Parshat Kedoshim: Hidden Holiness - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

I come from a generation of Jews who assumed that synagogue worship consisted largely of middle-aged ladies with badly dyed blue hair standing outside the synagogue and almost kissing each other on the cheek while saying lovely to see you to a dear now concluding that this was the sum total of Judaism and finding this particular mode of worship somewhat lacking large numbers of my generation hightailed it off to the Himalayas where they're currently watching their navels and waiting for something to happen well I have news for them nothing happens when you watch your neighbourhood except getting a stiff neck we always were a stiff-necked people about those blue-haired ladies though they made a mistake they fail to notice that lying dormant under those blue rinses was the kind of spirituality about which we could not even guess how many jokes how many Jewish jokes start with the phrase eat he never eats the caricature a Jewish mother complains continually that our offspring a dying of hunger in spite of the fact of their daily calorie intake support of thoroughbred racehorse behind every joke however there lies a truth it may be a distorted truth but a truth nevertheless Judaism is unique in that it views the body neither as an enemy nor as a bacchanalian banquet but rather as a resource the body is not only capable of spiritual elevation but it's created for this purpose the body's deepest satisfaction comes from being correctly used in the service of the soul in this week's Torah portion God says to moshe speak to the entire Assembly of the children of Israel and say to them you shall be holy for I Hashem your God am holy since God instructed Moses to speak to the entire Assembly we know that this commandment was to be spoken in public to all the Jewish people together not just emotional to our own emotion why what is it about the command to be holy that requires that it be communicated to everybody together the answer is is that the holiness of the Torah seeks from us is not a holiness of separation denial Anastos ism and seclusion rather the Torah is a Torah of holiness which to be lived in an assembly our holiness where the body is elevated by the soul and where its greatest potential is only realized in our interaction with our fellow human beings [Music] you [Applause]