Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends. Welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parasha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohon. I hope you are well. And before we begin today, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, ideas, or just would like to reach uh, out and introduce yourself, please feel free to send me an email. Rabbi shlomokonko h nmail.com I'd love to hear from you. This week's parsha is Parsha's Achremos kedosim. It's a double parsha again. Last week was a double parasha. This week as well is a double portion. We're going to be starting off with achremos and then we do we read Kedoshim, so it's referred to as Achremos Kedoshim. And just to give a quick overview of this week's parsha, Achremos deals with primarily the Yom Kippur service. What the high priest had to do in the Mishka and the tabernacle, and when we had the temple, what the service was, what he would do, the different sacrifices he would bring, the special lots, the goats we're going to talk about today, the two different goats, one would be offered as a sacrifice, the other one would be pushed off a cliff, and the ketorah, the incense. Achremos continues as well with the different forbidden relationships that the Jewish people are not allowed to have, different people that are not allowed to marry. And the Torah outlines for us the different relationships that are forbidden. The parsha concludes with the prohibition of the molekh. Was this custom of the heathen nations to bring their children sacrifices?
[00:01:48] And it also, the Torah also tells us about the prohibition of bestiality and sodomy, as well as telling us about the holiness of the land of Israel. Parsha's Kedoshim teaches us this idea about being kadosh, being kedoshim, sanctifying ourselves. The Parsha tells us about gifts to the poor, being honest in our dealings, loving our fellow as ourselves, the forbidden mixtures of kalaim, that we can't mix certain things, being honest in our weights and measures. And the parasha finishes with the different penalties for these forbidden relationships, as well as the connection between having kedusha, having holiness, and the laws of kashrus. I wanted to start off today with a thought on the Yom um Kippur service.
[00:02:41] So as I mentioned before, the Kohen godlah, the high priest had a very specific service that had to be done really every day. But on Yom Kippur was much more elaborate, much more complex.
[00:02:52] The Torah speaks out for us. The exact steps and the different order that everything had to be done, the different sacrifices, the blood. What had to be done with the blood, the spritzing of the blood, and so on and so forth. Now, one part of the Yom Kippur service, which is very fascinating, are the two he goats.
[00:03:16] Now, the Kohengado, the high priest, he would have two goats.
[00:03:22] These two goats would look exactly the same, matching, almost identical.
[00:03:28] And he would have lots. The kohen would pick lots.
[00:03:33] The lot that would be picked in his right hand, that goat would be sacrificed on the altar. It would be La hashem. It would be elevated and brought to the altar as a sacrifice. And the lot that would be picked up in his left hand, that goat would be pushed off a cliff. It would be la Azazel. It would be pushed off the cliff. And Azazel literally means a rocky cliff. And it'll be pushed off as an atonement for the Jewish people.
[00:04:03] Now, the commentaries are very busy. You know, what is this idea? What's going on over here? We have these two goats. They look the same. One is offered as a sacrifice, one is pushed off the cliff. You know, what are we trying to do, exactly? And part of the process that the high priest would do for this goat that would have to go off the cliff, he would confess all the sins of the Jewish people. And the goat would be walked to this place, a designated spot outside of Jerusalem, and it would be pushed off and it would fall down this cliff to its death, and the Jewish people's sins would be forgiven.
[00:04:43] So what's going on? Is this like a, uh, you know, God forbid, are we saying this is like a sacrifice, uh, to the. We're giving a sacrifice to the other side, to a demon, a barbaric act. So the first thing we need to know when it comes to this process, to this mitzvah of the two goats of Yom Kippur, the first thing we have to recognize is that it is a chok, that sacrifices in general are a chok. A chok is a divine ordinance, that. There's three types of mitzvos. There are mitzvos, which are mishpatim, which is civil law. And we understand why society needs them to function or else people can't exist with each other, right? Do not steal, do not kill, do not commit adultery. We understand the reasons why the Torah gives us these mitzvahs, or else society can't exist. There's a second set of mitzvos called aidios testimonies These mitzvahs testify to a certain event or to a certain action, right? They testify that God created the world or God took us out of Egypt, such as blowing shofar. We take a lula, we eat matzah. All these are testifying to a certain point, certain idea. There's a third set of mitzvos which are Chukim, which are divine ordinances, and we are not going to understand them fully because God in his infinite wisdom has given us these mitzvahs. And we're limited. We're not going to be able to understand them, although they are chukim and they're divine ordinances. There are commentaries that try to help us explain and understand these mitzvahs of chukim. And there's different explanations that are given of why we offer sacrifices, but they're only to try to help us a little bit. They're not gonna. It's not gonna help us totally understand what we're doing when we give carbonos. So with that being said, the service of Yom Kippur, these goats are a sacrifice, and it is part of the mitzos of Chukim. It is a divine ordinance. But at the same time, many commentaries do discuss the questions that we're asking today and give different answers to help us get a little bit of an understand, to help, uh, let it digest in our mind this idea of what's going on with the kohen gadla and these two goats.
[00:07:02] So the first thing we have to understand is that when it comes to the goat that we're giving this, we're, uh, pushing this goat off that's going to Azazel. We're not. The Torah is not commanding us to give a sacrifice to the Satan. That's not what the Torah is doing. We're not like giving a bribe to the other side. The Torah actually forbids that to give, to offer sacrifices, you know, to, uh, a false God or to the demons, we don't do that. So we have to a little bit understand what's going on.
[00:07:39] Now, the commentary, the Midrashim bring down that the word Azazel is really a composite of two different words, that the word aza means strong and el means mighty. And it was the characteristics of the cliff that this goat would be thrown off of. And there are other midrashim which are very interesting on this subject, but one midrash sort of helps us understand a little bit this idea of, uh, the two goats, the two he goats, that if you take the word seir, which in Hebrew means goat, could also be translated as. As hairy.
[00:08:23] And when the Kohengado confesses the sin on the seir, on the hairy one, there's also a reference here to the other hairy one, which is Esav. Esav was born hairy. And he's referred to. And he's referred to in the M. Torah as the hairy one. So when the Kohengado makes the confession, the high priest makes his confession on this goat, which is going to be thrown off a cliff. He confesses all the sins of the Jewish people.
[00:08:54] In a way, he's sort of saying to Hashem, he's making a statement. He's saying, I'm putting all the sins of the Jewish people on this goat. And it's not because of them, it's because of the seir, it's because of the hairy one. That's why they have sinned. And just to take a step back a moment to explain this, on Yom Kippur, we all come to Yom Kippur with a certain sense of atonement that we want to achieve teshuvah. We want to get a complete returning. So we're working on ourselves to become better. We want to become better, we want to improve, we want to get closer to Hashem. And the actual day of Yom Kippur itself atones for the Jewish people just living through a Yom um Kippur and not doing anything causes a certain level of atonement. All the more so when we're trying to achieve teshuvah, full teshuvah. Um, so when the Kohengado takes this goat and confesses on it and says, it's the sayer, it's not the Jewish people's fault, it's the Sayers fault. It's the hairy one's fault. It's Esav's fault. In essence, what he's doing is he's telling Hashem, he's giving a sacrifice to Hashem and saying, the fact that the Jewish people sinned is not necessarily because of our fault. We're flesh and blood, is because we're influenced by our surroundings. We're being influenced negatively. And that's why we've sinned. And hopefully through that, we can achieve atonement. Obviously, you know, we have to make our efforts as well. You can't just expect that, you know, pin the blame on someone else. But part of this chuva process was trying to gain favor in the eyes of Hashem and trying to ask him, you know, we're trying to become better. We're flesh and blood. We're in A circumstance where there's so much negative influence around us. And that's why, which is the nations of the world, they've brought us down. And therefore, we're confessing our sins onto this one. And it's not our fault. It's because we've been influenced. And if you think about it for a moment, just to take a step back, you know, we live in a generation, our generation. The amount of negativity and exposure that even a child sees is unprecedented. And I feel like with that in mind, I could understand a little bit the confession that the coingado makes upon this goat. You know, it's so challenging for us to stay true to our beliefs and our ideals, you know, especially nowadays where there's so much going on, there's so much immorality, there's so much exposure. And sometimes we do get affected, and it's hard. It's hard. That's the challenge. Now just to really, uh, bring out a very practical lesson from the two goats is that as I mentioned before, the two goats were identical.
[00:11:51] They looked the same, they were the same size.
[00:11:54] But yet one was brought as a sacrifice, was elevated on the altar to be given as a special carbon. As a special sacrifice. It was La Hashem. It was given as a sacrifice to Hashem. And the other one was pushed off a cliff to its ignominious fate. It was pushed down the cliff la Azazel. It was given as a confession, as a atonement for the Jewish people.
[00:12:22] Now, every day we have decisions that we need to make.
[00:12:29] Sometimes they're small decisions, sometimes it's big decisions. What will I eat for breakfast today?
[00:12:37] What will I wear today?
[00:12:40] What job will I take?
[00:12:42] Will I live in this house or I live in that house? Will I go to this school or will I go to that school? Will I take this job or will I take that job? Right? Sometimes it's an easy question, right? Is it Cheerios or Life Cereal? But sometimes the questions are much more, are bigger, the ramifications are much larger, more, uh, overarching.
[00:13:10] Now, when we make these decisions or we have them in front of us, many times the two options look exactly the same at this moment, right? They both look about the same. You know, they both are paying about the same amount of money. Both houses maybe look about the same. Similar types of houses, similar type of neighborhood, similar type of school. But in the long term, where will our decision lead us to? Will it lead us to be better people? To become elevated as a sacrifice on the altar, or will it lead us off a cliff, taking us away from Hashem, do we look at the long term ramifications of our decisions? And it's not just the long term ramifications on the physical side of things, but also on the spiritual side of things. Which job is going to affect me in a positive way, and which job is going to affect me in a negative way? Which community is going to bring me closer to Hashem? That I'm going to have a better relationship to G D? And which community is going to take me away from my relationship with Hashem? Right. And these decisions that we're making, sometimes we can't have the answer to these questions right now because they look the same. It's only if we have the foresight, if we think about these things, if we think about the long term effects of our spiritual lives, do we see that one of the decisions can end up as leading us closer in our relationship to God. And sometimes our decisions can leave us further away. And that's similar to the he goat. The two he goats, just like the goats, they look the same at this moment, but yet one of the goats gets elevated as a sacrifice la Hashem to God, and the other one gets thrown off a cliff.
[00:15:01] And the lesson for us to take out of this is that when we make our decisions, are we taking our spiritual lives into the equation? Do we say to ourselves, what's going to be better for the spirit, for my spiritual life, for my neshama? What's going to bring me closer to Hashem? And obviously we could start with the big decisions. But even with the smaller decisions that we make, you know, you might laugh when we say, what will we have for breakfast today? Is it going to be Cheerios or a donut? So the answer is that what's going to make me? What's going to make me feel better? What's going to make me serve Hashem M better? What's going to make me serve G D better? So really, all our decisions should have a spiritual outlook to it as well. And that's a major lesson which we see from the Yom um Kippur service and specifically the two he goats. A second thought on Parshas Kedoshim I wanted to share with you today is that Parshas Kedoshim starts off and really focuses in on this idea of being Kadosh, to be holy, to sanctify ourselves. The first words of the verses of Kadoshim start off, Vayadaber Hashem el Moshe lemur Hashem spoke to Moshe saying, daber el Kol adas b'ne yisrael va'amarta alayhem kedoishim tiyu KE 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.
[00:16:34] And Rashi points out when it says daber el kol adas b'nai yisrael that Moshe, the commandment Hashem was giving Moshe Rabbeinu was to speak to call B'nai yisrael to all of the Jewish people.
[00:16:53] That we learn out from the fact that it specifies in the verse that Hashem was commanding Moshe to speak to all the Jewish people. That Moshe taught this parsha in the assemblage of the entire Jewish people. Because, as Rashi says, the majority of the Torah is dependent upon this. And this idea is being holy. Now, what does it mean to be holy? Does it mean you have holes in your socks and you're holy? If you have holes in your socks, does that make you a holy Jew?
[00:17:29] No, you have holes in your socks. But the idea is that when we talk about kedusha, uh, sanctification, it's referring to sanctifying ourselves, to elevating ourselves, that we work on ourselves to become better people, improve people.
[00:17:47] And just one point which I want to zoom in on is that Judaism is very unique because when it comes to our relationship with Hashem, we have to recognize that we all have this ability to have that special relationship. We all have the ability to be kadosh, to be holy.
[00:18:07] Many of the religions of the world, there are intermediaries when it comes to the spiritualities, when it comes to their relationship with God. They have to go through the priests or the.
[00:18:21] Whoever, the class that's in charge of the spiritual spirituality. And you go to them, and they have the connection to God. They speak to God for you.
[00:18:32] Sure, in Judaism we do have rabbis. We have Torah scholars, we have leaders. We have the kohen gado, the high priest. We have a king. There are different people in different positions with different authorities.
[00:18:45] But every Jew has to realize and recognize that kedoishim tiyu that every Jew is holy. Every Jew can have that special relationship with Hashem. You shouldn't just think that only if you have a long beard can you be holy. Can you sanctify yourself, can you elevate yourself? Can you get yourself to a higher level? Only if I went to yeshiva. That's how I can be holy. Only if I am religious or I grew up religious, right? You shouldn't think that to yourself. Any person, any Jew can have a special connection with Hashem. Any Jew can have, can be a kadosh, can be sanctify, can sanctify themselves. Um, sure we do have goals and aspirations that we want to do all the mitzvahs. But no matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter what our level of observance is, we can bring kedusha into our lives. We can bring holiness into our life. And way we do that is by studying Torah, is by doing mitzvos, is by being kind to one another. That's how we become kadosh. That's how we become sanctified. And we should not forget for one moment that we have this ability to be kadosh, to become kadosh and to sanctify ourselves, to become closer and closer to Hashem. So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. I hope you all enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at, uh, ravishlamokome with akmailuh.com. have a great day.
