Weekly Reading Insights

Acharei Mot 5763

Overview of the Weekly Reading: Acharei Mot
To be read on 24 Nissan 5763 (April 26)

Torah: Lev.16:1-18:30;
Haftorah: Ezekiel 22:1-19

Shabbat Mevorachim - Blessing the New Month
Pirkei Avot - Chapter One

Stats: Acharei Mot 6th Reading out of 10 in Leviticus and 29th overall, contains 2 positive mitzvot and 26 prohibitive mitzvot. It is written on 154 lines in a parchment Torah scroll, 43th out of 54 in overall length.

Acharei Mot opens with a presentation of the Yom Kippur service. Next are laws regarding slaughtering animals, followed by a list of forbidden marital relationships.

FROM THE CHASSIDIC REBBES (V:29-63 )

With this (bezot), Aaron shall come into the holy place (Lev. 16:3)

The Hebrew word "bezot" has the numerical equivalent of 410, alluding to the 410 years of the First Holy Temple's existence. But why would Moses tell the Jewish people that the Temple would exist for only a specific time? What is to be gained by predicting this tragedy? Rather, Moses' intent was not to dishearten. On the contrary, he informed the Jewish people that it was in their power to prevent the sad event. Proper behavior would have conferred eternity to the First Temple and preclude any exile. Now, too, it is up to us. Our present conduct can rid us of the exile. Our actions can hasten the coming of Moshiach and the establishment of the Third Holy Temple, which will stand forever.

(Peninei HaGeula)

A MYSTICAL CHASSIDIC DISCOURSE (M:28-63 )

FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALA (K:29-63 )

Selected with permission and adapted from the three-volume English edition of Shney Luchot HaBrit -- the Sh'lah, as translated, condensed, and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (1565-1630), known as the 'Sh'lah' - an acronym of the title, was born in Prague. A scholar of outstanding reputation, he served as chief Rabbi of Cracow, and more famously, of Frankfort (1610-1620). After his first wife passed away, he remarried and moved to Israel in 1621, where he became the first Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Jerusalem. He later moved to Tiberias, where he is buried, near the tomb of the Rambam.

(adapted from Torat Moshe - the 16th commentary of Rabbi Moshe Alshech of Zefat on the Torah, as translated and condensed in the English version of Eliyahu Munk)

An essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent

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(W:29-63 )

Parshat Acharei Mot describes the service of the High Priest in the Sanctuary on Yom Kippur (Lev. 16:13). Simply put, it involves the most spiritually potent person in the most spiritually potent place on the most spiritually potent day.
The Rambam writes that the High Priest would be escorted home at the end of his service, and it should be a celebration for those close to him that he went out from the Sanctuary in peace.
If the High Priest was not in a proper spiritual state, he was liable to die during his service in the Holy of Holies. He was even warned not to spend too much time praying, so as not to endanger himself or bring problems upon the Jewish people. To the casual observer, it would appear that the reason for the above-mentioned celebration is because the High Priest returned alive and well from his spiritual work.

Also, the Rambam's focus in his commentary is pure and simple law. If so, what is a nice insight doing here? The High Priest's return concerns his private behavior, and is not connected to his actual Temple service on Yom Kippur. Why did the Rambam choose to include these extra observations?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe gives a very interesting explanation: To begin with, the High Priest was required to be a married man. This may seem to contradict the law that the High Priest separate from his wife several days before Yom Kippur in order to sanctify himself. Yet following this separation, the High Priest was required to pray not just for himself, but for his spouse also, and concluding his service he was to immediately return to his family and his everyday mundane tasks.

These details demonstrate the lofty service of G-d in the Temple. On the one hand, we see the highest possible level of personal sanctity, in the most sanctified place on the most special day. Yet, the purpose was never to remain in the Sanctuary separated from the mundane, but rather to take that holiness and integrate it into the world. This is the reason that at the end of Yom Kippur, the High Priest would return to his home. This was to make public the understanding that the purpose of this divine service was to bring the G-dliness into the framework of his daily life.

We find a similar lesson in the life of Rabbi Akiva, of whom the Gemara writes, "He went in peace and exited in peace" (Chagiga 14b). Rabbi Akiva journeyed into the deepest of the secrets of the Torah, while many other Torah giants were not capable of reaching such lofty spiritual levels. What was his secret? Rabbi Akiva's "entrance was in peace" - not for the purpose of separating from the world - and therefore he was able to exit in peace and use what he learned to affect the world for good.

This teaches us that there is no need to be afraid that becoming more involved in a Jewish lifestyle will estrange us from the world. The opposite! This is specifically how we fulfill our divine purpose: to make for G-d a dwelling place in this mundane world. (See Tanchuma, Nasa 16). This is only accomplished when we use our spiritual experiences to transform our physical surroundings, making them a fitting place for G-d.

Shabbat Shalom, Shaul Leiter

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For all our insights for this parsha from last year