How are we to understand this encouragement? Of course HaShem is Holy because He is G.D, we are not! HaShem is immortal, we are not. HaShem has no physical limitations, we do!
Maharal asks why did the first-borns of Israel need the special protection of the Korban Pesach at the plague of the first-born any more than the previous nine plagues? None of the other plagues affected the Jewish people. Why should the plague of the first-borns be different?

He explains that on the night of Pesach HaShem revealed Himself in total exposure. His Presence was so powerful that all first-borns were struck by the radiation of that Presence. Although the Jewish first-borns were not deserving punishment, they would nevertheless be struck by the same radiation and suffer the same fate. It was for this reason HaShem gave us the mitzvah of Pesach.

What was the secret of the Pesach? How did it protect them from HaShem’s intense radiation?
The mechanism by which the Pesach protected them was by making the people of Israel HaShem’s property. By offering the Pesach sacrifice and roasting it and eating together in one house together with the other members of the household, we proclaimed HaShem as our G.D
and His absolute Unity. Through this service we became His. Our source of existence was no longer found in the material world, it was now found in HaShem directly. While all creatures find their source of existence in HaShem, the difference is that others are products a secondary cause; Nature, who herself is a creation of HaShem. The Jewish people, on the other hand, are no longer a product of Nature.

We transcend Nature, we have a direct connection to HaShem – He is our lifeline. When HaShem radiated His Presence through Egypt on the night of Pesach, only those whose existence were subject to Nature were struck. For them, it was an overdose of radiation. For our people, however, who draw their existence directly from HaShem it was a life giving experience. The radiance of HaShem’s Presence actually bestowed a special sanctity upon the first-borns of Israel. Using the insight offered by Maharal, HaShem’s words of encouragement resonate. HaShem is expecting from us to become Holy. He wants us to strive for Holiness because He is Holy and being that our lifeline draws directly from Him, it stands to reason that we, too, can connect on some level to His immortality and transcend our material limitations. Yes, even the simple men and women and even the children can achieve levels of Holiness similar to His.

Behold! HaShem has told Moshe and he, in turn, has taught us what ‘normal’ is. The Director of history Himself shares with us in our Parsha who we are and what our destiny is. The idea that holiness and awareness of HaShem will be the ‘normal’ seems somewhat foreign to us.

However, that is only because it has been so long since the world entered the current state of distancing from HaShem. We were born into this state of existence. But we know and anticipate that the world will return to true ‘normal’ someday soon.

Have a safe and very wonderful Shabbos.

Paysach Diskind