Parashat Kedoshim is, structurally, the climax of the Torah. The Jewishly-critical seventh parashah of the middle book of the Torah, Kedoshim turns from the Kohen Gadol on Yom Hakippurim in the Kodesh Hakodashim to the people, gathered formally and addressed as an entity. The seemingly arbitrary interweave of ritual and ethical mitzvot which it presents is introduced with the famous state, "You shall be holy, for Holy am I, Hashem your G-d"! The series of mitzvot that follow include some of the most basic - indeed, the midrash shows how all ten of the Ten Commandments are restated in Kedoshim. This restatement is now in the context of communal and corporate holiness, and is punctuated by multiple repetitions of the concluding phrase, "I am Hashem". At one point, Rashi interprets this interjection to mean, "don't think I don't know what's in your heart, what your true intentions are - I am Hashem".
Over and over, "I am Hashem", seven times in the first segment (verses 1 -22) and seven times in the second segment (verses 23-37). And just before we reach the seventh invocation of "I am Hashem" in the opening segment, which mitzvah is being presented? "You shall love your fellow as yourself". There it is, at the apex of the Torah! No wonder Rabbi Akiva states, "This is a great principle in the Torah".
Impressed? Ben Azzai wasn't. He disputed with Rabbi Akiva, and said, there's a greater principle than that: "This the the book of the generations of man" (Bereshit 5:1)!
Curious! Which "principle" is derived from a verse that appears to function as a historical statement?! And further, what does it mean, "this is great principle in the Torah". It might mean, "this is the idea upon which the divine commandments are based". The implications would be, if you are uncertain as to how to fulfill a given directive in relation to your fellow, apply this principle to clarify the proper path to be chosen.
The Malbim seems to take this path. approach. Invoking the Ramban's understanding that the Torah can't possibly be commanding to "feel" about the other as we feel about ourselves, he notes that when love is meant as a feeling, it is expressed as "Ahavat Nefesh" - soul love. Further, the direct object is always used - "et". Here, the indirect object is used. Indeed, Hillel famously inverted this verse and, in "reducing" the Torah to one principle, said, "what is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow" [editorial note: although I've long claimed that the real principle Hillel was trying to convey is: the rest is commentary; go and learn - upon accepting THAT is it possible for the non-Jew to be converted by Hillel]. Many people note the negative formulation, but not as many note that what has been bidden is not feeling, but action.
The Malbim, however, stops short of adopting Hillel's formulation. Rather, he claims that Hillel's dictum is simply the true source of Kant's categorical imperative: That action will be considered a moral action if one could universalize it, i.e., if one would always want people to behave in this way, even when he was not the doer but the done-to or more distantly affected. Only such actions become moral imperatives.
Then, the Malbim notes that there are those philosophers who critique Kant by stating that, by leaving the focal point of the moral decision in the assessment of the individual, he has NOT removed the subjective, personal element and the potential bias. A person is STILL doing an action because of how he sees himself in the picture, albeit at a remove of one level.
Therefore, says the Malbim, Ben Azzai suggests that there's a higher, more objective level: All human beings are bound together as one book. As one entity, comprised of interacting component parts. As one organism. That action is moral and correct which promotes the welfare of the whole. [Compare Rabbi Nachman's first entry in his Seder Hamiddot on the subject of prayer, where he says very much the same thing, only in the contact of prayer].
Now, all this is fine, but what about the other "half" of Torah? Rabbi Akiva and Ben Azzai, at least as understood by the Malbim, have only addressed the ethical mitzvot; what about the ritual ones? What about "bein adam lamakom"? Parashat Kedoshim does not discriminate between the two realms - it intersperses them freely. Yet even in the verses quoted by Rabbi Akiva and Ben Azzai, the "G-d" part has been left out. Vayikra 19:18 reads: "Neither revenge nor avenge the children of your people, you shall love your fellow as yourself - I AM HASHEM"!! Bereshit 5:1 reads: "This is the book of the generations of man, on the day of G-d's making man, IN THE IMAGE OF G-D HE CREATED HIM".
The verses have G-d in them; why don't the Rabbis?
Here, I believe, is the key: The Midrash Tanchumah brings several interpretations, the upshot of which I read as follows: You shall be holy - you must be holy - because I, Hashem, your divine partner MUST BE HOLY. Now make no mistake: Hashem is KODESH. He is the stuff of holiness, its source, its definition. That's the term used in the previous parashah, with the Kohen Gadol and the Mishkan with its Holy of Holies and Yom Kippur, that singular day. But that's a noun, and that's inaccessible to us - Ve'al yavo bechol et el HAKODESH - and He, as pure holiness, is inaccessible to the world. Only through actions can Hashem be revealed, but those actions can only be described - i.e., using adjectives. The KADOSH (plural: KEDOSHIM) is what is used in this parashah, both in reference to Hashem AND to us.
We are holy because Hashem is holy and has, as we always say, "sanctified us with His Mitzvot", i.e., actions that reveal that holiness in the world, and therefore render Hashem "adjectivally holy"!
Thus, neither Rabbi Akiva nor Ben Azzai may invoke Hashem's holiness - His "I am Hashem'-ness, His "man in His imageness" - directly. Hashem's "nominal" (understand this word correctly: it means: related to a NOUN) holiness is refracted through our "adjectival" holiness. Hashem BECOMES holy when we realize the holiness - that potential waiting inside to be realized - through actions that only we, as paradoxically selfless "I's", can do. Love your fellow - actively - who thereby becomes as yourself, and, voila, "I am Hashem"!
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