|
Torah Stories By Hannah Parasha Acharei Mot Kedoshim |
|
Acharei
Mot: This week’s story starts when HaShem, most blessed is He, spoke to Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons that
drew too close to Him. He told Moshe to tell Aharon not to come into the Shrine
behind the curtain at any time when he wants to. Only at these times was Aharon
allowed to enter: With a bull of the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a
burnt offering – He had to be dressed in a sacral linen tunic, with linen
breeches next to his flesh, and be girt with a linen sash. And he had to wear a linen turban. These were
sacred clothes. He had to bathe his body in water, and then put them on – and
from the Yisraelite community he had to take two
he-goats for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
Aharon
was to offer his own bull as sin offering to make atonement for himself and for
his household. Aharon had to take the two he-goats and let them stand before
HaShem at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and place lots upon the two
goats. One marked for HaShem, and the other marked for Azazel.
Aharon had to bring forward the goats chosen by lot
for HaShem, which he had to offer as a sin offering; while the goat chosen by
lot for Azazel had to be left standing alive before
HaShem to make atonement for it and to send it off into the wilderness for Azazel.
Aharon then had to offer his bull of
sin-offering to make atonement for himself and his household. He had to
slaughter his bull of sin offering and take a pan full of glowing coals scooped
from the altar before HaShem and two handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense
and bring this behind the curtain. He
had to put the incense on the fire before HaShem so that the cloud from the
incense screens the cover that is over the Arc of the Covenant lest he
die. He had to take some of the blood of
the bull and sprinkle it with his finger over the cover on the east side; and in
front of the cover he had to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven
times. He had to then slaughter the people’s goat of sin-offering, bring its
blood behind the curtain, and do with its blood as he had done with the blood
of the bull: He had to sprinkle it over the cover and in front of the cover and
so he had to purge the Shrine of the uncleanness and transgression of the
Yisraelites, whatever their sins; and he had to do the same for the Tent of
Meeting which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness when he goes
in to make atonement. Nobody else had to be in the Tent of Meeting until he
comes out.
When he has made atonement for
himself and his household and for the whole congregation of Yisrael, he had to
go out to the altar that is before HaShem and purge it: he had to take some of
the blood of the bull and the goat and apply to each of the horns of the altar;
and the rest of the blood he had to sprinkle on it with his finger seven times.
And so he had to cleanse it of the uncleanness of the Yisraelites and
consecrate it. (Make it holy)
When he
has finished cleansing the Shrine, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, the live
goat had to be brought forward. Aharon had to lay both his hands on the head of
the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the
Yisraelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it
had to be sent off to the wilderness through a chosen man, thus the goat had to
carry on it all their iniquities to an hard to find region; and the goat had to
be set free in the wilderness.
And
Aharon had to go into the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen clothes that he
put on when he entered the shrine, and leave them there. He had to bathe his
body in water in the holy precinct and put on his clothes; then he had to come
out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people making
atonement for himself and for the people. The fat of the sin offering he had to
turn into smoke on the altar. He who set the Azazel
goat free had to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he
was allowed to re-enter the camp.
The
bull of sin offering and the goat of sin offering whose blood was brought in to
purge the Shrine had to be taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh and
dung had to be consumed in fire. He who burned them had to wash his clothes and
bathe his body in water. After that he was allowed to re-enter the camp.
Then
this was given to the Yisraelites as a law for all time: In the seventh month,
on the tenth day of the month, you have to practice self-denial; and you shall
do no manner of work, neither the citizen, nor the alien who reside among you.
For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you from all your
sins; you shall be clean before HaShem. It shall be a Sabbath of complete rest
for you and you shall practice self-denial; it is a law for all time. The
priest who has been anointed and ordained to serve as priest in the place of
his father shall make atonement. He shall put on the sacral linen clothes. He
shall purge the innermost shrine. He shall purge the Tent of Meeting and the
altar. He shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the
congregation. This shall be to you a law for all time: To make atonement for
the Yisraelites for all their sins once a year. And Moshe did as HaShem has
commanded him.
The
next laws deal with when anyone slaughters an ox or sheep or goat in the camp,
or outside the camp and does not bring it to the entrance of the Tent of
Meeting to present it as an offering to HaShem, before HaShem’s Tabernacle,
blood guilt shall be assigned to that man: He has shed blood; that man shall be
cut off from among his people. This is
in order that the Yisraelites may bring the sacrifices which they have been
making in the open – that they may bring them before HaShem to the priest at
the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and offer them as sacrifices of well-being
to HaShem; that the priest may dash the blood against the altar of HaShem at
the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and turn the fat into smoke as a pleasing
odour to HaShem; and that they may not offer their sacrifices anymore to the
goat demons that they run after. This shall be a law for them for all time
throughout the ages.
If
anyone of the house of Yisrael or of the strangers who reside among them offers
a burnt offering or a sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance of the
Tent of Meeting to offer it to HaShem, that person was to be cut off from among
his people. And if anyone of the house
of Yisrael or of the strangers that reside among them partakes of the blood
HaShem will set His face against the person who partakes of the blood and He
will cut him off from among his kin. For the life of the flesh is in the blood
and it has been assigned it to the Yisraelites for making atonement for your
lives upon the altar; it is the blood, as life, that effects atonement.
Therefore: no person among you shall partake of blood nor shall the stranger
who resides among you partake of blood.
And if
any Yisraelite or any stranger who resides among them
hunts down an animal or a bird that may be eaten, he has to pour out its blood
and cover it with earth. For the life of all flesh – its blood is its life.
Therefore: you shall not partake of the blood of any flesh for the life of all
flesh is its blood. Anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off.
The next commandments are not to
copy the practices of the
Do not
see the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your
father. The nakedness of your sister –
your father’s daughter or your mothers, whether born into the household or
outside – do not see their nakedness. The nakedness of your son’s daughter or
your daughter’s daughter do not see, for their
nakedness is yours. The nakedness of
your father’s wife’s daughter who has born into your father’s household, she is
your sister; do not see her nakedness.
Do not
see the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. Do not see the nakedness of your mother’s
sister. She is your mother’s flesh. Do not see the nakedness of your father’s
brother. Do not approach his wife; she is your aunt. Do not see the nakedness of your
daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not see her nakedness.
Do not
see the nakedness of your brother’s wife, it is his nakedness. Do not see the
nakedness of a woman and her daughter; nor shall you marry her son’s daughter
or her daughter’s daughter and see her nakedness; they are family – it is
immoral. Do not marry a woman as a rival to her sister and see her nakedness in
the other’s lifetime.
Do not
come near a woman in the period of her uncleanness to see her nakedness. Do not
have marriage relations with your neighbour’s wife. Do not allow any of your
offspring to be offered up to Molech and do not
profane the Name of your G-d. Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman:
it is abhorrence.
Do not
have marriage relations with any animal and defile yourself
thereby. Do not defile yourself in any of those ways, for this is why I cast
out the nations before you as this is how they defile themselves. This is how
the land became defiled; and I called it to account for its iniquity and the
land spewed out its inhabitants. But you
must obey My laws and My rules and you must not do any
of those abhorrent things neither the citizen nor the stranger who resides
among you; for all those abhorrent things were done by the people who were in
the land before you and the land became defiled. So let not the land spew you
out for defiling it as well. All who do any of those abhorrent things – such
persons shall be cut off from their people. You shall keep my charge not to
engage in any of the abhorrent practices that were carried on before you. And
you shall not defile yourselves through them.
Kedoshim: The Yisraelites were then
commanded to be holy so we too, have to be holy because HaShem is holy. We are
to each revere his mother and his father and keep HaShem’s Sabbaths. Do not
turn to idols or make molten deities for yourselves. When you sacrifice an
offering of well-being to HaShem, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your
behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the day following,
but what is left on the third day must be consumed by fire. If it should be
eaten on the third day, it is an offensive thing. It will not be acceptable.
And he who eats of it shall bear his guilt for he has profaned what is sacred
to HaShem. That person shall be cut off from his people.
When
you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges
of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your
vineyard bare or gather the fallen fruits of your vineyard. You shall leave
them for the poor and the stranger.
You
shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another.
You shall not swear falsely by My Name, profaning the Name of your G-d.
You
shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery; the wages of a
labourer shall not remain with you until morning.
You
shall not insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your G-d. You shall not hate
your family in your heart. Reprove your family, but incur no guilt because of
him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen.
Love your fellow as yourself.
You
shall observe HaShem’s laws. You may not let your cattle mate with a different
kind. You may not sow your field with
two kinds of seed. You may not put on a cloth from a mixture of two kinds of
material.
If a man has marriage relations
with a woman who is a slave and has been designated to another man, but has not
been redeemed or given her freedom, there shall be a security. They shall not,
however, be put to death since she has not been freed. But he must bring to the entrance of the Tent
of Meeting as his guilt offering to HaShem, a ram of guilt offering. With the
ram of guilt offering the priest shall make atonement for him before HaShem for
the sin he has committed, and the sin he has committed will be forgiven him.
When
you enter the land and plant any tree or food, you shall regard its fruit as
forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set
aside for jubilation before HaShem. And only in the fifth year may you use its
fruit that its yield to you may be increased.
You
shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice divination or
soothsaying. You shall not round off the
side growth on your head. Or destroy the side growth of your beard. You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the
dead or incise any marks on yourselves.
Do not
degrade your daughter and make her a harlot. Lest the land fall into harlotry
and the land be filled with depravity. You shall keep My Sabbaths and respect
My sanctuary.
Do not
turn to ghosts and do not inquire of familiar spirits to be defiled by them.
You shall rise before the aged and show respect to the old. You shall fear your
G-d.
When a
stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger
who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens. You shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of
Mitsrayim.
You
shall not falsify measures of length, weight or capacity. You shall have honest
weights an honest ephah and an honest hin. For HaShem your G-d freed you from
the land of Mitsrayim. You shall faithfully observe all His laws and all His
rules.
Anyone
among the Yisraelites or among the strangers residing in Yisrael who gives any
of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. The people of the land shall
pelt him with stones and HaShem will set His face against that man and He will
cut him off from among his people because he gave of his offspring to Molech
and so defiled HaShem’s sanctuary and profaned His holy Name. And if the people
of the land shall shut their eyes against that man when he gives of his
offspring to Molech and should not put him to death, HaShem will set His face
against that man and his family. And He will cut off from among their people
both him and all who follow him in going astray after Molech. And if any person turns to ghosts and
familiar spirits and goes astray after them, HaShem will set His face against
that person and cut him off from among his people.
You
shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I HaShem am your G-d, you shall
faithfully observe His Laws. By observing the Laws HaShem will make you holy.
If
anyone insults his father or his mother he shall be put to death. He has insulted his father and his mother.
His bloodguilt is upon him.
If a man commits adultery with a
married woman, committing adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer and
the adulteress shall be put to death. If
a man lies with his father’s wife, it is the nakedness of his father that he
has seen. The two shall be put to death.
Their bloodguilt is on them. If a man
lies with his daughter in law, both of them shall be put to death. They have committed incest. Their bloodguilt
is on them. If a man lies with a male as
one lies with a woman the two of them has done an abhorrent thing. They shall be put to death – their bloodguilt
is on them. If a man marries a woman and
her mother it is immorality. Both he and they shall be put to the fire that
there is no immorality among you. If a
man has marriage relations with an animal, he shall be put to death and you
shall kill the animal. If a woman
approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal.
They shall be put to death, their bloodguilt is on them. If a man marries his sister the daughter of either
his father or his mother so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his
nakedness, it is a disgrace they shall be excommunicated in the sight of their
family. He has seen the nakedness of his sister. He shall bear his guilt. If a
man lies with her woman in her illness he has laid bare her flow and she has
exposed it, both of them shall be cut off from among their people. You shall not see the nakedness of your
mother’s sister or of your father’s sister. For that is laying bare one’s own
flesh. They shall bear their guilt. If a
man lies with his uncle’s wife, it is his uncle’s nakedness that he has
seen. They shall bear their guilt, and
die childless. If a man marries the wife
of his brother, it is indecency; it is the nakedness of his brother that he has
seen. They shall remain childless.
You
shall faithfully observe all HaShem’s laws and regulations, lest the land to
which I bring you to settle in spew you out. You shall not follow the practices
of the nation that I am driving out before you.
For it is because they did all these things that HaShem abhorred
them. And said to you: You shall possess
their land for I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and
honey. HaShem has set the Yisraelites apart from other peoples. So you shall
set apart the clean animal from the unclean; the unclean bird from the
clean. You shall not draw abomination on
yourselves through animal or bird or anything with which the ground is alive
which HaShem has set apart for you to treat as unclean.
You
shall be holy to HaShem for HaShem is holy. And He has set His people apart
from other peoples to be His.
A man
or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit shall be put to death. They
shall be pelted with stones. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.
