Acharei Mot - Yoni's Bar Mitzvah - dinner

The portion Acharei Mot starts with the holiest ritual of the Jewish year – the atonement on the day of Yom Kippur.  This is where the role of the Kohen becomes the most prominent as he atones for himself, his family and the entire nation, and as a result of the atonement the entire community becomes purified of all their transgressions, as if they were reborn. 

We don’t have the holy Temple now and the animal sacrifice probably would not hold as much meaning in the society where animal breeding and agriculture is not the primary activity, but the ritual of Yom Kippur is observed to this day, accompanied by fasting and deprivation and preceded by the entire month of Elul dedicated to soul searching and praying for forgiveness, either for actual sins or for improper thoughts and wrong speech.

In preparation to the atonement ritual the high priest,  Kohen Gadol, had to pass through the four levels of holiness as symbolized by the four stations in the Temple: the Sanctuary, the Curtain that separated Holy from the Holy of Holies, the Cover upon the Ark, and the Ark holding the tablets of the law.  The Kohen Gadol also had to wear four white linen garments: the tunic, the breeches, the sash to emphasize his posture and the turban to crown his head.  The garments were reserved to wear on this one day in the year, and the material of the garments, white linen, symbolized holiness and purity.  Every action done by the Kohen, down to each item of clothes he wore, was significant - that teaches us the importance of the details in the mitzvoth (commandments) and in every aspect of our lives - everything matters, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.  You matter, your actions and your words matter to the great and awesome, infinite God and to everyone around you.

You asked an interesting question last week, how can a person of imperfect character be an observant Jew.  Many people ask this question.  On one hand we read how on Yom Kippur the whole klal Israel (community) achieves atonement and is purified of all sins, and in Kedoshim we learn how we must be holy because God is holy. On the other hand no one is perfect, even the greatest tzadikim have flaws that they struggle with.  How do we reconcile our imperfection with the service of God?  I’d like to suggest that when a person becomes aware of his bad character traits, recognizes his own shortcomings, that’s the first step towards holiness, because when the person recognizes how low he stands, how imperfect is his character, how weak is his ability of self-control, and how hard, practically impossible it is to change oneself, then this person turns to God asking for divine assistance, for only God can fix a broken soul.

In the center of Acharei Mot is the Chapter 18 of Vayikra / Leviticus that contains the major laws of morality.  It starts with a remarkable statement: 

18:3     Like the practice of the land of Egypt that you once lived there do not do;

and like the practice of the land of Canaan that I am bringing you there do not do,

and their customs do not follow.

We often struggle to maintain the fine balance between trying to live as observant Jews, bnei mitzvah, and living essentially in the gentile world.  For our family it is a double challenge of living in the American society and keeping the memory of the world that we lived in before, the former Soviet Union.  In Yoni’s Torah portion God is telling us not to be overly attached to the past practices of the old country and to resist being engulfed in the practices and customs of the land where we live now, to put the filters of Torah before the influences of the environment.  We’ve been struggling to find the balance, to accept the good and discard the bad both from the Russian culture that surrounded us in the past and the American culture that continues to influence us in the present, while setting our eyes on the future, and this is our future, what we’ll see and hear from Yoni on his Bar Mitzvah is the glorious future of Israel, the glimpse of redemption, may it come in our days soon.