Page 432 - VAIKRA

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vaikra

“You shall be holy, for holy am I, Hashem, your G-d.” Chazal explain # 26347-EYAL-6
that even before man was created, the angels would glorify Hashem’s
Name through him, as it says, “Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Israel, from
this world to the World to Come.” How could the angels glorify Hashem
even before the world was created? Furthermore, the Midrash says that
prior to man’s creation, the angels did not want him to be created. Then
why did they glorify Hashem through man?

This is because they knew that ultimately Hashem would give the Torah
to man, and through the study of Torah, the Name of Hashem would be
glorified. The reason that they would glorify Hashem through the name of
man even before the Creation of the world was because the Torah existed
before Creation.

The first group of angels did not want Hashem to create man, because they
assumed that if he was a physical being, Hashem’s Name could not be
sanctified through him. However, the other angels, who knew that the
Torah would ultimately be given to Am Yisrael, wanted Hashem to create
man, since it is only through the study of Torah and its fulfillment that
Hashem’s Name can become sanctified in the world.

Hashem commanded Am Yisrael, “You shall be holy, for holy am I,”
since, even before they were created, the angels praised Hashem and
glorified Him through Yisrael. Because this is Am Yisrael’s mission, they
are obligated to remain holy.