אדם מקדש עצמו מעטSanctified From Above

adam mekaddesh 'atzmo me'atIn Gamatria ↗

Sanctify yourself a little, and you are sanctified much.

Holiness is double: it begins as effort and ends as a gift. 'A person sanctifies himself a little, and is sanctified much' (Yoma 39a). He strives to cleave to God always, but flesh cannot hold that state alone, so God completes what nature withholds. The pure man treats bodily acts as necessities. The holy man raises them: his eating is like an offering on the altar, and he himself is like a sanctuary. The stones Jacob gathered each said, 'Let the righteous one lay his head on me' (Chullin 91b). This comes only after all the earlier rungs, through solitude and deep study. From it comes the holy spirit, and even the key to reviving the dead, given to Elijah and Elisha. The book closes: piety is one, but its paths differ for the scholar, the laborer and the merchant.

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