Acharei Mos, after the
deaths…It is sadly too easy to connect the name of this week’s parsha to the
tragic events that occurred in California on the last day of Pesach 5779. Truth
be told, upon hearing the news on Saturday night – and also seeing the obtusely
anti-Semitic political cartoon printed by the International Edition of The
New York Times – the words of the Haggadah, Bchol Dor Va’Dor, felt
ominously pressing. Just a week earlier, as we read these words declaring how
in every generation our enemies have tried to destroy us, there were
discussions about how we were indeed witnessing an escalation in anti-Semitism
in the world.
The parsha’s title words, Acharei Mos, actually act more as a way of placing the next dialogue in the timeline, since the text immediately launches into Hashem’s instructions for the sacred service of Yom Kippur. Aaron, or the Kohein Gadol of the time, would purify himself and klal Yisrael before being brought two goats, one for a sin offering and one to be cast off the mountain into the Wilderness of Azazel. Interestingly, this ritual is most likely the source for the term scapegoat, a term that has haunted the Jewish people throughout history, one that we can easily see gaining ground in today’s divisive society.
The goats of Yom Kippur or, more precisely, the concept of Azazel, have always been intriguing. Two equal goats are blindly chosen. One’s “fate” is to be immediately offered as a sin offering, immediately sanctified. The other’s fate is to “stand alive before God to be an atonement on it to send it to Azazel to the wilderness” (16:10). The second goat stands and waits for the sin offering to be concluded before the high priest lays hands on it and confesses the transgressions of the Israelites. The goat is then “sent” into the wilderness. (According to tradition, it is pushed off a mountain/cliff and, if it survives, is left to wander in the wilderness.)
There are many, many commentaries on Azazel and the goats of Yom Kippur. One particular one discussed how the second goat must imagine himself to be the luckier goat, since he sees that the other goat is immediately slaughtered. In truth, however, if he survives the casting off, he will have to survive without a caretaker – in summary, a much harsher fate. In the end, perhaps the fact that both goats are meant to die that day gives significance to everything that happens to them before that. Their living, however brief, is the lesson we can learn from them – one is a vessel for the sanctification of Hashem and the other is a vessel for bearing witness to the collective transgressions of Klal Yisrael.
So what do the goats of Yom Kippur have to do with Bchol Dor Va’Dor on a week that reflects Acharei Mos? Anti-Semitism is on the rise. It’s just a fact that we have to accept and deal with. Around the world, people are asking why. Perhaps there really is no answer except that the Jewish people have a special role in the world and one negative effect of having that role and not living up to it is that, as God ordained, we are hated by the nations.* In the end, there are two paths ahead of each Jew: 1) Be like the first goat –be a sanctification and embrace Jewish living, 2) Be like the second goat - think that we can survive cast off into the Wilderness, a drift from our purpose, the deviation from our national goal hanging upon our heads.
It is an imperfect metaphor. Both goats are sacrifices and our obvious desire is for the Jewish people to live and thrive. The point of the metaphor, however, is that they die either sanctified or adrift. We see a generation – really a series of generations – who have almost no connection to their Jewish heritage. We see Jews supporting movements that certainly don’t have the best interest of the Jewish people in their sites. We see Jews who cut Judaism down to its bare bones so that it can fit the morality of a foreign culture. After the terrible tragedies in Pittsburgh and now California – as well as the increasing reports of vandalism, desecrations, and out-right anti-Semitism, it is time to remember Bchol Dor Va’Dor is real and that our biggest weapon is staying strong in our convictions about living a Jewish life. This is how we ensure that the dorot, the generations to come, will host a Pesach seder, will celebrate Shabbat, and will see the next Holy Temple rise.
*Please note that the use of the term nations implies a much broader concept. There is absolutely no assumption upon the relationships of individual people.
The parsha’s title words, Acharei Mos, actually act more as a way of placing the next dialogue in the timeline, since the text immediately launches into Hashem’s instructions for the sacred service of Yom Kippur. Aaron, or the Kohein Gadol of the time, would purify himself and klal Yisrael before being brought two goats, one for a sin offering and one to be cast off the mountain into the Wilderness of Azazel. Interestingly, this ritual is most likely the source for the term scapegoat, a term that has haunted the Jewish people throughout history, one that we can easily see gaining ground in today’s divisive society.
The goats of Yom Kippur or, more precisely, the concept of Azazel, have always been intriguing. Two equal goats are blindly chosen. One’s “fate” is to be immediately offered as a sin offering, immediately sanctified. The other’s fate is to “stand alive before God to be an atonement on it to send it to Azazel to the wilderness” (16:10). The second goat stands and waits for the sin offering to be concluded before the high priest lays hands on it and confesses the transgressions of the Israelites. The goat is then “sent” into the wilderness. (According to tradition, it is pushed off a mountain/cliff and, if it survives, is left to wander in the wilderness.)
There are many, many commentaries on Azazel and the goats of Yom Kippur. One particular one discussed how the second goat must imagine himself to be the luckier goat, since he sees that the other goat is immediately slaughtered. In truth, however, if he survives the casting off, he will have to survive without a caretaker – in summary, a much harsher fate. In the end, perhaps the fact that both goats are meant to die that day gives significance to everything that happens to them before that. Their living, however brief, is the lesson we can learn from them – one is a vessel for the sanctification of Hashem and the other is a vessel for bearing witness to the collective transgressions of Klal Yisrael.
So what do the goats of Yom Kippur have to do with Bchol Dor Va’Dor on a week that reflects Acharei Mos? Anti-Semitism is on the rise. It’s just a fact that we have to accept and deal with. Around the world, people are asking why. Perhaps there really is no answer except that the Jewish people have a special role in the world and one negative effect of having that role and not living up to it is that, as God ordained, we are hated by the nations.* In the end, there are two paths ahead of each Jew: 1) Be like the first goat –be a sanctification and embrace Jewish living, 2) Be like the second goat - think that we can survive cast off into the Wilderness, a drift from our purpose, the deviation from our national goal hanging upon our heads.
It is an imperfect metaphor. Both goats are sacrifices and our obvious desire is for the Jewish people to live and thrive. The point of the metaphor, however, is that they die either sanctified or adrift. We see a generation – really a series of generations – who have almost no connection to their Jewish heritage. We see Jews supporting movements that certainly don’t have the best interest of the Jewish people in their sites. We see Jews who cut Judaism down to its bare bones so that it can fit the morality of a foreign culture. After the terrible tragedies in Pittsburgh and now California – as well as the increasing reports of vandalism, desecrations, and out-right anti-Semitism, it is time to remember Bchol Dor Va’Dor is real and that our biggest weapon is staying strong in our convictions about living a Jewish life. This is how we ensure that the dorot, the generations to come, will host a Pesach seder, will celebrate Shabbat, and will see the next Holy Temple rise.
*Please note that the use of the term nations implies a much broader concept. There is absolutely no assumption upon the relationships of individual people.
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