As Heard From Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L
“And you shall make yourselves holy and you shall become holy.” (11:44)
The purpose of refraining from the forbidden foods is that you should make yourself holy; And as a result of your efforts, you are assured by Hashem that you shall become holy. “A man makes himself holy a little, they (i.e. Hashem) make him holy very much; he makes himself holy here below, they make him holy above; he makes himself holy in this world, and they make him holy in The World to Come.” (Yoma 39a)
In this instance, no positive act is mentioned. The abstinence from forbidden food is in itself a means of gaining holiness.
This results not merely from:
- the virtue of self-control against yielding to the physical desires, which if practiced in the service of Hashem is indeed a great perfection.
- and also not merely from the heightened awareness of the holiness of the Israelite body, or
- of the awareness of the great difference between Israel and the nations which requires aloofness from them and their influence.
In addition to these causes of holiness, we learn here that the mere compliance with Hashem’s laws is a potent source of Kedusha: “And you shall become holy because I am holy.” The association with Hashem by the observance of His Torah is in itself a cause of holiness, because Hashem rewards those that are loyal to His laws with a degree of closeness to Him.
Similarly, even when one keeps the Shabbat merely by refraining from acts which Hashem has forbidden to do on Shabbat, the Shabbat thereby confers Kedusha upon him, week after week. Certainly, he acquires much more holiness when he utilizes the Shabbat to study its great lessons and to become more aware of its great truths.
Rabbi Miller would say, when you look at your fellow Jew who keeps the laws of Kashrut, “You are looking at a Holy Jew.”
Quoted from “A Kingdom of Cohanim” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L
Shabbat Shalom
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