Boulder Aish Kodesh

It would be an easier world to negotiate if everyone knew exactly what to do. But that is not the way it is – our lives are constantly confronted with appealing choices and forks in the road. There are prescribed ways – spiritual paths of various lineages, some that profess to be from G-d, some from a prophet, some a product purely of the human mind. And it would be an easier life if the one that was ‘true’ stuck out, beckoning clearly for all to come and heed. But to the average eye, no single path clearly shows itself to be superior.

And even if you do choose a path – say, Torah, for example – even then, the path is not clear, because there is so much leeway, so much room for error and self-deception.

There is a famous difference of opinion between Maimonedes and Nachmanedes on this week’s Torah portion. The Torah says ‘You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your G-d, am holy.’ Maimonedes writes that this is not a separate mitzvah among the 613 mitzvot. Rather, it is an injunction to follow the 613 commandments of the Torah. And in so doing, one is holy.

Nachmanedes has another reading. He writes that, in fact, ‘Be Holy’ is a commandment in and of itself, for it is possible to keep all the mitzvot in the Torah and not be holy. Therefore a person must not only choose the right path, but he or she must choose to invest that path with integrity and holiness.

As ‘Be Holy’ is defined, it means keep separate from that which is permitted you. Meaning, we must maintain our warrior’s pose. Even that which is permitted to can represent a danger if we are not careful.

Even more challenging than this is that there are often no external indicators as to whether we have chosen the right path. The Gemarra even describes those cases where only a person and G-d know if the person did right or wrong.

So, it emerges that there is no easy way. Life is a constant set of decisions. We can never for a moment stop choosing life, for its opposite ‘hovers at the door’, waiting for us to fall asleep. We must always choose, and we must always be able to look at our choice and scrutinize so we can choose better next time.