ACHAREI MOT - KEDOSHIM LEVITICUS 16:1–20:27
Starting
at 16:1, Achrei Mot God warns against unauthorized entry into
the Holy of Holies. Only the Kohen Gadol
on Yom Kippur may enter this innermost chamber in the Sanctuary to offer incense
to God. This brings to mind the fatal error of Nadav and Abihu.
The casting of lots over two goats to
determine which should be offered to G‑d
and which should be dispatched to the wilderness is described.
Acharei
Mot also warns against bringing sacrificial offerings anywhere but in the Holy
Temple. The consumption of blood is forbidden, and laws prohibiting incest and
other forbidden sexual relations are set out.
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In
the Torah portion at 16:8, among other things, we learn about fate and destiny:
וְנָתַן
אַהֲרֹן עַל-שְׁנֵי הַשְּׂעִירִם, גֹּרָלוֹת--גּוֹרָל אֶחָד לַיהוָה, וְגוֹרָל
אֶחָד לַעֲזָאזֵל.
“And Aaron shall
cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for
Azazel.“
The casting of lots as a
method to determine which goat will be sacrificed and which goat will be led
into the dessert implies that no human hand is involved in the selection of outcomes
for either of the two goats. It is
entirely left to Hashem to make that choice.
Some people would say that in this circumstance: “Let the fates
decide the outcome” or maybe “it was destined to happen that way”. This
is reminiscent of Doris Day in the 50’s singing: “Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will
be, will be. The future's not ours to see, Que Sera, Sera…”. We call this cheerful fatalism.
Rabbi Soloveitchik has a
different approach. He differentiates
between fate and destiny:
Soloveitchik
considers fate to be a preordained course of one’s life, a course that occurs in spite of your actions. In this instance you are considered as an
object. You have no say; you are
passive.
Destiny,
on the other hand regards the shaping of events that occur within your life as
the result of you taking an active course of action. You are a player and not an object.
For
us Jews, particularly Israeli Jews, we are players who have made Israel our destiny.
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Is the Earth and/or the Land of Israel alive and do they exhibit self-regulatory functions?
Consider the Torah reading at 18:25 and18:27-28:
וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ, וָאֶפְקֹד עֲוֺנָהּ עָלֶיהָ;
וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ, אֶת-יֹשְׁבֶיהָ.
“And the land
became defiled, and I visited its sin upon it, and the land vomited out its
inhabitants”
כִּי אֶת-כָּל-הַתּוֹעֵבֹת
הָאֵל, עָשׂוּ אַנְשֵׁי-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם; וַתִּטְמָא, הָאָרֶץ
וְלֹא-תָקִיא הָאָרֶץ אֶתְכֶם, בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם אֹתָהּ,
כַּאֲשֶׁר קָאָה אֶת-הַגּוֹי, אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם.
“For the people of the land
who preceded you, did all of these abominations, and the land became defiled. And let the land not vomit you out for having
defiled it, as it vomited out the nation that preceded you”.
In this instance
the Land of Israel is held to be a special place within the world, within the
planet Earth. The Land of Israel may be
viewed as being part of an organism (the Earth) with self-regulatory functions. This view seems similar to those who adhere
to the Gaia - Mother Earth theory where the Earth itself is deemed to be organic and alive. Consider the Earth opening up and swallowing
Korach and his followers or the Earth crying out regarding the blood of the
murdered Abel.
A rhetorical
question, an answer is not expected:
If the Earth is an
entity that embodies the properties of life, where then would you place Israel?
Zionist that I am, without missing a beat, I would exclaim: the heart!
For a better answer,
at least to me, consider Israel to be part of a cell, one of the trillions of
cells that you and I have and which together comprise our body, our universe so
to speak. If Israel is a distinct part of
a cell, I would place it within the cell’s nucleus where it has its own special
DNA as does us Jews.
For me, Israel is
the equivalent of a cell’s mitochondria. That is the place where energy needed for the cell’s
function is produced. Without energy the cell will whither and die.
What do you think?
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Kedoshim begins with the statement (19:2):
דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
"Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy".
This is followed by dozens of mitzvot through which we Jews are able to relate to the holiness of Hashem. Among these laws are commandments about loving your neighbor, Shabbat, charity, honesty in business, sexual morality, respect and honor of parents, idolatry, equality before the law and the sacredness of life.
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In
the Haftarah portion when Kedoshim stands on its own, at 20:19-20 Ezekiel says:
אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, בְּחֻקּוֹתַי לֵכוּ; וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי שִׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשׂוּ אוֹתָם
וְאֶת-שַׁבְּתוֹתַי, קַדֵּשׁוּ; וְהָיוּ לְאוֹת, בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם--לָדַעַת, כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
“I am the Lord
your God: walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and fulfill them. And
keep My Sabbaths holy so that they be a sign between Me and you, that you may
know that I am the Lord your God”.
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In the Torah portion at Vayikra 19:18, HaShem says:
וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ: אֲנִי, יְהוָה
“…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord.”
In order to understand how to do this it is very important for us to know what the word “love” means. After all, every day at least twice a day we say “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart….” (Devarim 6:5).
“Love” in the context of Vayikra 19:18 and Devarim 6:5 is not romantic love. It is not a Hallmark greeting card message for Valentine’s Day. The subtext of “Love” in the Chumash of 3400 years ago is loyalty in the extreme and nothing more.
The proclamation, “I am the Lord,” underscores that loving one’s neighbor is tantamount of our duty to love God.
Hashem’s demand for loyalty is a reflection of His fiercely protective right to Israel, His possession. In Exodus 20:5 and 34:14 we see:
“You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…”
“For you shall bow down to no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.
People: You have been warned. Best watch your step. --------------------------------------------------------------------
At 19:4 Hashem says:
“You shall
not turn to the worthless idols, nor shall you make molten deities for
yourselves. I am the Lord, your God”.
This is one of many times when we are prohibited
from worshiping idols.
I don’t know if anyone caught it, but at 17:7 we were warned against sacrificing to daemons:
וְלֹא-יִזְבְּחוּ עוֹד, אֶת-זִבְחֵיהֶם, לַשְּׂעִירִם, אֲשֶׁר הֵם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם: חֻקַּת עוֹלָם תִּהְיֶה-זֹּאת לָהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם.
“And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices
to the daemons, after whom they stray. This shall be a statute forever
for them throughout their generations”.
Who are these demons, שְּׂעִירִם?
שְּׂעִירִם are hairy goats maybe a satyr. And there must be a connection to the casting of lots over two goats at 16:8.
What do you think the connection is?
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