This is Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. This week we read about some stunning lessons for life found in not one but two Torah readings: Acharei Mot and Kedoshim (Lev. 16:1 – 20:27). Let’s get started.
The parsha Acharei Mot (“after the death”) starts with recounting the sudden death of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, which happened in last week’s reading. Then the Torah goes right into directions about the Yom Kippur Service.
Clearly there is a link...but what? The rabbis say that the death of the two righteous sons (who in their zeal to serve G-d entered a forbidden place) is linked to Yom Kippur because their death allowed their souls to be taken up to be with other righteous souls. That reality then transfers to the survivors on earth in the spirit of forgiveness and atonement. Hence the link to Yom Kippur.
This portion also gives us the “Scapegoat” story: Where one goat is sent out of the camp into the wilderness and carries the sins of the people with it. What does this say to us? That it’s not enough to be sure that we have the forgiveness of G-d but we must take action to cast out our sins. Today that can take many forms...from what we eat to how we interact with others. We can always ask and receive the forgiveness from G-d but our actions must also be there.
We are then commanded to observe Yom Kippur...forever. ”This shall remain for you an eternal decree: In the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and you shall not do any work, neither the native nor the proselyte who dwells among you. For on this day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse from all your sins before Hashem (“the name) shall you be cleansed.”
What about “afflict”? What does that mean?
Commonly we consider this to mean that we will abstain from food and drink (fasting) and other “pleasures” we often take for granted. However there is an interesting passage that we read each Yom Kippur that deals with fasting and it comes in the form of the Haftorah we read after the Torah Service. You may recognize this from Isaiah 58 and it has so much to do with where we find ourselves today. Please take the time to read...
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its G-d. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for G-d to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the L-rd?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the L-rd will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The L-rd will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
Powerful...yes?
Today we are being called to care and to share and to treat others well. We are not called to hurl insults and do unkind things. We are told to be better. We are called to become the “Repairer of Broken Walls”.
It can start with each of us...today.
Finally, and I’m sorry this is so long, we have Kedoshim (Holy). It is all summed up in the first sentence of Lev. 19 – “Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for holy am I, Hashem, your G-d.”
How do we become...”holy”? We can start by emulating the words of Isaiah.
Shabbat Shalom! Stay safe and well.
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