searching out mitzvah moments – moments of consecration and sanctification of simple daily acts. Now is the time to prepare ourselves spiritually, cleaning out the hometz, cleaning out all that blocks a closer connection and a deeper attachment to the holy and to the Sacred and to the Holy One. This month, add joy to your lives; renew a mitzvah, increase your joy as you add holiness to your lives.

Additional Divrei Torah