Introduction

WHAT IS HOLINESS? Is it something actual which inheres in holy persons, places, times, and objects or is it a matter of institutional status? This question has very rarely been asked of Jewish texts, perhaps because the notion of holiness is so pervasive in Judaism that asking Jewish texts about the nature of holiness is like asking fish about the nature of water. By focusing here on the way in which Maimonides understood the nature of holiness, I hope to show that the question is worth asking.

In one of his many illuminating studies the late Isadore Twersky wrote that for Maimonides holiness ‘is a transcendent separate essence. It is not a segulah [= special characteristic, property] embodied in a physical object, which transfers by itself or which can be transferred from a sacred object to those who use it or respect it.’ If I understand Twersky correctly, he is maintaining that, for Maimonides, there is actually something in the universe called holiness, over and above holy persons, places, times, and objects.

Well, of course! Why should it be surprising that a medieval Jew would think that persons, places, times, and objects can be holy in some actual, intrinsic, objectively real sense? It may not be surprising for other Jews, but, and this is what I wish to prove in this chapter, it would be surprising were Maimonides to hold this view. So much so, that in another context Twersky himself writes that ‘the holiness ascribed [by Maimonides] to various objects (such as Torah scrolls, mezuzot, phylacteries, the holy language) is teleological’, i.e. not intrinsic, and certainly not real in the sense of being ‘a transcendent separate essence’.

What, then, is Maimonides’ position? In order to answer that question, it will be useful to distinguish three different views of sanctity. According to one view, holiness is an essential feature of certain places, people, objects, or times; on this view, holiness is ‘hard-wired’ into parts of the universe. Judah Halevi apparently held this view, at least with respect to the holiness of the Land of Israel, the holiness of the commandments, and probably with respect to the special character of the Jewish people, the ‘holy nation’. Fairly clear evidence that Halevi held the view that I am attributing to him may be seen in Kuzari iii. 53.