Involuntary Holiness

This discourse was taught by the Rebbe on Shabbat Parshat Emor in 1965, and was edited by the Rebbe for publication in 1990.  Commenting on a discussion by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of a verse in the Sedra, the discourse identifies three levels of holiness: the holiness within the individual which yearns for the Divine, and the holiness which flows from G-d to the individual in the form of Torah, the inner spiritual level, and Mitzvot, the outer material level.     Yet there is a further way of understanding the holiness within the individual: it could be consciously expressed, as in the righteous person, or an involuntary implant of G-dliness in the person who as yet is not observant.  When this latter person becomes a Baal Teshuvah, a repentant, the implanted holiness bursts into effect, reaching an exalted level. Hence the Talmud states that 'the place where the repentants stand, cannot be reached by those who never sinned'.