Alef Kaballah
Involuntary Holiness
10 May 2022
Emor
This discourse was taught by the Rebbe on Shabbat Parshat Emor in 1965, and was edited by the Rebbe for publication in 1990. Commenting on a discussion by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of a verse in the Sedra, the discourse identifies three levels of holiness: the holiness within the individual which yearns for the Divine, and the holiness which flows from G-d to the individual in the form of Torah, the inner spiritual level, and Mitzvot, the outer material level.
Yet there is a further way of understanding the holiness within the individual: it could be consciously expressed, as in the righteous person, or an involuntary implant of G-dliness in the person who as yet is not observant. When this latter person becomes a Baal Teshuvah, a repentant, the implanted holiness bursts into effect, reaching an exalted level. Hence the Talmud states that 'the place where the repentants stand, cannot be reached by those who never sinned'.