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Acharei Mot–Kedoshim
After the Death + Holiness (Holy One)
2 May 2009
Lev. 16:1 - 20:27
Amos 9:7-15
Ezekiel
20:2-20, 22:1 - 19
Hebrews
9:11-28
Peter
1:13-16
Torah
Portion for May 2, 2009
Written
by Stewart Kushner
In this weeks
portion we are introduced to five areas that the Lord wants us to explore
and learn. It is
Leviticus 16
through all of 20.
In
Chapter 16 He
talks about the "Law of Atonement"
In
Chapter 17 He
talks about the need for "Blood for Atonement"
In
Chapter 18 He
talks on the "Laws on Immoral Relations"
In
Chapter 19 He
tells us what we need to know about "Idolatry Forbidden" and Sundry Laws
In
Chapter 20 we
finish this portion "On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities"
Now back to
chapter 16, Law of Atonement.
Chapter starts off
with “now the Lord said to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons
because they approached the Lord their way and not the Lord’s way.
we see that Chapter
16 is talking about the procedure that needs to be followed. To the letter
of the law. Not one single thing can be left out or done improperly for
if done incorrectly Aaron would die. It talks about having a Bull
offering for Aaron and a Goat offering for the people of Israel. There
needs to be two Goats as one is the offering for the People as a sin
offering and the other is know as the "scapegoat" and will be sent into
the wilderness. Before slaughtering the Bull or the Goat Aaron needs to
bring into the veil a pan of hot coals and he is to sprinkle incense on
the fire so that it covers the Mercy seat. The Bull offering is for Aaron
and the goat is for the people and is to be offered on the altar. After
Aaron has offered the bull for himself and it's blood along with the blood
from the goat offering it is to be sprinkled on the mercy seat on the east
side and in front and he shall do it seven times.
When Aaron goes into
the Holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes
out. At that time Aaron would take some of the blood from the altar and
sprinkle it on the horns of the altar on all sides.
Then Aaron needs to
remove the linen garments which he had on when he was in the holy place
and bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his garments,
come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering for the
people and make atonement for himself and for the people. The remains of
the bull and goat needs to be burnt up as well. Then someone is appointed
to take the second goat out to the wilderness after Aaron places his hands
on the head of the goat and confess all their iniquities. Then the goat
is released into the wilderness. The one who releases the goat is
considered unclean and needs to bath his body with water then he could
return to the camp.
This needed to be as
an Annual Atonement, a permanent statute once every year.
In Leviticus 17
"Blood for Atonement"
The Lord spoke to
Moses that all Animals that are slaughtered but not brought to the doorway
of the tent of meeting and offers it unto the Lord, that man shall be cut
off from among his people. The bottom line here is anyone who did not
bring their offering to the doorway of the tent of meetings shall be cut
off from his people.
For the life of the
flesh is in the blood. Therefore no one may eat the blood.
The blood is
identified with life, and you are not to eat of it.
Now if you are
hunting and catch a beast or a bird which may be eaten, you shall pour out
its blood and cover it with earth.
If you eat an animal
that dies naturally or killed by a beast, you need to wash your clothes
and bathe in water and remain unclean until evening, then you will become
clean. If not then you will bear his guilt.
Now we come to
Leviticus 18 "Laws of Immoral Relation".
In this chapter it
is really quite clear. You are to remain moral. The Lord drove out the
inhabitants of the land they were in because they were immoral. They had
no respect of persons. They slept and had relations with anyone they
chose to do so without any remorse of any kind. You are to keep yourself
clean and moral. It also talks about not having relations with the same
sex as yourself. The Verse is
Leviticus 18:22,
You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an
abomination.
It also states that
you are not to have intercourse with an animal; it is a perversion.
Do not defile
yourself by any of these things. That is what the nations of the land you
are in now did and that is why they are no more.
Chapter 20 picks on
this theme and goes a little further into what should not be done in order
to stay a moral People.
Leviticus 19
"Idolatry Forbidden" and “Sundry Laws”
Every one of you shall honor his mother and his
father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.
Do not turn to idols or make
for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God.
Now when you offer a
sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you
may be accepted.
It shall be eaten the same
day you offer it, and the next day; but what remains until the
third day shall be burned with fire.
So if it is eaten at all on
the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted.
Sundry Laws:
There are Laws for
the Congregation, and Laws for the People. This chapter talks of the Laws
for the People.
You are to leave a
portion of your fields for the needy and the stranger among you.
You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie
to one another.
You shall not swear falsely
by His name, so as to profane the name of your God
You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him.
The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until
morning.
You shall not curse a deaf
man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere
your God.
You shall do no injustice in
judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but
you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
You shall not go about as a
slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of
your neighbor
You shall not hate your
fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but
shall not incur sin because of him.
You shall not take
vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself
You are to keep His
statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall
not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wears a garment upon you of
two kinds of material mixed together.
When you enter the land and
plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as
forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not
be eaten.
But in the fourth year all
its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.
In the fifth year you are to
eat of its fruit, that its yield may increase for you. You
shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or
soothsaying.
You shall not round off the
side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.
You shall not make any cuts
in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves.
Do not profane your daughter
by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the
land become full of lewdness.
You shall keep His Sabbaths
and revere His sanctuary
Do not turn to mediums or
spiritualists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them
You shall rise up before the grayheaded and
honor the aged
When a stranger resides with you in your land,
you shall not do him wrong.
The stranger who resides
with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him
as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt
You shall do no wrong in judgment, in
measurement of weight, or capacity.
Chapter 19 ends with ‘You
shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am
the LORD.’
Leviticus 20
On Human Sacrifice
and Immorality
This is the last
chapter for the torah portion this week and it ends on a rather touchy
Subject.
1.
Then
the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2. You
shall also say to the sons of Israel, Any man from the sons of Israel or
from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to
Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone
him with stones.
God is telling the sons of
Israel or any aliens sojourning with them this is what shall be done to
anyone sacrificing their children to the god of Molech. He even goes one
step further saying he will do this to anyone who sees this happening and
does nothing about it. They will be held accountable as if they did the
same sin as the one who gave up the child.
From there, this is where it
gets rather difficult to convey the full impact of what God is saying to
his people and that it concerns the morality of Sex and who or what to do
it with. I would recommend you to read for yourself to see exactly what
God has written as what should not be done in this regard.
To sum up this week’s torah
portion in as few words would be. Listen up, God is Holy, we are his
people, and if we want to remain his people, we must be a holy people.
God wants to give you everything your heart desires as long as you follow
his commandments and remain holy unto Him.
May God bless every one of
you this week.
Shavua
Tov,
Rabbi Z.
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