“My kedushah (holiness) is greater than yours.”
– The Maggid of Mezrich

People always tell me it’s “so LA” to talk about energy and vibes, but I think perhaps it’s just more openly discussed here. In truth, we all feel and are affected by both. That’s why it’s so important to be mindful of the company we keep. I often place myself in what I call sacred spaces or spiritual environments, because when people are there to reach higher levels of being, it means the base level of what’s expected is generally pretty elevated.

As I often say, life can be so precious if you are truly present, and the Torah is the present that presents the tools of how to sanctify time, space, and oneself. When we have full faith, we can tap more into our purpose and our spirit and worry less about the temporal “realities” of this material world. Abraham Joshua Heschel writes in Man in Search of God: religion begins with a consciousness that something is asked of us. It is in that tense, eternal asking in which the soul is caught and in which man’s answer is elicited.

The parashah opens commanding us to be holy, קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ (“Be Holy [because, I, God your Lord am holy]”), implying that we should always seek greater levels of kedushah. We can also interpret the Hebrew words קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ as a Divine assurance that we will attain kedushah, if we sanctify Hashem’s name. As we learn in Pirkei Avot, “One who honors Torah, will be honored…” As we read further in the parashah, “Observe My Shabbats and fear My Sanctuary; I am God.”

Reb Natan of Breslov teaches that the main tool a person can use to subdue materialism and elevate their spirituality is awe and fear of Hashem, explaining that “Fear My Sanctuary” means that if one has fear, they can experience “My Temple [for they have ascended above materialism].

When the Maggid says, “My kedusha is greater than yours,” he’s not saying “I’m holier than you are,” rather, “My kedusha stems from your kedusha.” This connects to the concept, מצווה גוררת מצווה - that one good deed always pulls another one in its wake. The Maggid takes this to the realm of kedusha: if someone else does a holy act, it inspires you to be holier for yourself & for others, & so your holiness increases beyond the initial act. 

All of nature can be used for darkness or for light. And if we learned anything from Stan Lee and his Spider-Man comics, and I think we learned a lot, it is that “with great power comes great responsibility.” We have the power, we have the potential, we even have the cheat codes. It’s only if we use them and tap into the infinite part of ourselves that we become supernatural.

So, the Maggid is saying that your kedusha makes his kedusha greater, because each of us has the power to make others holier. & as Abraham Joshua Heschel reminds us, ‘Every Moment Is an Opportunity for Greatness.’


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Thanks for listening/reading.
Much love, Erez Safar

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