Mount Sinai’s Path to Holiness: Sanctification, Cleansing, and Boundaries in Jewish Thought

When we examine the description of the divine events at Mount Sinai, we notice that the words sanctification, boundaries, and washing appear continuously: 

“Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments” (Shemot 19:10).

“You shall set boundaries for the people”(19:12).

“Moshe descended from the mountain to the people, and he sanctified the people, and they washed their garments” (19:14).

“Set boundaries around the mountain and sanctify it” (19:23).

Sanctification and Boundaries: A Contradiction?

Are sanctification and limitation not opposites that cancel each other out? Sanctification means full devotion to a single purpose and complete attachment to one mission, like a groom who says to his bride, “You are sanctified to me.” At Mount Sinai, sanctification means surrendering one’s entire being to the one and unique God and cleaving to Him completely. Limitation, by contrast, setting boundaries, stopping and distancing, restrains us and points to the barriers that still separate us from God.

Sanctification calls us to draw close to God, while limitation seems to hold us back and place a barrier between us and Him. How can these ideas coexist?

Love and Awe

Sanctification and limitation express two commandments that complete one another: “You shall love the Lord your God” (Devarim 6:5), and at the same time, “You shall fear the Lord your God” (Devarim 10:20). Love of God is sanctification. Awe of God is limitation. The proper path is the integration of love and awe.

Sanctification Through Restraint

More than that, sanctification in Judaism must be expressed primarily through limitation and restraint of desire. Unlike many religions whose main goal is to satisfy a person’s spiritual needs, their sense of dependence on something supernatural or emotional, the Torah has a very different aim. It gives us practical commandments. Experiencing lofty spiritual feelings that quickly fade is not enough. The Torah demands daily action, both inner and outer.

This is why the Torah uses the language of washing: “and they washed their garments.” Sanctification in Judaism is not virtual or bodiless. On the contrary, it is practical and tangible, expressed in every moment of life through self restraint and discipline. Sanctification that does not lead to limitation is not true sanctification.

The Meaning of Sanctification, Washing, and Boundaries

The terms sanctification, washing, and limitation encompass the Torah’s demand of the Jewish person and in essence the content of the Ten Commandments.

A person must sanctify life. One must know that life has a goal, direction, and meaning. A person must devote themselves fully in order to fulfill their role and purpose. The Torah of Israel, given at Mount Sinai, brings a person to their ultimate purpose, and only through it can one fulfill the meaning of life. This was God’s demand of Israel then and remains His demand today: “Go to the people and sanctify them.” Tell them that life has content, direction, purpose, and meaning. Tell them to devote themselves to truth.

Inner Work Expressed Through Washing

The inner work of sanctification and devotion must be realized through a symbolic external action of washing. Washing represents the repair of a person’s inner life, the cleansing of the soul, the refinement of character traits, and the removal of the stains that soil the soul, such as jealousy, anger, desire, pride, and more.

The human soul must be clean. Deep down, we all want to be free of negative traits, anger, and frustration. Inner washing requires daily effort through ethical study and the uncovering of stains. There is no feeling greater than feeling clean as a person, toward oneself, toward others, and of course toward God. This is what God commands the people of Israel as preparation for Mount Sinai.

Imagine a life without stains, without destructive traits that interfere with us. There is no greater pleasure than that.

Practical Separation and Moral Control

The first stage of washing is a decision to set boundaries and to practically separate from certain things. Morality must govern sensuality. There are places one must not approach, things one must not touch, words one must not speak, thoughts one must remove, and emotions one must know how to channel properly.

These are the three preparatory stages for Mount Sinai: sanctification, washing, and limitation.

A Lifelong Mission

“Only guard yourself and guard your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children, the day you stood before the Lord your God at Chorev” (Devarim 4:9–10).

We are commanded to remember this moment at all times. It is the mission of our lives every single day and every moment: sanctification, washing, and limitation. This is the essence of Judaism.

The Priests and Personal Sanctification

It is striking that the Torah emphasizes sanctification especially with regard to the priests: “Also the priests who approach the Lord must sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break out against them” (Shemot 19:22).

The priests were the emissaries of the people. At that time, these were the firstborn, as Rashi explains in the name of the Talmud (Zevachim 115). Even though the entire people had already been commanded regarding limitation and the priests were part of the people, the Torah still singles them out. Why?

Because the priests in particular must first engage in their own sanctification before they can sanctify the people. Only if they sanctify themselves first can they lead the people and guide them to the required summit. One who is not sanctified cannot sanctify others.

Beware the Trap of Spiritual Feeling

Returning to the combination of sanctification and limitation, we understand that sometimes the feeling of spiritual elevation can mislead us into thinking that the feeling itself is enough, without progressing to the next stages of washing and separation. Sometimes precisely because we feel closer, we think we are already close. Because we feel better, we think we are already good. This is a honey trap.

That good feeling and inner spark must complete their work and be expressed in concrete action. This is why God tells Moshe to instruct the people to sanctify themselves, but at the same time to set boundaries for the people and for the mountain. Do not allow them to cross the boundary. Require them to remain aware and to remember constantly that God stands on distant heights, and that the path to Him is endless, requiring daily, sustained effort: sanctification, washing, and limitation.

A Call to Action

Let us sanctify ourselves, cleanse ourselves, and set boundaries where needed. When we do, we will merit seeing the glory of God at the summit of the mountain.