We can’t escape it. Both individually and nationally, a Jew is obligated to achieve kedusha (to be holy - elevated and distinguished). A “גוי קדוש – Holy Nation” is how HaShem defines us at Mt. Sinai (Shemos, 19, 6). “קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני – You shall be holy because I am Holy,” The Al-mighty commands each of us in this week’s parsha (Vayikra 19, 2)

Kedusha is our aspiration in life, our finish line – the model and standard toward which we need to strive on a daily basis. However, we’re given two seemingly disparate paths to achieve this goal. Rashi, in citing the Medrash directs us to distance ourselves from immorality and other transgressions – “wherever there is a separation from immorality, there is holiness,” (Vayikra Rabba 24:6). This source is teaching us that we have to be very cognizant at identifying illicit actions, and create a healthy partition between us and that potential prohibition.

A common example illustrating this idea is the warning given by many Rabbaim in seminaries and yeshivas against single young men and women congregating at pizza shops and other similar venues lest inappropriate familiarity develop.

The Ramban, on the other hand, lays out the route to kedusha from the opposite angle. Recognize that which is permitted to us, and put boundaries around that. Appropriate moderation in all aspects of life is required in order for us to fulfill the commandment of being Kedoshim (elevated and distinguished people). Surrendering to self indulgence and gluttony even within that which is technically permissible is considered a “נבל ברשות התורה - degenerate with the permission of the Torah.”

Refraining from not only that which is expressly forbidden, but even from too much of what is permitted is the formula to achieve holiness (Yevamos 20a).

Limiting ourselves to one serving of chulent is not restricting, it’s elevating. We may feel a strong urge to eat more because it tastes so good. But who says we have to take another portion merely because we feel like it? Clearly, that’s not the formula for holiness – just a recipe for weight gain and indigestion.

So we have two divergent directions pointing toward the same goal. But perhaps we can sew a thread that connects the two. It makes sense that the more we accustom ourselves to set boundaries around that which is permitted, the better able and more inclined we’ll be to distance ourselves from that which is prohibited. We’re developing and fine-tuning the muscles of self-control and discipline. The stronger we become at one, the more adept we’ll be at the other.

It really is a mitzvah not to take seconds.

Good שבת.

Rabbi Eli Glaser, CNWC, CWMC is a Certified Nutrition, Wellness & Weight Management Consultant and Director of SOVEYA (Changing the Jewish World - One Pound at a Time). To contact Soveya: 443-501-3082, info@soveya.com or www.soveya.com