Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Nisan, 5784
Parsha ‘Aharei Mot – “After the death”: (Leviticus 16:1 – 18:30)
Second Portion: Leviticus 16:18 – 16:24

Good morning! As our week gets underway, and we prepare for the Passover tonight, it is a time for reflection and discovery of the things that are keeping us stuck; held back. Like all cycles in our lives, the cycle ending is the death and rebirth of our freedom that we get to contemplate each year around this time.

We were reminded yesterday of how forgiveness comes for the people even when they defiled themselves, they rebelled, and they made unintentional mistakes.  Last night, we were searching out those parts within us for the guilt, shame, and grief. And work to release it. To allow it to be free.  Let’s dig in:

18And he shall then go out to the altar that is before the Lord and effect atonement upon it: He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the he goat’s blood, and place it on the horns of the altar, around.

19He shall then sprinkle some of the blood upon it with his index finger seven times, and he shall cleanse it and sanctify it of the defilements of the children of Israel.

20And he shall finish effecting atonement for the Holy, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, and then he shall bring the live he goat.

So basically, Aaron has sacrificed the bull and the one goat, completed his tasks and atoned for the Holy, the Tent of Meeting and the Altar.  These are all places that ALSO needed sacrifices for.  To have the entire process be separated.  And the? Then the live goat was brought in.

21And Aaron shall lean both of his hands [forcefully] upon the live he goat’s head and confess upon it all the willful transgressions of the children of Israel, all their rebellions, and all their unintentional sins, and he shall place them on the he goat’s head, and send it off to the desert with a timely man.

All of the sin of the people was put onto the goat.  And it was sent off into the desert.  Remember, this was to go off a cliff.  We read in verse 16:10:

10And the he goat upon which the lot “For Azazel” came up, shall be placed while still alive, before the Lord, to [initiate] atonement upon it, and to send it away to Azazel, into the desert.

Azazel means “high cliff.”

22The he goat shall thus carry upon itself all their sins to a precipitous land, and he shall send off the he goat into the desert.

And if we need more confirmation on what was going to happen to the goat? I had to look up “precipitous land” and the word Precipitous means “dangerously high or steep.” So basically, our sins were going to be thrown off a cliff.

23And Aaron shall enter the Tent of Meeting and remove the linen garments that he had worn when he came into the Holy, and there, he shall store them away.

24And he shall immerse his flesh in a holy place and don his garments. He shall then go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, and he shall effect atonement for himself and for the people.

Once this process was completed, then Aaron would wash himself and store away the Holy of Holy garments. Then, he went OUT and sacrificed his burnt offering and the people’s offering – effecting atonement for himself and for the people.

What is our takeaway? In my opinion? It is the season for us to “start over.” To wipe clean our guilt, our shame, our past. And to take the things we’ve done – the betrayals, the rejections, the rebellion – and throw them off a high cliff.

May we have a “chag sameach” a which means “happy festival.”  We must remember Passover is a period of celebration.  We can detach from our expectations for 8 days and just enjoy the journey to freedom!

These are my thoughts! What are yours?

This is my commentary from last year as we entered into Passover:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Nisan, 5783

Our last moments before Passover begins at sundown tonight! We are truly on the cusp of a major shift; especially with the full moon also working!

Today will be the last day of studying the parsha until Passover is over. We will pick it back up then. There will be special Torah studies during Passover. But let’s dig In:

What jumps out at me is the mourning of a loss of family. Aaron was struggling because his sons were gone. Moses commanded him to care of himself. To let go of what happened.

This is incredibly difficult to do. Especially as parents. Aaron would have likely felt responsible for what happened to his kids. But Hashem (through Moses) was reminding him that he was safe. He needed to nourish his body. His soul.

This is a critical message as we begin to remember about our bitter journey from slavery to freedom.

The miracle is upon us; what miracles are we seeing in our daily lives?

What are your thoughts?

This is my commentary on this portion from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 10 Nisan, 5782

Good morning! Today we continue our exploration of the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur – which is an interesting juxtaposition as we prepare this week for Passover starting when the sun goes down on Friday.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement; which connects to Passover if you think about it; the binding of our souls to our sin and the Slavery of the Jews in Egypt is very similar. We cry out for help in doing the right thing as the Jews cried out for help to Hashem while in Egypt. Passover is the celebration and remembrance of going from slavery to liberation. Yom Kippur is also a remembrance of going from our own personal bondage to being separated from Hashem to restoring a relationship that brings freedom! Remembering that Yom Kippur and Purim (which we recently celebrated in Adar) are connected because the root of “pur” is in both.

Some interesting connections as we dig into todays portion;

When we left off, we learned that Aaron wasn’t supposed to go into the holy of holies on a regular basis – there were times to go in, and Yom Kippur was one of them. And yesterday we ended with the Torah telling us only Aaron should go in to atone for himself, his household and the entire congregation of Israel.

Todays portion begins with Aaron completing the prescribed actions in the Holy of Holies.

Once Aaron goes out to the golden altar which is a different part of the tent of meeting, he was to atone upon it. He takes some of the bulls blood and the male goats blood from the previous sacrifice and mix it together – placing it on the horns of the altar – then he will sprinkle the blood on top of the altar seven times, to purify it from the ritual impurity of the Jewish people and sanctify it for future use.

Next, when Aaron is finished, he was to bring out the living male goat; he would put his hands on the goat and confess all the sins of the Jewish people – intentional and unintentional sins. Then he will send it off into the desert with a predesignated man. The goat will carry all the sin into the desert.

Maimonides writes the following:

“The scapegoat atones for the entire people, for all transgressions of the Torah, both severe and less severe sins-those violated intentionally and those violated unintentionally, whether you were aware of your sin or not- all are atoned for by the scapegoat. But this is provided that you repent. If you do not repent, the goat atones only for less severe sins.

Which sins are considered “severe” and which are considered “less severe”? The “severe sins” are those for which a man is liable either for execution be a court or a soul excision (karet). Other prohibitions and all positive commands that are not punishable by soul excision are “less severe sins.”

Now that the temple no longer exists and there is no altar to atone there is ONLY repentance – and repentance atones for all our sins.”

It’s an interesting thought – that we just need to repent- and this is different than just asking for forgiveness. It’s actually working on changing. That leads to forgiveness.

Todays portion includes instructions which will actually occur AFTER – and we will read about in tomorrows portion.

Once everything is done (we will learn more tomorrow) Aaron should remove his priestly garments, immerse himself in the mikveh, wash his hands and feet, put his linen garments on and enter the tent of meeting. He should remove the ladle used to bring the incense into the Holy of Holies, and the fire pan. He should remove the linen garments he wore when he went into the holy of holies and store them away there, never to be used again.

But before doing this, he needs to immerse himself in the water of a mikveh found in the holy temple courtyard, on the roof of the Parvah chamber, and put on his golden priestly garments. He should then go out and offer his burnt offering (a ram) and the peoples burnt offering (a ram) atoning for himself and for the people.

Wow. This is a complex and precise process of atonement.

It’s really interesting to me the directions here- and how even after things are atoned for on Yom Kippur, there was another sacrifice – which was the normal sacrifice brought. So the Yom Kippur sacrifice was big; but it wasn’t something that stopped future sins from happening either. For some reason there is comfort in that for me, as Hashem seems to understand the journey we face as we navigate our relationship with Him!

What are your thoughts?