After many, many meals of Matza in many iterations, I cannot understate how excited I am for my first taste of Challah at my Friday night meal tonight. Dipped in soup, dipped in Chummus, or just plain, that first bite of warm, sumptuous Challah is something that I look forward to year after year. In my experience, however, filling up on only Challah is rarely a good thing, especially with all of the delicious food to follow after. Despite my excitement, I think that solely relying on Challah to be my Seudos Shabbos would be too much of a good thing. It just does not seem so healthful. This is a concrete example in which, on the one hand, something pleasurable is embraced by our tradition; yet, we know the boundary is important. The special religious experience of eating Challah, especially after Pesach, would be undermined if it were to be done improperly.

In the section of Mishneh Torah entitled Sefer Kedusha, the book of holiness, Rambam includes three sections: Hilkhot Issurei Bi'ah (the laws of forbidden sexual relationships), Hilkhot Ma'akhalot Asurot (laws of forbidden foods), and Hilkhot Shechita (laws of slaughter). Arguably, all mitzvot could be part of “Sefer Kedusha” - Sefer Zemanim focuses on holidays, which in the Torah are called "mikra'ei kodesh." Sefer Zera’im helps us to sanctify the Land of Israel, and the Land of Israel is the holiest of all land. Yet, Rambam chose to count food and forbidden sexual relationships as the makers of kedusha. Likewise, Rashi on “keodshim tihyu” (Vayikra 19:2) says that the commandment to be holy is focused specifically on refraining from forbidden relationships. Why does holiness seem to focus on these particulars?

In our parasha, we encounter the first list of animals which are permitted and forbidden to be eaten by the Jewish people. It ends with the verses "Because I am the Lord your God and you shall sanctify yourselves and you will be holy because I am holy, and you shall not defile yourselves... and you shall be holy because I am holy" (Vayikra 11:44-45). Holiness is emphasized here. It's interesting how people often look for the reason for kashrut, but the Torah is explicit that kashrut is an essential means towards holiness - or perhaps we can understand this better by translating "kedusha" as "separateness."

Why does this passage appear here? I might suggest that it is a natural transition from the episode in which Nadav and Avihu were killed for their "foreign fire." As Rashi quotes from Rabbi Yishmael, Nadav and Avihu transgressed by making their offering while inebriated. After this episode, God speaks directly to Aharon (not Moshe!) and says that the priests are to abstain from drinking when performing their tasks, "to sanctify between the holy and mundane, the pure and impure." Wine is acceptable in Judaism, but not in avodat Hashem. After discussing one command for sanctity in refraining from doing Hashem’s service after having consumed wine, the Torah discusses another important element of Jewish life involving sanctity, the laws of kashrut.

The common thread between these two passages seems to relate to the role of physical pleasures. In the first passage, wine is the subject, and in the in the second passage, it is food. Fortunately, our religion does not take extremist views on physical pleasure. But that perhaps is why we need the extra reminders to refrain from hedonism. We can enjoy wine - refraining from it completely may actually be problematic, as is understood from the Nazir passage in Parashat Naso - but if we abuse it, our service of God will be “abominable”. Likewise, God permitted us to eat meat, but the allowance to eat anything and everything that roams this earth would be antithetical to the Jewish understanding of holiness. Perhaps this is why Rambam focused on food and sexual prohibitions in Sefer Kedusha - because those pleasures have great potential for holiness but also can prevent our reaching kedusha. It seems that Ramban’s approach to “kedoshim tihyu” - which is to sanctify ourselves with that which is permitted, to not be hedonists – corroborates this idea. We may be allowed to engage in pleasures, but there are limits. Not all food and not all relationships are available. That is holiness.

Yet, let us take this a step further to remind ourselves what is really at hand through the following story. The holy Jew from Peshischa sent R. Simcha Bunim of Peshischa on a journey, without any stated purpose. The Rebbe gathered a few of his Chassidim. They stopped somewhere and wanted to eat, but they began inquiring into the kashrut - who the shochet was, how the shechita was done, etc. Then someone who overhead the conversation came out and said: "Chassidim! That which you enter into your mouth you research and inquire about if and how it was kosher, but that which comes out of your mouth - your speech - you ask no questions about."

As we are careful about what enters our mouths, let us also be careful that what comes out of our is used to uplift and support others during this difficult time.

And, in a time during which we all need tremendous chizuk, let us also see our separation from each other as matter of holiness, a measure that is meant to preserve life, one of the greatest things we can possibly do.