AND AARON SHALL PLACE LOTS UPON THE TWO GOATS, ONE MARKED FOR THE LORD AND THE OTHER MARKED FOR AZAZEL. AARON SHALL BRING FORWARD THE GOAT DESIGNATED BY LOT FOR THE LORD, WHICH HE IS TO OFFER AS A SIN OFFERING; WHILE THE GOAT DESIGNATED BY LOT FOR AZAZEL SHALL BE LEFT STANDING BEFORE THE LORD, TO MAKE EXPIATION WITH IT AND TO SEND IT OFF TO THE WILDERNESS FOR AZAZEL.

(Vayikra 16:8-10)

 

Our fathers taught us in their teachings how awesome the Lord's deed is, and that is the matter of Azazel that is written above, for that word contains a matter that is found in our teachings, that the word aza [strong] describes a wind, as in ruah kadim aza [a strong east wind] (Shemot 14:21).

Since the letter hey cannot appear in the middle of a word, it is replaced with an alef, and the word zel also describes a sudden and very powerful wind that can demolish human buildings in a moment. This wind is found in Arabia, and of it it is said a scorching wind is their lot (Psalms 11:6). It flies and kills in a moment. If this is what happens naturally, all the more so when it occurs wondrously. If this is so, then Azazel is composed of aza and zel, that is to say, a strong zel wind. It [the goat] is pushed away from before the Lord by a powerful wind which breaks the goat's bones apart, leaving no two bones connected. This is a wondrous sign of the obliteration of the sins of the House of Israel. And so Yonatan ben Uziel translated: A powerful wind pushes it from before the Lord and it dies.

(Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio on Vayikra 16:22)

 

...each of us is like a "goat." Each has been granted to the power to resist, and each is capable of strongly resisting any request made of him. The moral worth of our lives depends on how we employ that power. We can decide to use the power of resistance in accordance with God's permission and under His authority. We can be like the goat for the Lord, and resist all of the inner and outer stimuli that seduce us away from the Lord. Or, we can decide to be like the goat for Azazel and exercise our power of resistance by refusing to listen to the Lord's voice.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on Vayikra 16:10)

 

 

Nadav, Avihu, and the Fate of Humanity

David Malkiel

Our parasha begins with a reference to the story of Nadav and Avihu who died when they drew too close to the presence of the Lord. As was mentioned in these pages in the article for parashat Shemini, the Sages understood their story to be a tragedy, a tale of crime and punishment. I would like to suggest an alternative reading, one without crime or punishment, at least not in the usual sense of those words. There was indeed a tragedy, but not the one we were taught about.

The story takes place just after the erection of the Tabernacle. Aaron and his sons the priests make the necessary preparations and sacrifice the first series of offerings. Aaron blesses the people, Moses and Aaron bless the people together, the Lord's glory is displayed before the whole people, and fire goes out from the Lord's presence to consume the sacrifices. Those attending shout out cries of praise and fall on their faces.

This is one of the greatest religious experiences in the history of the Jewish people in biblical times, and the key to the story is the impression that such an experience could make on those present. I imagine that when someone is present at such a moment of divine revelation, all of his doubts regarding God's existence and purview melt away. It would become immediately clear that there is life after death and that God watches over His creations, repaying humans according to their deeds.

Through such an experience, one gains certainty: previously, one believed. Now, one knows. And what a great difference there is between belief and knowledge! How would we react to a transition from faith to knowledge? I suggest that Nadav and Avihu reacted naturally - they disdained temporal existence.Pessimistic attitudes towards life are not at all alien to Scripture: "Vanity of vanities," said Kohellet, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity" and more chillingly: The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow (Psalms 90:10). Indeed, our forefathers also suffered from the pressures and difficulties which lay in wait for us every day: economic problems, the stress of child-rearing, social competition, loneliness. How many have felt that the day is just too short to manage it all, and ended their lives! And isn't the thought that there might not be any existence following death one of the factors that deters the sane amongst us from taking desperate action? God's revelation had removed that great doubt from the hearts of Nadav and Avihu. Who knows? With the doubt gone, perhaps they chose to leave as well? I do not know if they understood that the bringing of a strange fire would result in their deaths, or whether they acted out of the ecstasy of revelation. Either way, the main thing is that their death was not a punishment for the transgression of an arbitrary ritual law: Nadav and Avihu died because they did not know how to go on living after the revelation. For them, death was a natural and necessary outcome of their religious experience.

This interpretation sheds light on the connection between holiness and death. Rules were set up in the story's wake that delineate precise limits to nature and location of the priests' activities. The Torah emphasizes the dangers of not heeding these instructions. Once again, it seems as if this is a matter of punishing transgressors but, if I understand correctly, here too the true intention is to address what someone might do to himself in the wake of intimate contact with the divine. God does not punish, rather the human loses his will and ability to live.

Here, as often occurs, when we achieve a new understanding we see it everywhere. The dynamic I have described here reveals itself in several other Scriptural situations. I have always wondered about the meaning of the verses from the revelation at Mount Sinai: Then the Lord told Moses, "Go down, warn the people not to break through to the Lord to gaze, lest many of them perish. The priests also, who come near to the Lord, must stay pure, lest the Lord break out against them" (Shemot 19;22-23). The idea also fits the famous proclamation: for no man shall see me and live (Shemot 33:20). This matter does not relate only to texts from the Torah, but even to the story of the four who entered the orchard. There it is written that Ben Azai "looked and died" - he was like Nadav and Avihu. Notice that in connection to Ben Azai's death, the Gemarah says: It is of him that Scripture says the death of His pious ones is dear in his eyes (Haggigah 14b). That is to say that the Sages emphasized Ben Azai's righteousness in order to remove the suspicion from our hearts that his death was punishment for a sin. In all of the cases I have mentioned, the tie between revelation and death is not a tie of crime to punishment, but rather a human reaction to the removal of doubt.

Who must deal with this danger on a daily basis? The priest who performs the Temple rites. He had to walk a tight-rope; because of his closeness to the divine presence, he could have crossed the line at any moment and lose his ability to continue living in this world. Here we have a new meaning for the expression "the war of survival" - and the priest is posted at the front! This is the reason for all of the rules and limitations associated with the Temple: they were intended to make sure that the priests would continue to bear the yoke of doubt and faith, and withstand the temptation of ascending to heaven in a blazing flame. This difficult demand is the key to Aaron's response to the death of his sons: and Aaron was silent. That is to say: Aaron was ambivalent. The sorrow of bereavement was opposed by recognition of the joy that his sons experienced in their last moments and awareness of how powerfully they were tempted to act as they did.

The hidden things are for the Lord our God, but for reasons known only to Him the Holy One blessed be He wanted us to endure this constant trial. We read in the haftarah for parashat Pekudei that when the work of the Temple's construction was completed, it is written: Then Solomon said: "The Lord has chosen to abide in a thick cloud" (II Kings 8:12). Our fate is to lie in a fog of uncertainty as long as we live. Perhaps that is the tragic element in the story of Nadav and Avihu: not their ecstatic death, but rather the human condition of those who remain here, behind them.

David Malkhiel teaches in Bar-Ilan University's Department of Jewish History

 

 

When a stranger resides in your land, you shall not wrong him.

(Vayikra 19:33)

 

The true moral test occurs in your land

We learned - Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol says: Why does the Torah warn us thirty six times - some say: forty-six time - regarding [mistreatment of] the stranger? Lest you drive him back to evil ways. Why is it written, You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Shemot 23:20)? They learned - Rabbi Natan says: Do not point out your own shortcoming [i.e., having been a stranger yourself] in others.

(Bava Metziya 59b)

 

A stranger resides in your land: If he was a stranger in a foreign country where you too are a stranger, it would only be natural to love him, for it is the custom of strangers [i.e. aliens] to love each other (Pesahim 113), and you sympathize with his troubles in order to avoid them yourself. But if he lives in your land, in any case do not wrong him.

(Ha-Emek Davar Vayikra 19:33)

 

And love your neighbor as yourself

And love your neighbor as yourself - Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principle of the Torah.

Ben Azzai says: This is the record of Adam's line [When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God] (Bereishit 5:1) is an even greater principle.

(Sifra, Kedoshim 2)

 

It cannot be understood literally, since it is well-known that "your life takes precedent over that of your friend." Rather, the RaMBaM (Hilkhot Avel 14) explains it as meaning "[doing for your friend] as you would wish your friend would do for you." It is obvious that no one would expect his friend to love him as much as he loves himself, but rather to the proper extent taking into account good manners and how close the people are to each other - to that same degree you must love other people. That is why it [love your neighbor...] appears immediately after the preceding admonition [You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge]. Just as in the case when you wrong someone, you would not want him to take vengeance, but you would rather have him forgive your sin, so you should treat your neighbor as well. This is how the juxtaposition of the passages is to be interpreted according to the RaMBaM.

I learned another explanation of their juxtaposition from the Jerusalem Talmud (Nedarim 9:4), which states:

It is written; You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk How does this work? If one cuts meat [with one hand] and accidentally cuts [the other] hand would he then cut the ["offending"] hand? And love your neighbor as yourself. Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principle of the Torah.

This means that one who takes vengeance against his fellow is like someone who cuts meat. The hand holding the knife is negligent and cuts the other hand. Could someone imagine striking the hand that cut to avenge it? Similarly, love your neighbor as yourself follows you shall not take vengeance Even though one's own life and well-being take precedence over those of one's friend, in any case it is as if the two were one in the same person - even though it be proper for one limb to strike the other, in any case if the damage is already done there is no point to taking vengeance against the offending limb. Similarly, one should not take vengeance against one's fellow who has already harmed him, since he is just like you, all of Israel being a single soul.

(The NeTziV MiVolozhon's Ha-Emek Davar, Vayikra 19:18).

 

And love your neighbor as yourself - Not that one should love every person as he actually loves himself, for that is impossible, and Rabbi Akiva already taught that "Your life takes precedent over your friend's life." Rather as yourself in the sense of [your neighbor] who is like you - as in [the verse] for you are like unto Pharaoh. So here too as well Love your neighbor who is as yourself; he is equal to you and similar to you in that he was also created in the image of God, he is a human being just as you are, and that includes all human beings, for they were all created in the divine image. The Torah concluded [in the passage] everything with this commandment, just as it began with each man shall fear his mother and father, because one who honors the human image and considers it excellences treats himself and all other people well.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio on Vayikra 18:19)

 

And you shall do that which is just and good in the eyes of God - The simple understanding of the plain reading of the text is: Observe God's commandments and his admonitions and his laws, and, by doing them, intend to do that which is good and just in His sight alone. That it may go well with you - a promise, saying that by your doing that which is right in His eyes, it will go well with you, for God does well by those who are good and straight in their hearts. Our rabbis explained this in homiletic fashion, saying that this refers to compromise and to acting beyond the letter of the law. The meaning is this: Initially He said that you should observe his laws and his admonitions which He commanded; now it says that even with regard to that which He did not command you, give thought to do that which is good and straight in His sight, because He loves that which is good and just.

This is a very important matter, because it would have been impossible for the Torah to mention all behavior of man with his neighbors and friends, all his dealings, and all local and national regulations in their entirety. But, after having mentioned many of them, such as Do not go about as a talebearer among your countrymen, You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge, Do not stand upon the blood of your fellow, You shall not insult the deaf, You shall rise before the aged, etc., the Torah establishes a general rule, decreeing that one should do that which is good and just in all matters, e.g., compromise and behavior beyond the letter of the law - such as the law of bar metzra [The right of pre-emption. When a field is sold, the owner of the neighboring field has first right of purchase.] and even that which they said (Yoma 81a, paraphrased) "His personality is without blemish and his speech with others is gentle," so that - in all matters - he will be considered a blameless and upright person.

(RaMBaN, Devarim 6:18)

 

 

 

 

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