Levine

  • A Reasonable Request (2)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  Leviticus 19:2b  JPS   Be holy – Levine’s excursus in the JPS commentary on Leviticus provides an important qualification about the term qādôš (holy): The biblical term for holiness is kodesh.  Though the noun is abstract, it is likely that the perception of holiness was not thoroughly abstract.  In fact, kodesh had several meanings,…

  • A Reasonable Request (1)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  Leviticus 19:2b  JPS Be holy – The English translation doesn’t quite capture the force of this command.  Baruch Levine translates it as “You must be holy!”  He adds: “The verse is distinctive in that it provides a rationale for a commandment: Israel must…