Acharei Mot

With God's help we are beginning to study the weekly portion Acharei Mot, and in chapter 16 the subject will be one of the most important Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur, and what the high priest had to do in the Temple on that day. Many talks, lessons, commentaries have been written on this topic, on the topic of what the secret meaning, the symbolic or not immediately understandable meaning of Yom Kippur is. But since in our series of talks we try to read the plain meaning of the Torah, we will try to stay as close to it as possible, although listening to other talks as well is welcome, to broaden one's horizons. So, let us begin reading with verse 1 of chapter 16.

Here it can be understood in two ways: when they tried to bring a sacrifice to the Most High and died or when they tried to draw near to the Most High and died. We read about this at the beginning of chapter 10. After that the Torah, in parentheses, began the account of purity and impurity and of the role of the kohen in a person's purification. Now these parentheses close, and we return to what we were talking about earlier. After these sad events the LORD speaks with Moshe.

From this moment on the LORD, through Moshe, instructs Aharon that Aharon can no longer enter the Holy of Holies every time, not every day, not always when he wants to, because the Most High will reveal Himself to him only in the cloud, and this will be connected with the burning of incense. And who can enter the Holy of Holies always, at any time? Moshe. Moshe does not merely have permission, he has a command to enter the Holy of Holies and to hear the voice of God there. And even at the end of chapter 7 of the book of Bemidbar we will be able to read that Moshe continued to enter, continued to hear there the revelations of the Most High. The Tent of Meeting has two users, it is like an office for two of God's employees. Only Moshe has no time restrictions, he can enter the Holy of Holies at any moment, not only on Yom Kippur, like Aharon. He does not need the garments of a kohen to go in there, he does not need a kohen as an intermediary, and Moshe has no need even of the golden altar, past which the high priest cannot go before he enters the Holy of Holies. Moshe is a level above Aharon in the right to enter the Holy of Holies. There is a commandment (it is given to Moshe at the consecration of Aharon as a kohen): “Bring Aharon near to yourself, raise Aharon to your level.” Moshe is a level higher, Moshe has a completely different relationship with the Tent of Meeting and with the Most High. That is, two Tents of Meeting work in parallel, as it were: the Tent of Moshe and the Tent of Aharon. If in Aharon's Tent of Meeting purification from sin and correction take place, then from Moshe's Tent of Meeting come direction and commands on how a person should live who has been purified from sin, how a person should live who is learning righteousness and moving toward holiness, how a person whose sins are forgiven should be. And these two lines, two Torahs, naturally merge into one Torah, because here Aharon receives commands for himself from Moshe. Aharon is the minister for the correction of people in the kingdom of kohanim, to which Moshe also belongs, and such is their interaction. For those who believe in Yeshua it is also very important not to lose this connection. If our sins are forgiven us, we are set free and become spiritually healthy, then the question remains where this spiritually healthy person can be applied, what he will do next. And the Torah, through Moshe, reveals the commandments of service, the commandments of service to the Most High in such a state of spiritual health, when there is the possibility of constantly restoring it. This is a very deep topic, and this is only a very short explanation of why Aharon may not, but Moshe may.

So, Aharon receives the command through Moshe that he may not enter the Holy of Holies every day. And when and how he is to enter, we will read further on.

The word bezót (thus, by this) can be interpreted as referring to the Torah, that is, by this Torah Aharon will enter the Holy of Holies. Aharon is subject to the law of Moshe, and the Torah of Aharon, all of Aharon's activity in restoring a person's holiness, in repairing a person (the Temple works, among other things, as a repair workshop) – everything will be within the framework of the Torah of Moshe. That is why the LORD spoke with Moshe, so that Moshe would command Aharon, and did not turn directly to Aharon.

The form of dress: he enters in the simplest clothing, and this symbolizes that he enters the Holy of Holies as a servant, as a lowly laborer.

In our portion we will read repeatedly that every time Aharon changes clothes, when he changes garments (and he changes them often), he washes himself. This is a necessary procedure, and if you read the portion attentively, you can count five changes of clothes and, correspondingly, five washings of Aharon.

So, this is what Aharon must prepare for entering the Holy of Holies. This does not mean, God forbid, that he takes a bull, two rams, two goats and goes in there with this whole zoo, no, this is only the process of preparation.

First of all Aharon leads this bull up (he does not slaughter it yet) and, having laid his hands on it, pronounces over it the vidúy (confession): this is the atonement for himself and for his house. After that Aharon leaves the bull.

Very many pens have been broken trying to explain what azazél is or, God forbid, who azazél is. If azazél is “someone,” then that means there is yet some other power from which we buy ourselves off, to which we bring sacrifices. But Judaism is a monotheistic religion, so this is hard to suppose.

Everything that stands before the LORD is called that which stands before the entrance. If we draw a line (a vector) from the entrance to the óhel mo'éd (Tent of Meeting), from the gate of the Temple courtyard (when the Temple stands), then it will continue, continue and continue further, that is, that which stands before the entrance does not end at the visible horizon. And what is located, what stands before the Most High in holiness, in purity, in the desire to serve Him (like the heavenly host) – this is the earthly host, which has gathered around Him and stands before the entrance. But the LORD is the Ruler of all, and He gives life to everything living, including that which at the given moment does not want to submit to Him or in some way sets itself in opposition. It is located outside the Jewish world, outside the world of the people of God: just as outside a city there is a field or a forest with beasts that do not submit to the human order, in exactly the same way there are wild and desolate places. And the goat, with nourishment suitable for desolate places, will be sent away from the Most High into the wild places to satisfy what dwells there. The goats, as it were, will go apart along one line in different directions. One – into the Holy of Holies, the other – into the very, very bottom of the universe. And this, taken together, is a purification offering for the people. It makes it possible to purify all the paths, all the vessels that connect the very bottom of the universe with the very top. In this way both the one goat goes to the Most High, and the second also to the Most High. There is a midrash that tells that the second goat wept and says: “We are, after all, identical goats. Why is it good for him? He is about to be slaughtered for the glory of the Most High. And I? Why me, why me into this azazél (the word azazél we understand here as some desolate, cruel places, as an unstable, harsh habitat unfit for life), why me – there?” And they comfort him: “You too are for the glory of the LORD, because everything, everything is nourished by the LORD.”

Pay attention, this is a very interesting order of work. It feels as if Aharon begins one task, then drops it and takes up another, then drops the second one too and begins a third, and does not finish any task until he has begun two others. The commentators saw this and were also puzzled by such a complicated organization of labor. It turns out like a chain in which each little ring begins before the previous one ends, that is, the first link of our chain has not yet ended, and the second link has already appeared next to it. The chain of Aharon's tasks looks like such a chain too. That is why only after something has been done with the goats does Aharon bring his bull as a sacrifice. A break was made for the goats, and Aharon returned to his bull.

Since two sons of Aharon died by entering the Holy of Holies incorrectly, the Most High not only gives instructions to Aharon but also reassures him that yes, Aharon will be able to enter the Holy of Holies, into the cloud, and need not be afraid of dying if he does everything correctly.

The goat that is slaughtered is the one that was not sent away into the wilderness, the one on which the lot fell to be brought as a sacrifice to the Most High.

When a person commits a sin and becomes impure, his impurity clogs, pollutes the channels of connection with the Most High, and the Temple, the sanctuary, becomes polluted by this impurity. And once a year the kohen cleans, renews these channels, a general cleaning takes place, a purification of the Temple from the tum'á (impurity) that has accumulated there.

What does no person will be mean? It can be understood, and this is how the commentators understand it, that there will be no one at all: Aharon himself also disappears when he enters the Holy of Holies. He dissolves there, he ceases to be Aharon. No person (adam) – this means that even angels, who have faces like an adam's, even they will not be there. There is only Aharon, dissolved in the cloud of the Divine, only he is present there. So it was also with Avraham, when he sat at the entrance of the tent and saw three before him. From the very beginning his name is not mentioned, and this is a hint that he was in a special state. Only when he runs into the tent to Sara, only then does Avraham appear. Before that he was in a kind of ecstasy, in a special state of soul, when Avraham as a personality does not exist at all. And something similar happens with Aharon: he is not there, he dissolves. And this is very tempting for every soul – to return to the source of its life, therefore the kohanim were adjured to come back.

The expression ish ittí can be understood in very different ways. It can be a suitable, worthy, chosen man, or a man who walks slowly, does not fuss, that is, a calm man. An ambiguous word combination.

There are also different ideas about how this goat was dealt with: it was simply driven out into the wilderness, or it was thrown off a cliff. There is a midrash that when it was thrown off, it, before even reaching the bottom of the gorge, was already falling apart into pieces. There are many traditions regarding how this took place.

That is, we are saying that the wilderness is ownerless territory, territory in which neither laws nor statutes are in force, and a part of the universe is like this wilderness, and that is where the goat is sent. This is the point through which these parts of the universe receive nourishment.

In verse 23 we read a surprising phrase:

It turns out that Aharon left his garments in the Holy Place, changed clothes in the Holy Place. Many commentators have spoken about these garments which Aharon takes off in the Holy Place, they tried to change the syntax of the sentences, they said that this sentence refers to what will be said a little later. Aharon enters the Holy of Holies for the fourth time to take the little shovel and the censer, and perhaps this is what is being talked about. There is a commentary that at this time Aharon plunges into the cloud in which the Creator is revealed, and all his garments fall off him, and he stands naked, like Adam, who did not have skin like ours, and sinks into a state of full Divine presence, becoming a God-man. This is the apogee of the kohen's being in the Holy of Holies, he merges with God, he is the bridge between God and humanity, the one who stands before God for all humanity at this time. From the very morning the kohen began the service of filling himself with holiness, and gradually, step by step, drawing near and entering the Holy of Holies, Aharon reaches greater and greater power. If he had sent off the goat with all the sins right away, perhaps he would not have withstood the confrontation with this impurity, so first he needed to breathe his fill of the air of the sanctuary. And the completion of this charging with holiness is the complete dissolution of Aharon, his immersion in the cloud of the Divine Glory.

That is, Aharon takes off all the garments, undresses and washes himself somewhere in a holy place, where this is possible. But let us return to the sacrifices.

No purification is needed, just as they are, with all their innards, they are burned after their blood has been offered. And all this corresponds to the instructions concerning the chatát offering that the kohanim received earlier.

Note that outside the Holy Place the kohen works with two assistants. The first is the one who leads the goat away, the second is the one who takes care of burning the bull.

From verse 29 on, the Torah gives instructions for all the sons of Israel.

The command torment your souls is understood as fasting and only fasting. There are five kinds of restrictions: on food, drink, anointing with oil, sexual intimacy and leather shoes, which make it soft for the feet. This is what is forbidden to do on Yom Kippur, on the Day of Atonement.

There is a direct connection between the purity of the Tent of Meeting and the purity of the people. Since by no means everyone brings sin offerings, by no means everyone keeps track of their sins, impurity has the property of accumulating and clogging the connection between the Most High and the people, clogging all the channels of purification in the sanctuary. The sanctuary itself turns out to be defiled, as we see. And when the Tent of Meeting becomes defiled, then, correspondingly, the people also becomes defiled, the whole people becomes impure to one degree or another because of this impurity of the sanctuary. Therefore both the purification of the Tent of Meeting and the purification of the people are required on one day, therefore once a year a general cleaning is carried out as atonement for the whole people.

Shabbát shabbatón means that all necessary work, including the preparation of food, is completely forbidden.

And with this we finish reading chapter 16 of our book. We have not touched even a tenth of all the aspects that are connected with the holiday of Yom Kippur, with the Day of Atonement, this is a very complex topic. But we have tried to understand the plain meaning of the Torah here.

With God's help you and I continue to study the weekly portion Acharei Mot.

We read in chapter 16 that on Yom Kippur a special sacrifice, chatát (purifying), is brought, from two goats, which are sent from the entrance to the Tent in different directions along the vector of the universe: one goes straight to the Most High, the other also goes to the Most High, but into the very, very lowest layers of existence. And, naturally, the understanding may arise that one may perform a sacrifice anywhere at all, not only and not necessarily at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. And therefore the Most High warns here first of all Aharon and his sons, the kohanim, and the whole people of Israel not to bring sacrifices anywhere except before the entrance to the Tent. At the same time, if a person did do this after all, it is not said that he thereby blasphemed the Most High or that he bowed down to other gods, it is not idolatry that is imputed to him. The Torah says here: “Blood he has shed, he is a murderer.” A person who slaughtered a bull as a sacrifice to the Most High without bringing it to the Tent, the Torah declares a murderer. Rashi, one of the best-known and most authoritative interpreters of the Torah, says here that this is specifically about sacrifices, but in the Talmud there is a dispute among the sages. Some say that the word used here can also denote simply the slaughter of an animal. Other sages say: “In those times, when the people of Israel was in the desert, during the wandering, it was permitted to slaughter an animal only if it is offered as a shelamím sacrifice, that is, as a sacrificial animal, and any meat could be eaten only bekdushá (in holiness) and in no other way. And a person who simply slaughtered a ram, a goat or a bull was declared a murderer. The Torah as a whole (and this is the general understanding of the sages) does not encourage eating meat. It is permitted, it is tasty, it is kosher, but it requires an appropriate level. When we eat a plant, I have spoken about this more than once, when I eat an apple, the apple becomes part of Alex, and compared to the plant world this is a promotion for the apple, the universe has risen a level a little higher. If I eat a lamb, then in order for the lamb to become a little more alive, I need to study Torah, to be engaged in something holy, otherwise it will simply be murder. A lamb is much more alive than an apple, and in order to have the right to eat it, I must serve God, be filled with life more than this lamb, otherwise I end life rather than continue it. Thus there are two layers, two angles of understanding these commandments. The first says: “During Israel's wandering in the desert one could eat only in holiness. If you slaughter an animal for your sustenance, you want to eat cutlets, steaks, schnitzels and for this you slaughter an animal, make it a sacrificial one, bring it as a shelamím (peace offering) to the Most High, dance the necessary dance with Him, give the blood and the fat to the altar, and then take and eat your sacrifice, otherwise it is simply murder. Why will it be murder? If you eat an animal that was offered as a sacrifice, it becomes something that brings you near to the Most High, you continue life. If you simply kill it, then you cut life off, and therefore it is imputed to you as murder. It is not always permitted to kill an animal just like that, simply to satisfy one's carnal passions. It is permitted, but in the times of the people's wandering through the desert the bar was very high. Further on, in the book of Devarim (12:21), we will read: “If the place is far from you, slaughter, as I commanded, and eat as much as your soul desires.” But those who were in the desert did not yet know what would be said later, they had not yet read the book of Devarim, and the commandment was perceived as it is written, in its very simplest understanding. For our generation, of course, what is relevant is that there is a prohibition on bringing a sacrifice outside the Tent, outside the Temple. That is why Rashi comments exactly this way. But one must remember: every time you read Rashi's commentaries, he speaks about the meaning of the Torah that is relevant for his generation. And when there are two levels of interpretation, Rashi always chose the one that was applicable and relevant in his time.

The word lemá'an is usually translated as in order to, but here it is not the purpose of the action but the expected result of the action, therefore it is translated as so that they would bring or and then they will bring.

Who are these shaggy ones, and why are they shaggy? There are different opinions on this. There is a dispute about whether they really exist or not. For example, Maimonides (Rambam), a great scholar and a great rationalist, says: “All these devils, demons, spirits – this is simply a language that a person speaks, and in reality they do not exist, it is a kind of fiction, an invention.” But he stands apart in Judaism because of his unconventionality, whereas the majority of Jewish scholars, sages, recognized, in one way or another, the existence of some unclean spirits, to which many peoples tried to burn incense and bring sacrifices. Israel, out of old memory, following the customs of the neighboring peoples, might try to bring sacrifices to household spirits or to any other spirits whatsoever that human imagination can only conceive of. The sages ask: “Why are they called se'irím (shaggy, hairy)?” Some say: “Because they seem shaggy when they appear, their visible image is some very, very hairy creatures, some kind of abominable snowman, like the Tibetan Yeti.” Others say: “They are called se'irím, because when a person sees them, his hair stands on end, he himself becomes hairy, he is afraid of them, and with someone a person is afraid of, he may try to come to an agreement.” That is just how they come to bring sacrifices to the se'irím. And the Most High commands that all meat in general that is eaten in the desert be eaten in holiness, that is, as a sacrifice. And not to bring any sacrifices anywhere except at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, through the kohen, in order, in such an exceptional period, to accustom the people of Israel not to bring any sacrifices to anyone outside the Temple, not to bring sacrifices in the Temple to anyone except the Most High, and so that this would be an eternal law in the generations for all Israel,

Here one may ask: “Wait, wait, wait, Alex, isn't this what we just read in the previous verses?” This is exactly the reason for the dispute among the sages. At first it speaks about all meat, about all slaughter, and now it speaks about a sacrifice as well. If a person says: “But I myself don't want to eat at all, I don't want to, I don't need little cutlets, I simply want to bring a sacrifice, maybe to a shaggy one, or maybe even to the LORD, but I don't want to go to Aharon, there's a line there, the blazing sun, I don't want to stand there, I'll slaughter it here, in my own little neighborhood, nice and quietly, and bring a sacrifice. God, after all, He doesn't live only there, at Aharon's, He lives at my place too, His glory fills the whole world.” This is how a person may reason, a native or a stranger, and the Most High says: “The one who will do this, the one who slaughters a sacrifice, even if to the Most High Himself, instead of drawing near to the Most High – his soul will be destroyed from his people.”

In general, usually, when the Most High turns His face to someone, it is good. In Aharon's blessing it says: “The LORD will turn His face to you, a bright face.” Here the Most High says (this is, of course, an image): “I will look strictly and attentively at this person. I Myself will deal with the person who eats blood, to such a person I will impute this, I will be watching him.” To eat blood does not mean to drink blood by the glassful, it means to eat meat with blood: the blood that is in the meat also counts. In this case to turn one's face means to stand face to face against such a person, to declare war on him. Why is the Most High so strict regarding blood?

That which gives life force to an animal, to any creature, including a person, is, of course, the blood. And in it – néfesh. The word néfesh, which is usually translated as soul (I also translated it as soul), in this case means the animal oneiThe Russian says that néfesh here “means the animal”, which can be understood as the animal itself or as the animal (life) soul. It is translated literally.. The soul is that which makes a creature living, a life force.

No one in the world eats blood, no one is permitted to eat blood, except the altar (if this metaphor can be applied to it, and we often apply it). Only the altar eats blood, and no one else, because blood is an exclusive product, it is intended for the atonement of the soul. Blood acquires atoning power when the soul goes out together with it. One cannot atone with the blood of a living animal: only when the soul goes out together with the blood can the blood atone for the soul. Thus on the altar that which gives the source of life to a living creature returns to the Source of Life, which is the Most High.

Since the soul itself is in the blood, it will not eat blood. We nourish our soul not with the life forces of the animal, not directly with its blood (this life force we return to the Primary Source), but we are nourished by the Word of God, by which this animal was created, as it is also said: “Not by bread, not by bread itself does a person live, but by the Word of God, which creates this bread.” The same also applies to animals, to meat.

That is, the Torah forbids eating not only the blood of domestic animals (a bull, a sheep or a goat), but also the blood of animals that we have caught on the hunt. But the suet (chélev, fat) of wild animals, of our game, for example, of a deer or an elk, which are blessed through wild nature, may be eaten. Unlike the animals that we raise on our own farm, because their suet is blessed by GodiThis spoken sentence is loosely built in the Russian: it is not clear whether “their suet is blessed by God” refers to the wild or to the domestic animals. It is translated literally., we fattened the domestic animal thanks to our own prosperity. But the blood of beasts caught on the hunt still may not be eaten, it must be poured out on the ground. And here we see one more commandment – to cover the drained blood with earth. That is, if we have poured the blood of a quail, or an elk, or any other edible wild beast on the ground, we must sprinkle its blood over with earth. It is not necessary to bury everything, one simply needs to sprinkle a little earth over it. What is the meaning of this commandment? Maimonides (Rambam), whom we have already mentioned, says this: “In olden times there were such fellows, sorcerers, who dug a little pit in the ground, carefully finished it and poured the blood of an animal into it so that there was no earth on top, and over this warm blood they summoned spirits, demons and whatever else they summoned.” And, so that we would not repeat these magical customs, the Torah forbade leaving blood uncovered. You covered it a little with earth – and that's it, the whole sorcery mechanism is already broken and unfit for work. Rav Kook, who lived at the beginning of the last century, asked the question: “Is it really so that in order to understand some commandment of the Torah we must engage in anthropology, in the history of ancient sorcery, and without studying the history of magic we will not figure out what such a commandment is for?” And further on he says that the very soul of a person is set against bloodshed. After all, somewhere inside a person there is a certain aesthetic sense that makes him, even if only deep in his soul, feel shame for spilled blood. Therefore a person, who covers his nakedness as something shameful, must cover, sprinkle over the blood at least a little, in order to satisfy, develop, feed this very aesthetic sense. Perhaps that is why the commandment of covering the blood does not apply to domestic animals. A domestic animal we raised ourselves, and from the very beginning we knew that we were raising it for slaughter, therefore we are not so ashamed to slaughter it. It must be added here in parentheses that Rav Kook himself advocated vegetarianism and said that in the time to come, when the Temple is restored, there will be no animal sacrifices in it, but there will be sacrifices only from plants. And it is precisely within the framework of such a broad worldview that he commented on this verse of the Torah.

This applies both to birds and to animals. To whom does it not apply? To fish. Why? Because a fish has cold blood.

Not only is it forbidden to eat carrion and a torn, mauled animal, but everyone who eats it will have to wash out his garments (that is, he becomes tamé, unclean) and wash in water, and until evening he remains, as we said, in the stage of rehabilitation, of purification, and with the setting of the stars he becomes clean.

There is a procedure of purification for the case when a person has eaten unclean food. And if he does not do this, if he does not purify himself after he has become unclean, he will bear his sin, that is, he will constantly be in a state of uncleanness, when it is impossible to draw near to the holy. And if he nevertheless enters the holy, then this will be a sin for him, he will have to live with it.

With this we finish the study of chapter 17, a very many-layered one, with many lessons. I think the main lesson is that this world has not been given to us to manage and to plunder just like that, that we must bring this world closer to the Most High, even when we eat, even through food. Although today all the strict restrictions that were in force when the people of Israel was in the desert are not in effect, and we can eat meat without fear, we still must understand that we do not eat in order to live, we eat in order to serve the Most High. And this is something one must try to remember at every meal. This moves the sages to say that when two or three eat and there are no words of Torah between them, they are eating sacrifices to idols, because the table is in some way similar to an altar.

So, the Most High continues to give the people of Israel instructions on how to be a holy people, how to keep purity, how to abide in purity, and what requirements are placed on the people of Israel, among whom the LORD wants to live, on the people whom the Most High chose in order to dwell in it.

That is: “I – am your LORD, and this obligates you. To what does it obligate? Be holy, for I am Holy. I am your LORD, I am your Master, I command, I govern this people, I dwell among it, I protect it, I guard it, I nurture it, and therefore I place certain requirements of holiness on it.”

Do not act either by the laws of Egypt or by the laws of Canaan. There is such a peculiarity that a person who moves to some city and passes from one Jewish community to another gradually adopts the traditions of the new community with all the particularities of prayer, clothing, language and much else. There is such an example: when the angels came to Avraham, came down from heaven and came as guests to an inhabitant of the earth, they behaved like earthly people, they ate and drank. Or, when Moshe went up the mountain to the Most High and found himself in the heavenly realm, he behaved like a citizen of Heaven: he did not eat and did not drink for 40 days and nights. But this rule is not applicable to the people of Israel, which, wherever it goes and wherever it is as a people, constantly abides in the glory of God. Our LORD, our King, He is always with us. Therefore, if we pass from Pharaoh to some Canaanite kings, if we move to some other countries, we must not yield to the temptation to become a Canadian, a Swede, an American, although to a certain degree this is allowed. But we must remember that our King and LORD is the God of Israel, and we first of all submit precisely to His Laws.

The LORD is the Source of Life, and the closer to the LORD, the more life. Therefore the one who lives by the laws of God is truly alive. On the basis of the relationship with the Source of Life, tradition says that a righteous person is called living even in his death, while a wicked person is called dead even during his life. Here the LORD says: “Whoever observes My laws will be alive by them.”

From verse 6 the Most High speaks about the requirements placed on the relations of a man and a woman within one large family.

The word she'ér means very close, blood kin, kin by the flesh, in essence, flesh of flesh, or dear little blood of mine, that is how one can translate it into Russian. Sexual relations with people close to us by blood, or with the wives of people close to us by blood, are forbidden. It is a matter of a man (ish ish – every person, man,) not drawing near to the wives of his kin. Even if some relative of ours has died or divorced, his wife, his widow, his divorced woman are forbidden to us. Besides that, of course, mother, sister, granddaughter are also forbidden to us.

Here there is no prohibition of relations with the father. There is a separate prohibition of a homosexual relation (we will read about this in verse 22 of our chapter), of any relation with a man, all the more, God forbid, with one's father. Here it is a matter of your father and mother being one flesh, you have no right to uncover their nakedness, it is speaking about the mother. At the same time it must be said that in many Orthodox families there is such a good Jewish tradition of taking the first part literally as well: in the literal sense a son must not see his father naked. Therefore, when a father and son go to the mikveh or to the bathhouse, the father puts on swimming trunks and covers his nakedness. Although, I will repeat, this is not the direct meaning of the Torah.

If besides your mother your father has another wife (for example, he was widowed and married again, or took a second wife or some concubine, in those times polygamy was practiced), then they are forbidden to you. Even if he divorces them, or if he dies and they are widowed, they are still forbidden to you, because this is nakedness that must be uncovered only to your father.

If your father married a woman with a child or fathered a child by another woman, this woman is forbidden to you, you have no right to uncover her nakedness.

Because their nakedness is something that you yourself must cover, and not uncover. You must take care to cover their nakedness just as you take care to cover your own nakedness.

If your father has a daughter by another woman, and she is your father's daughter, then she is your sister, you have no right to uncover her nakedness.

Again, it is not a matter of relations with the uncle himself. We have already said that relations between men, God forbid, are unequivocally forbidden – whether with your own uncle or with someone else's. Here, in this verse, it is a matter of the wife of your uncle.

Everything that is said above is a prohibition on entering into sexual relations with a woman of a certain degree of kinship. What is this connected with? Of course, we today, most modern people, feel a persistent aversion to incest, to incestuous relations. The lust that arises between a brother and a sister seems to us unnatural and an utter abomination. But what is at issue here is not only forbidding certain incestuous relations, what is at issue here is, to a large extent, the protection of women.

In those times a woman who was widowed or divorced, but at the same time was in one big house, in one big clan, in one big family, was completely unprotected. A man by whom she might end up being supported, on whose mercy she depends entirely and completely, may begin, God forbid, to demand marital relations from her. A man did not want to and said: “I will not support my brother's widow, why on earth should I? And even my son's widow, if, God forbid, something happens to my son, I will not support, let her be a wife to me.” In order to protect women from such encroachments (among other things, for this too) these laws were established.

Indeed, public opinion, the tradition of society, requires helping one's kin, any kin, in the broad sense of the word. But it is necessary to restrict any attempts to induce a woman to cohabitation on the grounds that she is dependent on the man. Therefore, out of compassion for women, out of care for women, these prohibitions appear. An interesting point: we see in our portion a prohibition on relations with the wife of an uncle, who, it would seem, is a completely unrelated person, and at the same time we do not see a prohibition on relations with a daughter. Relations with a daughter are not forbidden, with a granddaughter they are forbidden, with a daughter – no. But this is not because it is allowed, but because a person will support his daughter anyway and will not, by his nature, induce her to cohabitation, that is precisely why nothing is said here about the daughter. But about the uncle's wife it has to be said, because a person will by no means necessarily support her just like that.

One may not take as wives a woman and her daughter, because a woman with a daughter may end up dependent on the husband, on the master. If he imagines himself to be such, then he may demand relations with her little daughter too, and with her granddaughter, and the Torah forbids this. And besides that, mother and daughter may become rivals in the struggle for the marriage bed, and for this reason too the Torah forbids this.

Here there is a reservation – while alive. If the woman has died, then it is permitted to marry her sister, this is an important reservation. There is concern that two sisters should not be in competition with each other. We read in the book of Bereshit about two such sisters, Rachel and Lea, and there was little good in their life.

During bleeding a woman is forbidden to her husband, there is a very harsh punishment for this. This is connected with the fact that, as we remember, the woman is in a state of impurity, in a weakened state, she must recover, and her body needs additional strength.

Here it is about the prohibition of adultery. Adultery means the relationship of a person with a woman who is another man's wife, and a relationship with such a woman defiles. One might think that the emission of seed for the birth of offspring could somehow justify this relationship, but here the Torah says – no, even if it is for the sake of offspring, you become defiled through her, that is, you beget offspring that will be unclean.

The next verse raises another topic:

Why is Molech mentioned separately? After all, we have the commandment: “I am the LORD, your God, you shall have no other gods before Me.” We read (in 17:7) about bringing sacrifices to the shaggy ones, here Molech is mentioned, another god. According to research, Molech was considered the god of hell, the god of the underworld, the god of hellfire. And people turned to him, among other things, in order to summon the souls of the dead, to call on the patronage of the dead within the framework of the cult of dead relatives. We mentioned the laws of the family, the attitude toward kin. And so, if we respect our kin, a temptation may penetrate, creep into our crafty little heart: to summon one of the dads, moms, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles or aunts already mentioned in this portion who have passed into the other world, and chat about this and that, simply out of respect for them. For this purpose they used the passing of children, who became oracles of these dead, through fire (so according to some versions). Other researchers say that children were sacrificed in the literal sense, that is, they were thrown into a bonfire. There is also a version that they were simply tossed over the bonfire. Most historians and anthropologists agree with the last opinion, that children were tossed, thrown over the fire, in order to summon one of the dead, or, possibly, in order to make the soul of one of the deceased dwell in one's child. And the Most High says that this may not be done: “Those laws which I gave you about respect, possibly, for the wife of your deceased relative, do not mean that these relatives may be summoned and that one may somehow communicate with them.”

One more important aspect that must be mentioned in connection with the prohibition on passing children before Molech. Often idolatry (both in the Torah and in the Tanach) is associated with harlotry, with entering into a relationship, a union with a foreign God. And, just as the Torah forbids sexual relations between a man and a man, between a man and a beast, in exactly the same way the Torah forbids forcing children into a relationship with a foreign god, with Molech. And therefore this law is included here, in the laws that, it would seem, concern sexual intimacy.

And the Most High's call not to defame His Name means: “You do not need to seek some help and support elsewhere, by this you disgrace My Name. I am your LORD, I can provide you with everything.”

The word to'evá, which we translate as abomination (not only I translate it so), is used to designate sexual relations between people as an abomination, as something that should seem an abomination to people too. The Most High forbids homosexual relations, this is unambiguous and beyond any doubt. Attempts to say that it is about certain positions or about the abuse of a person, attempts to cite as an example and slander David or the centurion from the Gospels, to accuse them of homosexual relations, all these attempts are a distortion of the Torah in order to give some justification to abomination. The Most High more than unambiguously says in two words to'evá hi, an abomination it is, and it is an abomination with no alternatives.

On the other hand, people who are subject to this sin must be treated as normal people, one must pray for them. They need help, prayer, they too need salvation and a return to the Most High. It is an abomination, but there are many other abominations that we somehow forgive more easily. There are many explanations for this, but we will not go into it.

You are entering a land that is destined to be holy. But it will not sanctify anyone by itself, you must sanctify it. Therefore, if you behave in it in an unbefitting way, I can drive you out, as I drove out these nations.

In this chapter we have read many laws that define relationships with relatives, relationships between men and women, between those who can protect and those who need protection. The laws of purity in the sexual sphere, abstinence where one must abstain, distancing oneself from abominable and perverted relations between two men, between a person and an animal – this is the beginning of holiness, the first steps of which the Most High speaks.

In verse 2 of chapter 19 of our book we read the amazing words of the Most High: “Speak with the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: be holy, for Holy am I, the LORD, your God!”

Why are these words amazing? The pagan gods never wanted to change a person. There was always some formidable, frightening and terrible god, before whom everyone is a pitiful little person, and one must try in every way to please him, in every way to butter him up by bringing a sacrifice, or else it will be very bad. Such a god did not care what people were like, what mattered to him was what they brought him as a gift. One can put it like this: the pagan gods are big bribe-takers. But the God of Israel says to the people: “I – am Holy, and not only am I Holy, I want you to be bearers of My holiness in this world. I want you to reveal My holiness in the world and through this to draw near to holiness yourselves.”

In verses 9–10 of chapter 19 the Most High speaks about how this holiness must show itself in relations between person and person: “And when you reap the harvest in your land, do not reap to the edge of your field, and do not pick up what has fallen at your harvest, and do not strip your vineyard clean, and do not pick up the individual berries left in the vineyard, leave them to the poor and to the stranger, I – am the LORD, your God.” And this too is an amazing thing that the Most High says here. It is an answer to what a person could say: “But this is my vineyard, my land, I toiled over it so much, and in every little berry, in every little grape there is a little drop of my sweat! How can it be that some stranger or some lazy good-for-nothing will come and take part of the grapes, even if from the edge of the field, even if what is left over? Why can I not gather everything to the end?”

These instructions of the Most High end at the very summit, when the Most High says (19:18): “Love your neighbor as yourself, I – am the LORD.” Perhaps this is where the key lies. Very often, unfortunately, this verse is cut short and one simply says: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This addition I – am the LORD remains, as it were, off to the side. Meanwhile in our chapter precisely this phrase is repeated several times: I – am the LORD. So what happens to my beloved I, so that this I of mine begins to love the neighbor?

When I am little, my I is nothing more than just a body, I love myself. Gradually, as a person grows, he may meet a girl, fall in love with her, and then his I already becomes WE. His home becomes their common home, his and this girl's. Then, when a child is born, – it is their child, it is already their car, and his trip on vacation is their trip on vacation. Love unites and widens the notion of I. My I becomes wider, I am no longer only myself, it is I and MY OWN FAMILY. When I become aware of love for the Most High, when I become aware that I – am a part of a big mechanism, of a big world, in which the master is the Most High, then my I widens to the level of the world, and I is already MY BIG FAMILY: it is my city, it is my people, and at the very, very highest level I is the whole world. To this the Most High calls us.

If we see in the deaf a manifestation of the Most High, if we see in the blind a manifestation of the Most High, then what mockery can there be of the deaf or the blind? If we see the Most High in our neighbor, in our hired worker, then how can we hold back his wages? This I of ours becomes a big, enormous WE from understanding that in the whole world there is One LORD and we love Him, we love His family, and His family is the stranger, and the blind, and the one about whom we, God forbid, want to gossip, and the whole world. This is the path to holiness, a very high bar that the Most High sets for us. It is reached gradually, but the Most High calls us to reach precisely for it.

Continue your study: a talk on the portion Acharei Mot, Yom Kippur, ritual impurity and the weekly portions of the Torah.