| Aharei Mot / Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27
Shabbat Shalom-
It’s really amazing how easy these current chapters in Leviticus make it for
someone to spin a sermon. These chapters are qualitatively different from
what came before. Our previous chapters were mainly ritual instruction manuals
for the priests, whereas chapters 17-27 and especially 19-26 contain more of
moralistic legal non-cultic content called by biblical scholars the Holiness
code. One might say that while the priestly cult (ritual) brings man to
God by dealing with God, the holiness code brings man to God by dealing with
man.
One may see as a transition the reading this week that completes the story of
the death of Aaron’s two sons with the Yom Ha-Kippurim offering, the ritual of
the Day of Atonements. One verb in particular here is of interest since
it is so principal to the understanding of the ritual and whose translation is
somewhat uncertain. The root word KPR can mean, besides atonement, to
cover with pitch (Gen. 6:13), ransom (Ex 21:30, 30:12 ad loc.), to annul a
covenant (Isaiah 28:18), to deny (as in heresy, B Baba Batra 16b, San 90a ad loc.),
various types of flora (Songs 1:14, M Sheviit 7:6) and is the root for the
cherubim that overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:22)*.
Understanding Hebrew will always be a mixed bag for a non-native
speaker. On the one hand, I must research and learn the (difficult) words
to really understand them, and I am not as often thrown off by modern Hebrew
meanings that differ. On the other hand, I often rely on accepted English
translations of words which do not adequately convey the original sense of the
Hebrew. Hence, le-KaPeR is usually translated as ‘to atone’ which we
understand having to do with wiping away sin, but whose precise meaning has
become somewhat unclear (at least to me).
This week I read an academic commentary (Olam haTanakh) which brought up some
interesting points I hadn’t noticed or known. Firstly, the root verb KPR seems
to be paralleled in Ugaritic (a related, now-defunct, Semitic language) by the
root verb SLH, meaning to forgive (e.g. Ex 34:9), as is also
paralleled in Lev 4:20 and 19:22 ad loc. Here, KaPaRaH/atonement is
the human activity bringing about God’s SeLiHaH/forgiveness of sin.
Leviticus 12:7 further makes clear this ‘wiping away of impurity’ idea by the
new mother’s KaPaRaH/atonement results in purity/ToHoRaH (see also 12:26, 31,
35, 14:19). Hence, we get a more nuanced understanding of atonement/KaPaRaH
to mean the action which results in the removal of the stigma of sin or ritual
impurity.
Up till this point, we only understand what atonement does. We have yet to
explore for whom KaPaRaH atones and when said atonement is effective. The
ritual of the Day of Atonements/Yom Ha-Kippurim is designed to remove the sins,
crimes, and iniquities of all the people Israel through confession (**Lev 16:2,
34) ultimately so that the sanctuary remains pure and God’s presence continues
to dwell therein.
It occurred to me that this Day of Atonements ritual could only function for the
living inasmuch as those put to death for capital crimes can no longer have
their sins transferred to the goat through confession. If so, only those
guilty of lesser crimes would still be alive and able to repent their
misdeeds. As it turns out, I was not the first person to notice this
possible understanding. Jewish law harmonizes the justice of these two
crimes (perhaps by clueing in on the plural form of ‘atonements’ to include the
dead) by allowing that if the Torah’s law is to be a just law, then the death of
the criminal in court is a punishment that wipes away his sin/impurity. I
have quoted a number of these points from a 12th century law code, Maimonides’
Mishnah Torah, below***.
Ultimately, there can be no atonement without repentance as hinted at by the
priestly confession and self-affliction particular to that day. Hence, a
whole literature of what proper repentance is blossomed trying to be fair to all
sinners as well as all saints. Can repentance remove sin if one intends to
sin again? The Mishnah in the 2nd century answers no****. Can one achieve
forgiveness from God for sins against a fellow human being? The Mishnah
answers only if his fellow has first been appeased can God accept one’s
repentance. And what is complete and true repentance? Complete
repentance, answers Maimonides, is when one is in a similar situation to that in
which he sinned and he has so thoroughly revoked his evil inclination that he
does not again sin (Teshuvah 2:1).
We have learned that we have a part in our state of moral purity, that it is
up to ourselves to repair all our relationships to wipe away/KPR the ethical
impurities we have accumulated. The Torah provides a ritual framework and
a timetable for us to look inside ourselves and improve our lives. We are
to shun the questionable ethical practices of foreigners and focus on the imperatives
in God’s life-giving law (Psalm 19:8, Leviticus 18:1-5). I must add that I
do not think all Biblical laws are appropriate in detail to execute today, but
that it is clear that their purpose was to focus man on the results of his
practice. Eating animals in a predatory and primal nature is to be shunned
(Lev 17:4,10,15) so that our restraint reminds us who we are as humans. Forgetting our
power to construct our own universe of relationships with ourselves and the
world renders us ritually and morally impure, in need of KaPaRaH/purification.
And how we treat our relationships with others is ultimately what reflects our
relationship with God.
May we all strive to treat others with respect and gain atonement!
Have a caring week!
Benjamin Fleischer
* KaPoReT, perhaps a means of wiping away sin, purifying the people, or
appeasing God. See Olam haTanakh on Lev 16:2.
**Lev 16:21 “And Aharon shall lay his two hands on the head of the living
hairy (goat) and confess upon it all the iniquities of the Children of Israel,
and all their crimes, for all their sins, and put them on the head of the hairy
(goat) and send it with a designated man to the wilderness.”
Lev 16: 34 “And this shall be to you an everlasting rule to atone for
the Children of Israel from all their sins once a year…”
Lev 18:1-5 Don’t follow Egyptian or Canaanite law but “And you shall
keep my rules and my laws by which if a man does them and he lives by them, I
YHWH”
***Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah law code, 12th century CE, writes regarding repentance
(translation slightly adapted by me):
Teshuvah 1:4
[1:9] Even though repentance atones for all transgressions, as does
the very aspect of the Day of Atonement, there are nevertheless some sins which
are not atoned for immediately upon repentance, and there are some which are
atoned only after some interval [after repentance]. If, for example, one had
transgressed a positive commandment which does not carry a penalty of excision
and one then repented, one is not atoned until one has been forgiven, for it is
written, “Return, faithless children, and I will restore your
decline” (Jer. 3:22).
[1:10] If, for example, one had transgressed a negative commandment
which does not carry a penalty of excision or death and one then repented, then
one’s repentance is held in suspense, and the Day of Atonement completes the
atonement, for it is written, “For on that day He will forgive you”
(Lev 16:30).
[1:11] If, for example, one had transgressed a commandment which carries a penalty of
excision or death and one then repented, then one’s repentance and the atonement
of the Day of Atonement are held in suspense, and one’s death completes the
atonement. Full atonement is never really achieved until the punishment is
carried out, for it is written, “…then I will punish their transgression
with the reed, and their iniquities with lashes” (Psalm 89:33).
[1:12] This is talking only
about a situation where one hadn’t desecrated God’s Name when one transgressed,
but if one had desecrated God’s Name then even if one repented and the Day of
Atonement arrived and one received one’s punishment, one’s atonement is
completed only after one’s death, for it is written, “And it was revealed
to me by the Lord of Hosts; surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven for you
till you die” (Isaiah 22:14).
Teshuvah 2:1 Repentance is completed when an opportunity to commit one’s
original transgression again arises but one doesn’t and repents instead, but not
if the reason for repenting was that someone was watching or because of physical
weakness….
Teshuvah 2:2
[2:3] What exactly is repentance? Repentance involves forsaking sins
and removing such thoughts from one’s way of thinking and resolving firmly never
to do it again, as it is written, “Let the wicked man forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord” (Isaiah
55:7). One
should also be remorseful over what one has done, as it is written, “For
after I had returned away I repented” (Jer 31:18). One also has to testify to God that
one will never return to that sin, as it is written, “…nor shall we say
any more to the work of our hands” (Hoshea 14:4). All of these three declarations have to
be made out loud.
Teshuvah 1:2
[1:6] …for without repentance the goat sent to Azazel repents only
for the less-severe transgressions.
[1:7] Severe transgression are those which a Court
of Law can punish by death, or which carry a penalty of excision, and also false
oaths and falsehood, even though they do not bear a penalty of excision.
Transgressions of negative commandments or other transgressions the
transgression of which does not carry a penalty of excision are considered
less-severe.
****Mishnah, Yoma 8:9
If a person said, “I will sin and repent, and sin again and repent,” it is not enough for him to do repentance. “I will sin and the Day of Atonements atones,” the Day of Atonements does not atone. Transgressions between man and God, the Day of Atonement atones. Transgressions between a man and his fellow, the Day of Atonement does not atone until one appeases his fellow [by asking for and receiving his forgiveness -BF].
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