Tetzaveh: kodesh

The word kadosh appears many times in this weeks parsha.  It is a word that has troubled me. Although I can translate it: holy, sanctified - I do not really understand those words, either. 

In the amida, the third blessing is all about the kodesh of  Gd.  I have come to think that kodesh in that paragraph is a surrogate for loyalty. The statements that Gd is kadosh and Gd's name is kadosh... informs the supplicant that  there is an entity with this property to whom prayer is directed.  It is a way to phrase the politically dangerous idea that allegiance is due to a power that is holier - and more powerful than - the state.  Gd belongs to a realm that  is separate from the mundane, avoiding a direct conflict with the temporal government. 

This also has the implication that the sacred generally supersedes the political.  When there is a call to war or revolution, the holy is invoked: the sanctity of the land, human rights...causes that are greater... and thus kodesh are needed to motivate strong actions. 

 In this week's parsha Aaron and the altars become kodesh. What does it really mean?

The parsha's kodesh centers about the limitation of access. Only the initiated, the priest, may enter the sanctum, perform the rite, approach the most kodesh.  To do these things he must be presentably dressed in the objects specified, and thus carry the names of the tribes on his shoulders and chest.  The priest surrenders his identity to represent the people before the otherwise unapproachable. 

He adopts that aloof quality and becomes an intermediate between the human and the (very dangerous) Divine. 

There is a sense that intense holiness can burn you up.  The use of the word in pen tikdash hamilayo, "lest the fullness of it  tikdash", in reference to the forbidden nature of hybrid grain, is explicated in the talmud to mean that it will need to be consumed in fire.  The sons of Aaron will have the souls burned out of them (spoiler alert)  when they approach the holy at the wrong time, in the wrong way, in the wrong condition.  Kadosh is dangerous. Caution ( and the right clothes) are required!