Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Leviticus 11:44/ספורנו על ויקרא י״א:מ״ד

אוִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי. כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּהְיוּ קְדוֹשִׁים וְנִצְחִיִּים בְּהַכִּירְכֶם אֶת בּוֹרַאֲכֶם וַהֲלַכְתֶּם בִּדְרָכָיו, וְזֶה חָפַצְתִּי כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּתְדַּמּוּ אֵלַי כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי. וְכָל זֶה תַּשִּׂיגוּ כְּשֶׁתִּתְקַדְּשׁוּ וְתִשָּׁמְרוּ מֵאִסּוּרֵי מַאֲכָלוֹת, כְּאָמְרָם זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (יומא לט) אָדָם מְקַדֵּשׁ עַצְמוֹ מְעַט, מְקַדְּשִׁים אוֹתוֹ הַרְבֵּה וְכוּ׳.
1והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני, so that your holiness will endure indefinitely. The reason why I desire this is because I am holy, and I would like you to become as close to My own essence as it is possible for a creature to become. All of this you will be able to achieve by adhering strictly to the legislation governing what you may eat and what you must eschew. Our sages paraphrased the result of observing this legislation in the following words: “when man sanctifies himself a little, the additional amount of sanctity supplied for him from the heavenly regions is many more times this.” (Yuma 39).