Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Nisan, 5784
Parsha ‘Aharei Mot – “After the death”: (Leviticus 16:1 – 18:30)
First Portion: Leviticus 16:1 – 16:17

Good morning!  We are entering into Passover season as we start this new Parsha!  “After the Death” is a beautiful journey for us – especially as we depart from Eclipse season.  Tonight is the last night to “clean house” and find the chametz as we enter into Passover on Monday evening!  I wrote this last year, and feel it is crucial in our process:

Spiritual liberation without purpose is not the goal.

We become spiritually liberated to live our purpose on this earth. We are not meant to be fully consumed by the spiritual fire awakening within us. We need to anchor and be grounded in this current reality. This manifestation of our soul at this human timeframe.

It is a balance. And it’s crucial as we enter into Passover, the message of what we DO with our spiritual freedom is one to reflect on.

For me? My spiritual liberation and freedom exists for me to be a better father to my children. It is exists to be a better and more in touch human being relating to others within humanity.

The Passover story is meant to rehumanize us. To remind us of our humanity: and to discover what we need for our liberation.

We sometimes put the “cart before the horse.” Today, we can focus on our purpose. WHY? Why do we want freedom and liberation?  Is it to RUN AWAY from something? Or are we shifting to experience the freedom to move TOWARDS something connected to our purpose? What is blocking our freedom to move TOWARDS our purpose?  What need to “die” in our lives to experience this freedom?

This is an important reflection as we dig in:

1And the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they drew near before the Lord, and they died.

We jumped back in time a bit, didn’t we?

2And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to your brother Aaron, that he should not come at all times into the Holy within the dividing curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, so that he should not die, for I appear over the ark cover in a cloud.

So. This is interesting isn’t it? We finished last week’s parsha with the menstrual cycle. Flow. We are NOT meant to be in the holy of holies at all times. There is balance.

Let’s be real. We struggle in this reality (space/time) we find ourselves in.  We DESIRE to just be “spiritual” all the time. And? We are not called to be “holy of holy” at all times. The Torah is showing us grace.  Even the High Priest, Aaron – he was NOT meant to LIVE in the holy of holies – but ONLY when Hashem asks him to. And there is a process:

3With this shall Aaron enter the Holy: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

4He shall wear a holy linen shirt and linen pants shall be upon his flesh, and he shall gird himself with a linen sash and wear a linen cap these are holy garments, [and therefore,] he shall immerse himself in water and don them.

5And from the community of the children of Israel, he shall take two he goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

6And Aaron shall bring his sin offering bull, and initiate atonement for himself and for his household.

So Aaron wasn’t asked to “come as you are” into the Holy place.  He got prepared for it. And – he needed to offer a sacrifice for himself and his family.   He had to “clean house” before the Holy time.

7And he shall take the two he goats, and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

8And Aaron shall place lots upon the two he goats: one lot “For the Lord,” and the other lot, “For Azazel.”

And the offering had an element of chance. He cast lots.  One was for the Lord, one was for Azazel.

Azazel literally means “high cliff” and the idea was the goat would be cast off a “high cliff.”  This is not about a “devil” called “Azazel” as some would have us believe. It was meant to show that there is a duality. Two becoming one.  Hashem is in the high places – and He is below.

9And Aaron shall bring the he goat upon which the lot, “For the Lord,” came up, and designate it as a sin offering.

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.

Again – the goat was meant to be sent away to a high cliff in the desert. It was going to die as it was cast off the high cliff.

My Christian friends have discussed this with me in regards to Jesus.  This process is the Yom Kippur sacrifice in case you can’t tell.  Many Christians have shared with me “The Yom Kippur sacrifice wasn’t enough because the goat never died – the sins were put upon the goat and the goat lived.”

Um. No. The goat (with the sins of the Children of Israel cast upon it) would have been cast off a cliff (Azazel).  The sins very much would have been “taken care of.”

Constantine changed everything at the council of Nicaea – and to control the people and deal with the sect of Judaism called “the way” created a NEW religion. Constantine rewrote the narrative – and that is where the church has been founded upon today.  I really encourage you to do more research into this, friends.

Jesus was not the “replacement” for the Yom Kippur sacrifice – because there was no need to have Jesus replace it.  The sacrifice took care of the sins.

And. Keep in mind. This was JUST for the High Priest making atonement for the Children of Israel.

And. This is showing us? The High Priest? It is within us. Our Neshama is within. We have the high priest.

And. Our High Priest is not intended to ALWAYS be in the Holy of Holies.

11And Aaron shall bring his sin offering bull, and shall [initiate] atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall [then] slaughter his sin offering bull.

12And he shall take a pan full of burning coals from upon the altar, from before the Lord, and both hands’ full of fine incense, and bring [it] within the dividing curtain.

13And he shall place the incense upon the fire, before the Lord, so that the cloud of the incense shall envelope the ark cover that is over the [tablets of] Testimony, so that he shall not die.

After the goat was cast off a cliff, THEN Aaron could enter the Holiest place.  Imagine the ark, with the two cherubim – and incense covering that.  The incense was PROTECTIVE – it allowed Aaron to survive the experience.

14And he shall take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle [it] with his index finger on top of the ark cover on the eastern side; and before the ark cover, he shall sprinkle seven times from the blood, with his index finger.

15He shall then slaughter the he goat of the people’s sin offering and bring its blood within the dividing curtain, and he shall do with its blood as he had done with the bull’s blood, and he shall sprinkle it upon the ark cover and before the ark cover.

16And he shall effect atonement upon the Holy from the defilements of the children of Israel and from their rebellions and all their unintentional sins. He shall do likewise to the Tent of Meeting, which dwells with them amidst their defilements.

17And no man shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he comes to effect atonement in the Holy, until he comes out. And he shall effect atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

And there you have it.  Grief. Guilt. Shame. We all struggle with it.  And? We have a way to navigate it. Let’s reflect.

Why did Aaron go into the holy of Holies?

The Children of Israel DEFILED THEMSELVES.

The Children of Israel REBELLED

The Children of Israel UNINTENTIONALLY SINNED.

Um. Just sit with this. Ask yourself:

• Can I dig into the ways I have defiled myself?
• Can I dig into the ways I have rebelled?
• Can I dig into the ways I have made unintentional mistakes?

These are LIKELY the parts of us we need to search out and wipe clean as we enter into Passover.  As we “clean house” today and tonight, how can we navigate this – to see our guilt, shame, and grief – and to release it?

These are my thoughts. How about yours?

Here are my thoughts from the last year (the portion we read was different during this time):

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Nisan, 5783

The countdown to Passover is coming to an end. Tomorrow night is when Passover begins.

Tonight is the traditional time for us to do our final search of the house for Chametz.

Spiritually speaking, as we consider the journey of spiritual liberation, tonight is a good time to dig inward to find the places inside that hold us back from further spiritual liberation.

And. Todays passage is a good warning. Spiritual liberation without purpose is not the goal.

We become spiritually liberated to live our purpose on this earth. We are not meant to be fully consumed by the spiritual fire awakening within us. We need to anchor and be grounded in this current reality. This manifestation of our soul at this human timeframe.

It is a balance. And it’s crucial as we enter into Passover, the message of what we DO with our spiritual freedom is one to reflect on.

For me? My spiritual liberation and freedom exists for me to be a better father to my children. It is exists to be a better and more in touch human being relating to others within humanity.

The Passover story is meant to rehumanize us. To remind us of our humanity: and to discover what we need for our liberation.

Those are my thoughts today. What about you?

Here are my thoughts on this portion from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9, Nisan 5782

Good morning! Today starts a new week and a new Parsha! This week’s Parsha is Aharei Mot. This means “after the death.” We are going to have an interesting week reading this because towards the end of the week, we have the mitzvahs regarding “forbidden relations.” So stay tuned!

This weeks Parsha will also cover Yom Kippur. It is interesting that as we are heading into Passover (which starts Friday evening at sundown) this weeks Parsha is talking about Yom Kippur.

This is going to be controversial – and I really want to open discussion for people to push back and share their thoughts and feelings. My goal is to share what it seems Torah is saying and then we can engage and discuss to try and come to a place of better understanding.

The Chumash I’m reading has this quote to get us in a space to study this weeks Parsha:

“Every day should resemble Yom Kippur in that you are continually purifying your body as a temple to the Devine. When you make the right choices with your body, what to feed it and with whom it may be intimate, your spirit, too, will be enlivened.”

One thing as I read this quote, there is certainly energy behind “with whom it may be intimate.” And I think this is something we should not stay away from.

But the last phrase is key; the goal is to enliven our spirits. We aren’t talking about good or bad per se; we are talking about connecting with Hashem and enlivening our spiritual connections.

Ok. With that, let’s dig in;

God tells Moses – when the following command is given, it is after the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they came near before God and died.

So let’s stop for a minute. One thing I take away from the passage is the context of what we are about to read relates DIRECTLY with a desire to “come near to God.” There were many people in Israel who were cool with their normal lives. They weren’t all trying to rush into the holy of holies. So the context of this is really geared towards those who want to be CLOSEST to Hashem; and I think that’s really important for us.

Ok. Next, God tells Moses in this context: speak to Aaron, and tell him he should not come at all times into the holy of holies.

So, God is saying here (it seems) we should not have the goal to ALWAYS be in the most holy place. It’s a special time; and should be reserved for how special it is.

What times should we enter? We are going to see what the Torah says, but thought this was interesting from Kabbalah:

“Some times are favorable to come before God, to draw down blessings and to make requests. Other times are not favorable, because din (judgment) is in the world.

The lunar months of Adar, Nisan, lyyar and Sivan are times of mercy. The months of Tammuz, Av, Tevet and Shevat are times of din. During the months of Elul, Tishri, Marheshvan and Kislev judgment is pending.

Also, during the first half of each lunar month, when the moon is increasing its illumination each day, it is a favorable time. During the latter half of the lunar month, when the moon is waning, it is a time of judgment.

And there are days in the week which are favorable: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; whereas Monday and Thursday are days of din. (End quote).

Interesting stuff. Ok. Back to the Torah:

Hashem, after telling Moses that Aaron should not come all the time to the holy of holies, that on Yom Kippur, Aaron should come.

There is an entire process for Aaron to go through on Yom Kippur to enter into the holy of

Holies. And Hashem says he should come alone.

The takeaway for me comes down to our desires and goals. Are we striving for entering into the holy of holies? Why are we striving for that? Hashem says not to come all the time to that place. Do we feel we are “bad Jews” because we don’t want to enter the holy of holies in this particular moment? That seems counter to the message of the Torah.

It’s clear the desire for closeness to Hashem and wanting to connect with Him is a good thing. However, our relationship with Hashem will ebb and flow, and we need to recognize that ESPECIALY as we read more about some of these mitzvahs – and as we chew on the last Parsha we read.

Plenty of Jews in the camp weren’t looking for spiritual growth and development – they didn’t all want to enter the holy of holies. In fact many were likely scared to after the death of Aaron’s sons.

So we do not need to feel guilty when we aren’t “feeling” the desire to connect with Hashem. In fact when we don’t feel this desire, it will likely make it more special when we do!

What are your thoughts?