When Jacob neared the day of his death, he adjured Joseph to swear that he would not be buried in Egypt but rather be interred in the land of Canaan – the land that God promised to Abraham’s descendants. When making this request, Jacob told Joseph to place his hand upon his loins as part of taking that oath (Genesis 47:29). Similarly, when Abraham tasked his servant Eliezer with finding a suitable wife for Isaac, he asked Eliezer to place his hand upon his loins (Genesis 24:2).
To modern readers, this act may seem awkward. However, as Rashi explains, this gesture carried profound spiritual meaning. Abraham directed Eliezer to hold the site of his circumcision, a physical manifestation of his covenant with God. This action was deeply significant to Abraham, as circumcision symbolized the fulfillment of a divine commandment that he held dear.
This practice aligns with a related concept found in rabbinic law known as nekitas cheifetz (“taking hold of an object”). In Jewish tradition, a person taking an oath often holds a holy item such as a Torah scroll, tefillin, or mezuzah, to solemnize his utterance. This notion parallels practices in Western legal traditions where individuals place their hand on a Bible when swearing an oath in court to uphold the truth. But why is holding a sacred object essential to the procedure of oath-taking? What is it about “holiness” that lends weight and significance to such commitments?
What is holiness?
To better understand this, we must first explore what holiness (kedusha in Hebrew) entails. In his book A Theology of Holiness, Rabbi Alec Goldstein (who founded the Kodesh Press publishing house) offers several interpretations of holiness in Jewish thought. One perspective by Nachmanides (Ramban) defines holiness as going beyond the requirements of the law. When the Torah commands, “You shall be holy” (Lev. 19:2), Nachmanides interprets this as an exhortation to avoid becoming a naval b’reshus ha’Torah (a person who adheres to the Torah’s laws but behaves in an overly indulgent or coarse manner). Holiness, according to Ramban, means striving for moral refinement beyond the letter of the law, guided by an ethical sensibility that transcends legal boundaries. Accordingly, “being holy” entails going beyond the requirements of the law to act with greater moral and ethical sensitivity. However, this concept raises a significant challenge: It presumes the existence of a standard for refinement or virtue that is external to the law. Essentially, Nachmanides introduces an implicit moral metric that transcends the boundaries of the Torah’s explicit legal framework. This raises the question: If such a standard exists beyond the law, where is it derived from, and who determines its parameters?
A more straightforward understanding of holiness is attributed to Maimonides, who sees holiness as synonymous with adherence to the Torah’s commandments. According to this view, anyone who faithfully observes the Torah’s laws achieves holiness. Holiness, in this sense, involves taking ordinary, mundane actions and aligning them with the Torah’s dictates, thereby harmonizing them with God’s will. The mitzvot elevate these ordinary activities by transforming them into expressions of divine service. This concept is reflected in the liturgy in such passages as asher kideshanu b’mitzvosav (“Who sanctified us with His commandments”); kadeshnu b’mitzvosecha (“Sanctify us with Your commandments”); and v’kidashtanu b’mitzvosecha (“And You shall sanctify us through Your commandments”), which emphasize the holiness achieved through the simple acts of performing mitzvot as prescribed.
I recently accompanied my son, who is preparing for his bar mitzvah, to a batim macher (“tefillin maker”). Watching as raw cowhide was shaped into the sacred tefillin cases, I was struck by how mundane materials could become vessels of holiness. When I placed the parchment inscribed with Torah passages – which is also made of animal skin – into the tefillin, I declared that I was doing this l’shem kedushas tefillin (“for the sake of the holiness of tefillin”), marking the moments that these ordinary objects were transformed into sacred items. How can such a mundane piece of animal skin become something so holy? By inserting the parchment with the Torah passages into the fashioned hides, this makes it holy because it aligns it with Hashem’s will (as revealed in the Torah). This piece of hide now transforms from being something ordinary into something extraordinary and holy.
In the same way, when we fulfill the mitzvot, we transform our deeds and actions from their original banality into a holy endeavor. Fulfilling the commandment of circumcision means taking the ordinary body of a human being and transforming it into something holy that has been brought into the covenant/treaty of Hashem’s people. On account of this newfound holiness, the mark of circumcision is referred to as the ois bris kodesh (“the sign of the holy covenant”).
Just as the holy neshama (“soul”), described as a divine spark from God Himself (Job 31:2), animates the otherwise mundane physical body and elevates human beings above even the angels, so too does a mitzvah infuse sanctity into a person’s actions.
The connection between oaths and holiness becomes clearer when we consider the Hebrew word for “oath,” shvuah, which shares its triliteral root with the number seven (sheva). We find this connection made explicit in the Bible itself, which accounts for the etiology of the place name Beersheba (literally, “the seventh wellspring”) as related to oaths that Abraham and Isaac swore to the Philistine king Abimelekh (Genesis 21:31 26:33).
In the numerological system of the Maharal of Prague, the number seven represents a bridge between the natural world (represented by six, the days of creation) and the supernatural realm (represented by eight, which totally transcends nature). Shabbat, the seventh day, exemplifies this bridge, as it connects mundane labor (exemplified by the six days of work) to divine rest (as God rested on the seventh day of creation). The number eight (shmona), however, represents something entirely beyond human comprehension. It is linked to the word shemen (“oil”), which surpasses water – the fundamental element of physical life – in its symbolic connection to the transcendent. Just as oil rises above water, the number eight signifies that which is utterly supernatural and beyond this world.
Given this framework, the number seven serves as the bridge between the natural and the utterly supernatural. It connects the six days of worldly labor to the higher realm embodied by the eighth, symbolizing a link between humanity and a higher authority – God Himself. Seven thus becomes the conduit through liminality by which the mundane connects with the divine. That is why the seventh day is the holiest day of the week, and the number seven in general is associated with holiness.
When someone takes an oath (shvuah), he affirms a fact or commits to performing (or not performing) a specific action. While the act or fact itself is grounded in the mundane realities of this world, the oath elevates it by linking it to a higher, transcendent authority – God Himself.
That is why Jacob instructed Joseph to physically hold the site of his circumcision while swearing the oath, and Abraham did the same with Eliezer. By grasping a holy object – imbued with the sanctity of the covenant – Eliezer and Joseph concretized the gravity of their promise. The physical connection to something sacred reinforced the spiritual significance of the oath. When Eliezer held the site of Abraham’s circumcision, the physical contact between the one affirming the oath and something holy made the commitment more tangible, all the while elevating it beyond the mundane. This act reminded Eliezer, Joseph, and all of us of the sacred responsibility that comes with promises tied to the divine.
It should be noted that certain elements within creation, even if not explicitly mitzvot, are nonetheless imbued with holiness simply because they align with God’s will. The Land of Israel, for example, is called Eretz HaKodesh – the Holy Land. Whether or not one accepts Nachmanides’ view that living in the land is itself a mitzvah, its sanctity is undeniable. Despite its earthly physicality – its borders, resources, and climate – Israel actually serves as the geographic manifestation of God’s will within the natural world. Similarly, the Hebrew language, Lashon HaKodesh, is likewise called “holy.” Regardless of whether one agrees with Maimonides’ view that studying Hebrew is a mitzvah, its sanctity stems from its role as the linguistic representation of the divine will. And finally, the Jewish people themselves, the Am Kadosh (“holy nation”) embody this principle, especially in the circumcision, which is literally stamped on their bodies.■
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the editor-in-chief of The Rachack Review, an online forum for reviews of Jewish books. He is an author, scholar, and freelance researcher. You can access more of his book reviews at http://rachack.blogspot.com.