Rabbi Sherman is on sabbatical. Please enjoy an Honorable Mensch-Ion from our Rabbinic Intern, Moe Howard.

I recently moved from a studio into a one-bedroom apartment. It feels like a mansion: no longer is my bed in my living room nor my office in my closet. There is more space to move around—and more space to fill. I’ve spent hours browsing catalogues for the perfect color couch (forest green), the best dining table (oak? glass? stone?), the Goldilocks mattress (6.5 out of 10 on the firmness scale, no more and no less).

I’ve been so caught up with what I need to buy that I’ve nearly forgotten what I want my home to be: a place of community, of serenity, of sanctity. Leave it to the Torah to remind me. We read in Parshat Behukotai:

“When anyone consecrates his house as holy to GOD, the priest shall assess it. Whether good or bad, as the priest assesses it, so it shall stand.” (Leviticus 27:14)

The verse clearly refers to the consecrated house as “holy” property. But Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk reads it differently: “When anyone consecrates his house to GOD, he is holy.” Our household—including everything and everyone in it—is the real proving ground of holiness. “One who behaves in an elevated manner in one’s own house,” says the Kotzker, “is truly a holy person.”

To be holy in the sanctuary is one thing. To be holy in our home—a mikdash me’at, a “small sanctuary”—is another. Do we speak kindly to our spouses and children? Do we share our Shabbat table with guests? Do we open our door to the poor and the stranger?

In absence of the priest to assess our house’s worth, we must be the judges.

May our homes—and ourselves—stand for good.

Shabbat Shalom