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 is also read on Yom Kippur. It 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.
-----------------------------------------------
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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?
----------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------
When the Haftarah portion for Kedoshim stands on its own, in Sephardic communities, the Prophet Ezekiel is read. At 20:19-20 the Prophet 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”.
-------------------------------------
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?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
When Acharei Mot and Kedoshim are read together as a double parashah, most congregations read the haftarah selection from Amos, 9:7-15.
14 - "And I will return the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild desolate cities and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce.
15 - And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no longer be uprooted from upon their land, that I have given them, said the Lord your God".
Unless you are in a state of complete denial, it is very difficult not to believe that we are living in miraculous times, a time of redemption.
----------------------------------------------
This week we observe Yom HaZicharon. We remember Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilian
victims of terrorism. We light a Memorial candle. The siren will sound at 8 PM.
Next morning at 11 AM the siren will sound again, and a memorial service will
be held at the Nahariya military cemetery. At home we read Psalms 9 and 144. It
is a sad day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Independence Day, יום העצמאות
This week we celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, יום העצמאות
There is a prayer for the State of Israel that begins:
(א) אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם,
(ב) צוּר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְגוֹאֲלוֹ,
(ג) בָּרֵךְ אֶת מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל,
(ד) רֵאשִׁית צְמִיחַת גְּאֻלָּתֵנוּ
Our Father in Heaven, Rock of Israel and Redemption, Bless the State of Israel, the First flowering of Our Redemption.
According to Rabbi Sacks excerpted from the Koren Siddur, the phrase "the first flowering of our redemption" means that the restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation in its own land was not merely an event in secular history.
It was the fulfillment of a prophetic vision--first stated by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:4 --that Israel would one day will be gathered from "the furthermost lands under the heavens".
Astonishingly, this precise prediction has actually happened
No comments:
Post a Comment