When the Torah says, “You must put on tefillin (phylacteries),” does it say, “Put on tefillin”? You know why? Because Hashem puts on tefillin. It does not say that. “Keep kosher (ritually fit).” You know why? Because Hashem keeps kosher. “Keep Shabbat,” because Hashem keeps Shabbat. It doesn’t say that. But there’s one inyan, one topic, where it says, “Do it because Hashem does it.” What is that? Which means what? “Be kadosh (holy) because I’m kadosh.” Why is it that, when it comes to kedushah (holiness), we say, “Be kadosh because I’m kadosh”? Just say, “Be kadosh.”
I’ll explain with a mashal (parable). Everybody plays ball, right? How can I be in the NBA? The answer is very simple: they can dunk; you can’t dunk. They can jump; you can’t jump like them, right? It’s a different league. So now we can understand. Hashem says, “If you want to be in my league, let me tell you who I am. Hashem says, ‘I’m kadosh, and therefore, if you want to be with me, connected with me, you have to be kadosh like a magnet, right? If you don’t have metal, will it stick?’” No. “But if you have metal, it’ll stick. Why? Because magnet connects with magnet, metal connects with metal. So Hashem says, ‘I’m kedushah.’ So if you’re not kadosh, the magnet stops. Now the question is, how do you become kadosh? Very simple. Keep the Torah and the mitzvot (commandments). Be holy. Keep the Torah and the mitzvot. Then Hashem says, ‘Okay, good, great. Now we’re connected. Now we have a connection.’ But if a person does every single aveirah (transgression) in the book, a Jew is always kadosh. But as for the connection, he has to make sure that he has to rip out all the tumah (ritual impurity) in order to have that magnetic force.”