Dear Friends and Family:
As we approach the festival of Sukkot tonight, the weather around here seems to have anticipated the season: suddenly, there is a chill in the morning air. Let's hope that the rain holds off!
Numbers 29:12 “The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be a sacred holiday to you when no mundane work may be done. You shall celebrate a festival to God for seven days.”
The Festival reading for Sukkot comes primarily from the parasha Emor in Leviticus. In traditional congregations, we also read this verse from the Book of Numbers, which describes in detail the sacrifices made on this pilgrimage festival. The number of sacrifices for this festival, as noted in Etz Hayim, is “staggering” and includes 98 lambs and 70 bulls. Passover only requires the sacrifice of 16 bulls, and no other holiday calls for more than 2 such sacrifices.
What are we to make of this distinction? According to the Talmud (Sukkot 55b), the 70 bulls represent offerings that are made on behalf of the 70 nations of the world. Rabbi Hertz adds that these sacrifices were intended to make atonement for all of the world. We are left, however, with the following question: why should the Israelites be making sacrifices of thanksgiving on behalf of alien nations?
Perhaps it is because Israel is to be a light to the nations, and bring to them knowledge of God’s goodness and graciousness. From this perspective, we are to serve as role models for the rest of humanity.
On the other hand, perhaps if we pair the sacrificial excesses with the flimsy Sukkot we dwell in, we can see another kind of connection: our fate as Jews is to be dispersed throughout the nations of the world, living in peril but under the protection of God’s wings, as represented by the Sukkah. As such, we have a responsibility both to ourselves and to the nations to proclaim thanks for God’s bounty at the time of harvest.
Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Sameach
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why Be a Scapegoat?
With Yom Kippur coming so shortly after Shabbat, I thought this week I would focus on a Yom Kippur quandary: what is the meaning of the scapegoat ritual?
Leviticus 16:7-8 “Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before Adonai at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting; and he shall place lots upon then two goats, one marked for Adonai and one marked for Azazel.”
These verses describe the Yom Kippur ritual of the sacrifice of the scapegoat. The purpose of Yom Kippur, of course, is to atone for our sins. This ancient atonement ritual, which is the origin of the term "scapegoat" (painfully recorded in Jewish history) to us may seem to be some kind of hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo. Even for a religion which was based on a sacrificial cult, this ceremony has overtones of magic and is difficult to comprehend, at least with our "modern" sensibilities. Two identical goats are placed together, and after drawing lots, one is sacrificed (“marked for Adonai”) and the other is sent into the wilderness (or, in another understanding of the text, pushed over the cliff, to “Azazel”). Both wind up dead. What does this imply about Yom Kippur and atonement?
One interpretation is that just as one of the goats is holy and the other is profane, we have committed sins against God (the holy) and against our fellow human beings (the profane). So the ritual is kind of metaphor for our attempts at atonement on Yom Kippur.
On a more metaphysical plane, since both goats end up dead, what really matters is what is intended by their death (glorification of God or a useless death). This, in turn, suggests that atonement is really all about intention: whether we atone sincerely (the holy) or just go through the motions (the profane). Whichever path we take, the verses serve to remind us that while our conceptual world may be divided between the holy and the profane, in actuality we live in a world where we constantly encounter and struggle with the profane. The holy seems a distant goal. How can we direct ourselves with the proper intention (kavanah) towards repentance and atonement?
On Yom Kippur, we “afflict our souls,” we fast, and we spend the day in prayer and contemplation, striving for the proper intention for t'shuvah (repentance). Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel understood t’shuvah to imply a dialogue. On Yom Kippur we stand before a caring God who asks the questions; we have to search into ourselves and offer the answers. Heschel suggests that as much as we are in search of God, God is in search of us, and we need to allow Him to find us. Knowing that God seeks us as we seek Him can help us achieve a proper intention towards atonement and repentance. This is a comforting thought on Yom Kippur, when judgment for the coming year is sealed in the Book of Life.
May you and all those you hold dear be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
Leviticus 16:7-8 “Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before Adonai at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting; and he shall place lots upon then two goats, one marked for Adonai and one marked for Azazel.”
These verses describe the Yom Kippur ritual of the sacrifice of the scapegoat. The purpose of Yom Kippur, of course, is to atone for our sins. This ancient atonement ritual, which is the origin of the term "scapegoat" (painfully recorded in Jewish history) to us may seem to be some kind of hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo. Even for a religion which was based on a sacrificial cult, this ceremony has overtones of magic and is difficult to comprehend, at least with our "modern" sensibilities. Two identical goats are placed together, and after drawing lots, one is sacrificed (“marked for Adonai”) and the other is sent into the wilderness (or, in another understanding of the text, pushed over the cliff, to “Azazel”). Both wind up dead. What does this imply about Yom Kippur and atonement?
One interpretation is that just as one of the goats is holy and the other is profane, we have committed sins against God (the holy) and against our fellow human beings (the profane). So the ritual is kind of metaphor for our attempts at atonement on Yom Kippur.
On a more metaphysical plane, since both goats end up dead, what really matters is what is intended by their death (glorification of God or a useless death). This, in turn, suggests that atonement is really all about intention: whether we atone sincerely (the holy) or just go through the motions (the profane). Whichever path we take, the verses serve to remind us that while our conceptual world may be divided between the holy and the profane, in actuality we live in a world where we constantly encounter and struggle with the profane. The holy seems a distant goal. How can we direct ourselves with the proper intention (kavanah) towards repentance and atonement?
On Yom Kippur, we “afflict our souls,” we fast, and we spend the day in prayer and contemplation, striving for the proper intention for t'shuvah (repentance). Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel understood t’shuvah to imply a dialogue. On Yom Kippur we stand before a caring God who asks the questions; we have to search into ourselves and offer the answers. Heschel suggests that as much as we are in search of God, God is in search of us, and we need to allow Him to find us. Knowing that God seeks us as we seek Him can help us achieve a proper intention towards atonement and repentance. This is a comforting thought on Yom Kippur, when judgment for the coming year is sealed in the Book of Life.
May you and all those you hold dear be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
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