Achrei Mot
Lev. 16:1 -18:30
PrĂ©cis: Achrei Mot begins with Adonai speaking to Moses after the death (achrei mot) of Aaron’s sons. It describes the rituals for Yom Kippur, including the prescribed sacrifices. There are specific details about the purification of the Sanctuary, vessels, and the priests. Following this description, rules for the slaughter of meat (including the prohibition against eating blood) are reiterated, as are a plethora of other rules. The parasha concludes with a listing of prohibited marriages.
Lev. 17:15 - Every person who eats an animal that died naturally (nevelah) or was torn apart by beasts (terefah) should wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain ritually impure until evening, whereupon he becomes ritually pure. This applies both to citizens and to strangers living within your community.
Benjamin D. Sommer, writing in JTS Parasha Commentary (5/5/16), notes that this parasha offers the offender the ability to be restored to ritual purity, even though this seems to be in contradiction to a more definitive prohibitions found in Exodus 22:30 which reads, “You shall be my holy people: you may not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you should throw it to dogs” and a similar prohibition in Deut. 14:21 (“You may not eat an animal that died a natural death; give it to the stranger living in your community so he can eat it, or sell it to a foreigner. For you are Hashem your God’s holy nation”).
The verse in this week’s reading implies that it is acceptable for an Israelite to eat nevelah or terefah, since there is a simple way of being restored to ritual purity. Note well that the Torah has no prohibition against becoming ritually impure. In fact, it was relatively common for Israelites to become “impure” through contact with the dead, giving birth, or emissions of various sorts. Sommer suggests that this presents a contradiction to the absolute prohibitions in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
We often acknowledge that there are differences of opinion regarding Jewish law. For example, some Jews must wait six hours after eating meat before eating dairy (especially among those from Eastern Europe). Others wait three hours (e.g., German Jews). Similarly, laws regarding what is appropriate on Passover differ between those who follow Ashkenazi traditions and those who follow Sephardic practice. As we see here, the Torah itself contradicts itself at times (a source of immense amounts of rabbinic commentary).
But rabbinical authorities over 25 centuries have determined that Jews may not eat from an animal which has died, or flesh torn from a living animal, regardless of the verse in Leviticus above. Even though rejected by the Sages, the verse from this week’s reading is still chanted, although it has been abandoned. We still chant it because it is part of our heritage.
This provides a basis for an analysis of another verse in this week’s reading: “You may not lie with a male as with a woman; doing so is an abomination” (Lev. 18:22). The more progressive movements in the Jewish world have come to recognize that there is much to be praised in committed relationships between two men or between two women, and have begun a process to make such relationships acceptable to all. I, for one, encourage this movement, but recognize that it remains anathema to many of my fellow Jews.
For those who are discomforted by our continued reading of Lev. 18:22, I suggest that just as the laws regarding eating of animals in this parasha have been superseded, the prohibition in 18:22 may also be superseded. While I believe that the verse is no longer binding, we still chant it because it is part of our heritage. As such, it reminds us that change is possible and at times desirable.
