Achrei Mos
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by d fine
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In an ostensibly irrelevant pasuk (16:34) regarding the Yom Kippur service, we are told that Aharon ‘did just as HaShem had commanded Moshe.’ Why does the Torah need to tell us this? Rashi points out that this pasuk is singing the praises of Aharon, who did exactly as he was told by Moshe. Moreover, the Ohr Hachaim adds that our pasuk is also praising Moshe for passing over to Aharon the exact instructions that HaShem gave to him. But this all seems a bit funny; why would we have thought that Moshe and Aharon would have diverged from the instructions that HaShem gave them as to how to do the Yom Kippur service; who knows what is spiritually beneficial more than HaShem Himself? Is it really a praise for them to have done what they were expected to do anyway? Perhaps an answer is Moshe might have thought to add more atoning features to the Yom Kippur service, for example more davening or a late-night Torah-learning session. Thus, the Torah sings the praise of Moshe in that he kept rigorously and strictly to what HaShem told him to relay to Aharon. As for Aharon, his praise is that he resisted the temptation to try and get close to HaShem (albeit in an illegal way) by going into the kodesh kodashim any other time during the year, as well as the fact that Aharon performed the Yom Kippur service with total humility; he did not do it with any feeling of his own greatness, but instead did it purely for HaShem’s glory and honour.
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by d fine
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On my own
Rav Pinkus used to borrow a pasuk from our sedra (16:17) to answer an age-old Shabbos question. In the pre-Kiddush shalom Aleichem sing-song, we end off by telling the angels to ‘go in peace.’ Now this doesn’t seem to be pleasant etiquette at all - we have just welcomed the angels in and a minute later we are asking them to leave? In certain places in England you’d be shot for such poor manners (joke). Rav Pinkus used to answer via Rav Avigdor Miller’s principle that Shabbos matches the Beis HaMikdash (e.g. they both have special clothes, candles, song, and easy death penalties, amongst other similarities). Now since the highest point of the avodah in the Mikdash is the Yom Kippur ketores service, when ‘no man is to be in the ohel mo’ed when he comes in to atone…’ (16:17) - for HaShem mandates a direct connection between Him and the Kohen Gadol (acting on behalf of Klal Yisrael), so too on Shabbos does HaShem want a direct connection and relationship with us - with no angels in the way. So the angels are asked (politely) to ‘leave in peace’ so that we can ‘live with HaShem’ alone, and experience that direct relationship with Him that is part and parcel of who we really are.
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Acharei/Kedoshim – Animals, Relationships and Relationships with Animals:
Another double header Torah reading this week with Parashas Acharei and Kedoshim. Majority of Parashas Acharei deals with the Yom Kippur service with the Torah taking us through the steps in which we tried to gain repentance on this holy day... from the selection of the offerings to the order in which they were slaughtered and in what way, down to small details such as what the Kohen Gadol was to wear and where each part of the service took place (which as you can imagine, has embedded in it important halachas amongst deep symbolism). We are then given the laws regarding the slaughtering of animals outside of the Tabernacle which flows on to (no pun intended) the prohibition against eating blood and its related laws. Parashas Acharei concludes with a large section on the various forbidden relationships, ending with a reminder of the holiness of the land... which we shall discuss in more detail. The second reading this week, Kedoshim
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Rafi Jager
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Do not perform the practices of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled, and do not perform the practices of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions" (Leviticus 18:3).
This is a rather peculiar commandment. Why are we commanded to keep our practices different from only the inhabitants of these two lands? Rashi, explains that these two were the most abominable of all nations. How then does this apply to us nowadays? Canaan and Egypt don't even exist anymore (as they did in the time of the Torah). How can we keep this mitzvah today?
Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Just), Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzatto quotes the fundamental dictum of our sages that one of the ways to lead a saintly life is by "putting a fence around the Torah". By keeping a fence around
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Administrator
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Rabbi Andrew Savage
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At the beginning of this weeks double parsha, Hashem places a serious restraint on Aarons’ access to the innermost and by definition most spiritually intense, point of the Mishkan. The reason given for this restraining order of sorts is that Hashems’ Presence will reside permanently at this innermost point and it is, therefore, imperative that access to this area be limited[1]. This is however somewhat troubling; the whole purpose of the Mishkan (and Mikdash) was to create a point of fusion between spirituality and physicality thereby allowing G-d’s Presence to be felt in a very tangible way. Aaron had been chosen above everyone else, including his revered brother and teacher Moshe, as the person most suitable to represent the Jewish people and experience the Divine Presence at the centre point of the Mishkan. With this is mind, what rationale can possibly explain G-d limiting Aarons’ access to the Mishkan specifically because His Presence was to be experienced there permanently. This seems totally counter-intuitive?! When the Beis Hamikdash (Temple) was standing there was a mysterious halacha governing peoples’ visits during Festivals; it was forbidden
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Ben Rose
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The Torah says in vayikra 18:14 "My ordinances you shall do, and My statutes you shall observe, to walk with them, I am the Lord, Your God."
What does the Torah mean "to walk with them?" The Ksav Sofer, commented that the words "to walk with them" mean that a person needs to continuosly ‘walk’ from one level to the next. A person should constantly keep on growing and elevating himself. It is not enough to keep on the same level that you were on the previous day. Rather, each day should be a climb higher than the day before. When difficult tests come your way, you might not always appreciate them. The only way to keep on elevating yourself is to keep passing more and more difficult life-tests. View every difficulty as a means of elevating yourself by applying the appropriate Torah principles. This is especially important at this time in the jewish calendar where we are counting the omer, the omer is not just a count of days to mattan torah, it is a count to revive our kedusha as a nation and on a
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Howard Jackson
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For on this day (Yom Kippur) He will forgive you, to purify you; that you will be purified from all your sins before God (VaYikra 16:30).
Why is the purification mentioned twice? On the one hand, "to purify you" implies that God actively does the purifying; whereas "you will be purified" implies that we will purify ourselves! Rabbi Akiva said in Gemara Yoma 85b: Happy are you Israel! Before Whom are you purified? Who purifies you? Your father in Heaven! As the verse says "then I will sprinkle pure water upon you and you shall be purified" (Ezekiel 36:25) and another verse states "The hope (Mikvah) of Israel is God!" (Jeremiah 17:13). Just as a Mikvah (ritual bath) purifies the impure, so God purifies the Jewish People. Why did Rabbi Akiva ask his question twice? And why did he answer his question with two verses that appear to be saying the same thing? Rabbi Yehoshua Heller explains that there are two types of purification process: sprinkling the pure water, whereby the impure person stands still and the purification comes to him; and Mikvah of water, whereby the impure person comes towards the purification. In a similar vein, there are
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Amir Ellituv
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In the first of this week’s two parshiot, the pasuk states:- "You shall observe my statutes and my laws so that a person may do them and live by them" (18:5). Nachmanidies comments on this that this refers specifically to those Mitzvot which are bein adom l’chaveiro, between man and man which establish the moral fabric of society since they allow the community to ‘live’ properly in peace and harmony. According to the Talmud (Yoma 85b), the Torah values human life above the keeping of the Mitzvot so that, for example, in a case of piku’ach nefesh (endangered life), one may break Shabbat to save someone’s life. Having said that, however, there are three “biggies” for which death is preferable, these being idol worship, murder and immorality.
The great Rabbi of Kotzk suggested an entirely different interpretation of the verse: "You shall observe my statutes and my laws so that a person may do them and bring life into them." Rather
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Dovid Manson
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When the Torah says that the Cohen Gadol worked for forgiveness of himself, his family and of the nation as a whole (16:17) why does he not just work on forgiveness for everyone, which would include clearly himself and his family?
The answer is before we think about fixing the world we need to fix ourselves and our surroundings. As the airlines say, "secure your mask before assisting others" the word "forgiveness" which is mentioned is only used once yet it forgives himself and his family and his entire nation. It seems that a single positive action can have the affect of improving ourselves, our families, and the nation. It is clear from this that finding ways to improve ourselves has a cumulate affect for greater then the improvements themselves an important concept
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by Tal Segal
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The parsha this week is a double parsha, which means we read to portions. The first is Acharei Mot, and the second is Kedoshim.
There's an interesting verse at the beginning of Acharei Mot that can teach us an important insight.
Hashem is telling Moshe to speak to Aaron and tell him not to approach the temple with any sacrifices that are different in any way from the ones that Hashem had described to him earlier. The exact verses are as follows:
Hashem spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, when they approached before Hashem and died. And Hashem said to Moses: Speak to Aaron your brother - he may not come at all times into the Sanctuary.
Just to fill you in in-case you missed the parsha a few weeks ago
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by d fine
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There is a deep connection between learning Torah and acting in accordance with that learning. The downside of this ‘learn-do’ connection is that when one does not do a mitzvah for a while then one forgets its details - how many of us know much about korbanos, the beis hamikdash, or even terumah and maaser? So it is especially sweet to speak a little bit about ketores (‘frankincense’) . A quick introduction of the ‘basics’ - there are two ketores (spices) put on the inner alter per day - once in morning and once in the evening (Shemos 30;7-8, 34-38). And see the pitom haketores section of davening for its ingredients. Other than that there was a special yom kippur ketores - this is the one mentioned in our sedra (16;12-13) and this is what we shall briefly discuss.
[Completely unrelated joke about smell…A man was walking with his dog who had no nose. Someone was walking past and looked in amazement, ‘forgive me for being rude, but how on earth does your dog smell?’ he asked. The dog owner paused, looked up and replied ‘Terrible!’]
Anyway, what is the purpose of this ketores?
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by d fine
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One could call the first perek of our sedra the ‘holiest’ perek in the Torah, for it deals with the Yom Kippur service - the only time when the Kohen Gadol is allowed to go into the holy of holies, the day of atonement, and the day that we got the Torah in the end. However, this perek has a seemingly out-of-place introduction; it starts with the brief mention of the deaths of the two sons of Aharon (from parshas Shmimi) and makes specific mention of the fact that this topic of the Yom Kippur service was related to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aharon. We are told that Yom Kippur is also one of our two happiest yomim tovim (mishna Ta’anis 26b); why introduce it with the tragic event of the death of Aharon’s sons? Rashi brings an answer that the second pasuk of the sedra prohibits entering the holy of holies in the mishkan, and that was the sin of the two sons of Aharon (according to one opinion). He points out that it is a much stronger warning to tell someone not to go into the holy of holies like Aharon’s sons did who were killed as a result. And this prohibition, in turn, leads into the Yom Kippur service because therein lies the exception to the rule; on
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Torah Portion -
Achrei Mos
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Written by d fine
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In acharei mos there is the description of the yom kippur service, and later a list of the fobidden relationships(arayos). And on yom kippur itself we read this portion of the arayos. What do the two have to do with each other? I heard that the Maharal explains the idea behind the Torah forbidding these relationships with close relatives. He explains that naturally one might marry a close relative, for they know you best and are most similar to you [eg same upbringing]. So the Torah fobade such relationships to ensure that Bnei Yisrael mixed with one another by families marrying other families. In short, the issur of the arayos is to create unity in klal yisrael and avoid exclusive 'clans'. On Yom Kippur, too, we see a certain focus on bein adam lechaveiro. eg When the kohen gadol
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