The Hebrew root kadosh (normally translated “holy”) is employed forty-eight times in the course of parashat Emor. What does kadosh mean, and what does it mean to be holy? The initial chapters of Emor address the kohanim and ritual purity, and may give the impression that holiness refers to some objective quality or inherent nature of things, a status that is divinely established. But the latter part of the parasha casts doubt upon that conclusion. We read: “These are My fixed times, the fixed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions” (Lev. 23:2), and “These are the set times of the Lord, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate each at its appointed time” (23:4). According to these verses, it would appear that the timing of the “sacred occasions” is decided by human beings rather than by God.  There holiness is not bestowed by God but by us.

Indeed, the Mishna relates the following story about the fixing of the date Yom Kippur:

Rabban Gamaliel sent to him to say, I order you [R. Joshua] to appear before me with your staff and money on the day of Yom Kippur according to your reckoning. R. Akiba went to him and found him in great distress. He said to him: I can bring proof from the Scriptures that whatever Rabban Gamaliel has done is valid, because it says, “These are the set times of the Lord, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate each at its appointed time”, whether they are proclaimed at their proper time or not at their proper time, I have no appointed times but these (Mishna Rosh Hashana 2:9).

The Mishna appears to be telling us two things, one about our obligation to accept the decisions of the court, and the other about the nature of holiness. The Mishna continues:

He [R. Joshua] then went to R. Dosa b. Hyrcanus, who said: If we question the decisions of the court of Rabban Gamaliel, we must call in question the decisions of every court that has convened since the days of Moses up to the present time, for it says, “And Moses went up, and with him Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 24:9). Why were the names of the elders not mentioned? To show that every group of three that has convened as a court over Israel is on a level with the court of Moses. He [R. Joshua] then took his staff and his money and went to Yavneh to Rabban Gamaliel on the day that was Yom Kippur according to his reckoning (Mishna Rosh Hashana 2:9).

Here, the Mishna appears to be giving a practical explanation for the need that the times of festivals be established by human beings. However, we find the following in the Gemara:

R. Akiba went to him and found R. Joshua in great distress. He said to him, Master, why are you in distress? He replied: Akiba, it were better for a man to be on a sick-bed for twelve months than that such an injunction be laid upon him. He said to him: Master, will you allow me to tell you something that you yourself have taught me? He said: Speak. He then said to him: The text says “you” (Lev. 23:2), “you” (23:4), “you” (23:37) three times, to indicate that “you” [fix the festivals] even if you err inadvertently, “you” even if you err deliberately, “you” even if you are misled. He replied: Akiba, you have comforted me, you have comforted me (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashana 25a).

R. Akiba thus shows that human beings hold the authority to establish the festivals. However, his explanation is not a straightforward proof, but rather a practical demonstration of how holiness is in human hands. R. Akiba does not bring a proof text from the Bible, he creates one. The word “you” (atem) does not appear in any of the verses that he cites [the “you” in the English translation of the verses reflects the fact that the verb is in the second person plural form]. Rather he reads the word “otam” (אֹתָם “which”) as “atem” (אַתֶּם “you”).

Another example of how holiness is established relates to fixing the Sabbath:

R. Huna said: If one is travelling on the road or in the wilderness and does not know when it is the Sabbath, he must count six days and observe one. Hiyya b. Rav said: He must observe one and count six. Wherein do they differ? One holds that it is as the Creation  [which began on Sunday, so the Sabbath followed six weekdays], and the other holds that it is like Adam [who was created on Friday] (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 69b).

According to these approaches, there would appear to be no objective holiness, but rather holiness is established by human beings. Thus Maimonides concludes: “When a beit din [court] sanctifies the month, whether they err or are misled or under duress, it is sanctified and all must establish the festivals accordingly, and even if one knows that they were mistaken, he must rely on them, inasmuch as the authority is theirs, and He who commanded to celebrated the sacred occasions clso commanded that we rely upon them, as it says: ‘which you shall proclaim’” (Laws regarding sanctifying the new month, 2:10).

1. What is “holiness”? Is holiness an attribute inherent in a day, a time, a place or a thing by its nature or is it only a consequence of human action? What is God’s role in establishing holiness? The Torah commands us “You shall be holy” (Lev. 19:2). In light of the above sources, how do we and our lives become “holy”?

2. In examining the mitzvoth one discovers that the Torah does not provide details. There are no instructions for how to write a Torah scroll or how to make tefillin, and there are various traditions as to the “correct” approach. How can these different approaches all be deemed acceptable and their results “holy”?

3. R. Dosa’s approach would appear to be have broad implications that go well beyond what is necessary to establish the authority to fix the Jewish calendar. R. Dosa does not merely defend “holiness” or the authority of the court as such in regard to holiness. Rather, by reductio ad absurdum he demonstrates the destructive consequences for society that may result from adopting objective standards of holiness. What might we learn from his approach in regard to the current crisis regarding Israel’s conversion courts?