Aharay Mot

16:12 

Moshe rabbenu is directed to tell the Kohen Gadol (the Graet Kohen, Aaaron, his brother) that he should not come within the kapporet.  Interesting word.  Some say kapporet means “lid.”  Others declare that it means, “curtain.”  Yet others say that it indicates the “seat of mercy.”  So what does it mean?  Understanding the Torah is paramount.  The root of the word kapporet is the same as kippur.  It is not accident that the next few p’suekim (sentences) refer to the holy day of Yom Kippur.

 

Often when we are in the midst of deep pain or anxiety we come to holy places and thoughts. The Torah warns us, “Man may not see Me and live.” (Exodus 33:20) That may be what happened when Nadav and Avihu died (Aaron’s sons).  While the Torah is vague about what actually occurred and why they perished it is possible they were simply trying to see the face of God.

 

We know there are moments when we need to be proximate to God and feel His comforting presence.  The story of Aaron’s sons, which predates this Torah reading, may be why Moshe rabbenu is warned to stay outside of the kapporet to avoid the same fate.  While we no longer have a mishkan (Tabernacle) or the Temple, we have a Synagogue with its sacred space.

 

What follows in this reading s what we have come to know as the Avodah service, the drama that describes the rites of atonement on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.  The Kohen Gadol would enact all the procedures necessary for the Jewish people to gain atonement from the Almighty.  

 

When Yom Kippur comes we gather together to do communal teshuvah.  When we act against God’s wishes, commands, we return to the sacred place of the kapporet (as symbolized by the covering the Ark in our Sanctuary) and acknowledge how we have acted recklessly, egotistically and harmfully toward God, others and ourselves.  Kippur is the antithesis of removing ourselves from God’s presence while, at the same time, not seeking to violate the sanctity of the space by overstepping boundaries like the sons of Aaron.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bo

We are approaching the end of servitude for the Jewish nation.  The plagues that God inflicted on Egypt are at their climax.  Darkness and the death of the Firstborn were the final plagues that struck the Egyptians in this parasha. Imagine the terror everyone felt as one affliction after another the people were denied access to the life giving aspects of nature.  One by one the gods of Egypt were demythologized.  From the god the Nile to the sun god Ra each one was successfully degraded to show that there is only one God in the world who alone has the power to control destiny.  For thousands of years humankind has worshipped nature.  They have exported the idea that nature needs to be appeased and cultivated so that the gods of the sky, rain and crops would be good to them.  Imagine their disillusionment when they found that everything they were taught to believe was a lie. We live in a time when a plague confounds and con...
Read more

Vayaytzay

“And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of your son's mandrakes. And she said unto her, ‘Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and you would take away my son's mandrakes also?’ And Rachel said, ‘Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.’ And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, ‘You must come in unto me; for surely I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.”   Genesis 30:14-16   Longing and love are in conflict. Leah loved Jacob.  She thrived on his love and presence.  Remember that she was the “second prize.”  Leah was the unwanted wife, the last minute substitution for all Jacob’s labors.    Jacob desired the younger, Rachel.  The reader cannot help but feel sorry for...
Read more

Nasso

  The Lord tells Aaron to bless the people in His name (Chapter 6).     What follow is the most famous blessing in the entire Torah.     Do you recognize it?     When is it recited and by whom?   1.It appears in the daily morning service.  The blessing is recited at the public repetition of the Amidah. 2. The blessing is said where the Kohanim still duchan – that is when they are invited onto the bima, place a tallit over their head and then bless the congregation.  In Israel, Kohanim duchan every Shabbat.  In America duchanning is usually reserved for the High Holy Days. 3. That same blessing is pronounced by parents over the heads of their children on Shabbat and festivals.   Rashi declares that this blessing must be given with kavanah, and a full understanding of what it means.  He further instructs that the words must not be said too quickly but with great care and deliberation.   The first p...
Read more