Rabbi's Weekly Teaching 

Shabbat Achrei Mot - Kedoshim 

Friday, May 4th, 2012

"On this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins." (Lev. 16: 30)  

It might seem a little strange to be thinking about the High Holy Days during the first week of May, but in Torah, we get a little time to prepare for the holiest day of the year by studying this week's Torah portion, where we read of God's commandment to observe our Yom Kippur - our Day of Atonement.   

This week's double parsha, Achrei Mot - Kedoshim, teaches us that in the days of the ancient Temple, the act of repentance was among the chief rituals that would come to define the Jewish people. During the Biblical period the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) would enter Kodesh HaKodeshim (the Holy of Holies), the most sacred location in the Great Temple of Jerusalem. It was there that he would make an offering of atonement for all of the Jewish people, which was literally a sacrifice made upon the altar, symbolizing our collective and communal repentance.

Today, we observe our holiest day of the year with the same spirit as observed by our spiritual ancestors. Rather than make a literal sacrificial offering, we instead offer teshuvah; the sincere repentance of the heart, mind and soul.

Rabbinic Judaism appreciated the mindset of our spiritual ancestors, but believed that the evolution of our religious practices is in fact superior to cultic-sacrificial worship. The Temple of Jerusalem utilized priestly intermediaries; but we have taken the act of atonement upon ourselves, and the process by which it takes place is one that enables us to grow as people in relationship with the Divine, and with one another. We recognize our sins; we regret our sins; we reconcile with whom we have sinned against; and we don't repeat the sins moving forward. With these steps secured, we have properly repented. 

Rabbinic Judaism made our engagement with God completely egalitarian; anyone can connect with God at any time. And every individual has the capability to turn to God and offer their prayers and sacred actions as a form of individual "offering/sacrifice." In essence, any place can become the "Holy of Holies."   

So why does Torah teach us, at this time of year, all about the acts of atonement for which we spend the Jewish year preparing? Perhaps the clue is to be found in the parsha's title - Achrei Mot - Kedoshim - which literally translates to "After death - holiness." Perhaps through the "death" of the ego - the minimizing of the self that needs to sin - we achieve a greater level of sanctity and divinity than we would if we let that element of the self flourish and grow.

As Jews, we believe that the raising of any human being's Godly potential higher than another is not possible; all human beings are equally created in the image of God. But with knowledge of what is both good and evil within the self, we can work towards creating a better and more sacred life by striving for greater holiness; and as the great sages of our people have taught: each person who takes one step towards God will find God running towards them.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Mitch