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How can human holiness theoretically exceed divine holiness, as suggested by a Midrash? The shiur develops a revolutionary understanding where kedushah means removing oneself from the center rather than closeness to God. God's ultimate holiness is His tzimtzum - self-contraction to create space for human choice - while human holiness mirrors this by making God's will our reality rather than struggling against it.
This shiur presents a revolutionary understanding of kedushah (holiness) that challenges the conventional definition. Rather than holiness being measured by one's closeness to God, Rabbi Zweig argues that kedushah means the ability to remove oneself from the center, based on a fundamental Midrash that suggests human holiness could theoretically exceed divine holiness - an impossibility if holiness were simply proximity to God. The analysis begins with Rashi (רש"י)'s interpretation that 'kedoshim tihyu' means separating from forbidden relations and foods. Rabbi Zweig questions how this could constitute a separate mitzvah (מצוה) when these prohibitions already exist. The resolution comes through understanding that kedushah represents a qualitatively different relationship to prohibitions - not struggling against desire while following commandments, but reaching a state where forbidden acts don't even enter one's consciousness.
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Parshas Kedoshim 19:2
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