A Holy Nation: Every Jew Is Called

1“And you shall be to Me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to Bnei Yisrael.”¹ Notice that the verse repeats itself. Why does it say, “These are the words that you shall speak to Bnei Yisrael,” when it has already said, “So shall you say to the House of Yaakov and tell Bnei Yisrael”?² Rashi comments: “‘These are the words’: no less and no more.”³ The holy sefarim ask about this:⁴ was Moshe Rabbeinu, Heaven forbid, suspected of changing the word of Hashem, that he needed to be warned about it?

2A second question concerns the verse “Moshe came and summoned the elders of the people, and he set before them all these words that Hashem had commanded him.”⁵ The Holy One, blessed be He, had told Moshe, “These are the words that you shall speak to Bnei Yisrael,” which implies all of Bnei Yisrael. Why, then, did Moshe summon only the elders of Israel and set before them the words Hashem had commanded?

3A third question comes from the next verse: “All the people answered together and said, ‘All that Hashem has spoken we will do.’ And Moshe brought back the words of the people to Hashem.”⁶ Why did Moshe Rabbeinu need to bring the people's words back to Hashem? After all, everything that happens in all the worlds, above and below, is revealed before Him.

4It seems that we can explain this as follows. Some parts of the holy Torah are the same for every soul, within everyone's reach, such as learning Torah and keeping the 613 mitzvos. Besides these there are lofty matters that are not within every soul's reach. The Torah does not state them explicitly, and they come under no obligation or prohibition. Rather, they are included in the mitzvah “You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your God, am holy”: to keep away from excess and to sanctify oneself in what is permitted, as the holy Ramban explains.⁷

5Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to say to Israel, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation.” This includes the call for Klal Yisrael to be privileged to reach the level of “You shall be holy” in full, keeping away from excess even in permitted things. Since this is not within every soul's reach, one might have thought that Hashem was not speaking to all of Israel, because not every Jew can reach this level of holiness. One might have explained that when Hashem said, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation,” He meant only Moshe and Aharon, and not Klal Yisrael. After all, Bnei Yisrael had only just come out of the forty-nine gates of impurity, the depths to which they had sunk in Egypt,⁸ and they could not yet reach the level of a holy nation. That is why the verse had to repeat itself and say that these are the words Moshe was to speak to all Israel. The meaning is: tell all of Bnei Yisrael that they are all called a holy nation, and that every one of them must reach this level.

6This is what Rashi meant by “no less and no more.” Even the Jew of the lowest standing in Israel is fit to reach the level of a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation, and he should not think himself lower than the rest of Israel; that is “no less.” Likewise “no more”: he should not think this level too high for him. It is not too much for any Jew, and no Jew stands too low to be privileged to reach it.

7aEven so, not every Jewish soul can easily reach this lofty level right away and be a holy nation in all its senses, limbs and deeds. So Moshe Rabbeinu summoned the elders of Israel, who were already advanced in years. By that age, all the cravings and desires that draw a person's heart in his youth have faded. “And he set before them all these words that Hashem had commanded him,” so that through their holiness they would influence and guide the whole people, including the young men of Bnei Yisrael, to be holy as well.

7bBut when the people heard Hashem's words, “all the people answered together,” including the young men of Bnei Yisrael and even the simple and the lowly: “All that Hashem has spoken we will do.” “We will do,” naaseh, speaks of repairing and completing oneself, as in the verse “and the souls that they had made in Charan,” which the Targum renders, “whom they had brought under the Torah.”⁹ In other words, they took it upon themselves to make themselves whole in body and soul. This is the level of “we will do”: to make the body a vessel of holiness for the honor of the Creator, and so to be on the level of a holy nation. When Moshe Rabbeinu saw and heard this, he was deeply moved at how even the young men of Bnei Yisrael agreed to separate themselves and be a holy nation. So he brought their words before Hashem in Israel's defense, as if to say, “See, Hashem, how even the lowliest of Your people Israel wants to keep away from all the vanities of this world!” This is the meaning of “Moshe brought back the words of the people”: even the lowly, who are called “the people,” all want to be a holy nation.

8May Hashem grant that the reading of this parshah awaken the time of the receiving of the Torah, and that He bestow a spirit of holiness and purity on us and on all who are joined with us. Amen, may it be His will.