While teshuvah – repair – is indeed an everyday practice in Jewish tradition, one could argue it gets the most attention during the Days of Awe culminating with Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. Every year we Jews spend the cusp of summer and fall taking stock of our shortcomings, our alignment with our values, our relationships with self, other, and the sacred. And on Yom Kippur morning, we read from the book of Leviticus – the chapters included in this week’s double portion of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim.
So as it turns out, each year just after Passover, just after the halfway point of the year, we reread those same verses, reminding us of the importance of atonement and repair.
Acharei Mot deals with the aftermath of the death of two of Aaron’s sons who in a parasha a few weeks prior were incinerated after offering a “strange fire.” This apparent transgression is reparable, and G-d instructs Aaron how to achieve it, both for him and his household and for all the Israelites. After the instructions are laid out, it is said explicitly that this shall happen every year on Yom Kippur (the 10th day of Tishrei) as a way to atone for the transgressions of the entire community.
The spring has fully taken hold, the flowers are in full bloom, and the rainy days are a little warmer and less frequent (though what a dry winter it was this year!). As we come to what our school days have conditioned us to feel is “the end of the year” in one sense, let us take stock in this season as well, with this reminder of Yom Kippur in the Torah reading cycle. Let us use this time to continue and further fuel the repair work we are doing here at Kadima.
Every year this pairing of parashiyot is striking to me. In Leviticus 16 which outlines the ancient Yom Kippur ritual, the High Priest acts on behalf of all the Israelites. And in Leviticus 19, the hierarchy is broken down as the instructions are no longer for just the High Priest, but for the entire community of B’nei Yisrael – there is an egalitarianness to the holiness we can attain.
As we take stock in this season of resonance with Yom Kippur, let us not rely only on those in particular positions to do the repair work this community still needs. Let us instead take it upon ourselves. Each and every one of us has a role to play. Indeed, let us lean in perhaps not to the Leviticus 16 approach that “someone else will do it for us” but the “its upon each of us” approach of Leviticus 19. For it is in these days that we count up toward Shavuot on which we will read from Exodus 19 where it reminds us: we are “a nation of priests” not a nation to priests. Let us be full of leadership and accountability in every corner in everything we do. As Hillel said: if not now, when?
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
So as it turns out, each year just after Passover, just after the halfway point of the year, we reread those same verses, reminding us of the importance of atonement and repair.
Acharei Mot deals with the aftermath of the death of two of Aaron’s sons who in a parasha a few weeks prior were incinerated after offering a “strange fire.” This apparent transgression is reparable, and G-d instructs Aaron how to achieve it, both for him and his household and for all the Israelites. After the instructions are laid out, it is said explicitly that this shall happen every year on Yom Kippur (the 10th day of Tishrei) as a way to atone for the transgressions of the entire community.
The spring has fully taken hold, the flowers are in full bloom, and the rainy days are a little warmer and less frequent (though what a dry winter it was this year!). As we come to what our school days have conditioned us to feel is “the end of the year” in one sense, let us take stock in this season as well, with this reminder of Yom Kippur in the Torah reading cycle. Let us use this time to continue and further fuel the repair work we are doing here at Kadima.
Every year this pairing of parashiyot is striking to me. In Leviticus 16 which outlines the ancient Yom Kippur ritual, the High Priest acts on behalf of all the Israelites. And in Leviticus 19, the hierarchy is broken down as the instructions are no longer for just the High Priest, but for the entire community of B’nei Yisrael – there is an egalitarianness to the holiness we can attain.
As we take stock in this season of resonance with Yom Kippur, let us not rely only on those in particular positions to do the repair work this community still needs. Let us instead take it upon ourselves. Each and every one of us has a role to play. Indeed, let us lean in perhaps not to the Leviticus 16 approach that “someone else will do it for us” but the “its upon each of us” approach of Leviticus 19. For it is in these days that we count up toward Shavuot on which we will read from Exodus 19 where it reminds us: we are “a nation of priests” not a nation to priests. Let us be full of leadership and accountability in every corner in everything we do. As Hillel said: if not now, when?
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
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