{"id":45331,"date":"2018-12-08T08:59:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-08T06:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45331"},"modified":"2022-07-03T17:57:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T14:57:29","slug":"we-are-rarely-wholly-righteous-or-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/we-are-rarely-wholly-righteous-or-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Rarely Wholly Righteous Or Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[383,571,387],"acf":{"old_id":"45331","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":44685,"related_cahpter":"106","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The deaths of two brothers and two goats raise questions about the nature of atonement and repentance","content":"

When I reflect on my mistakes, I find myself asking whether it is possible to wipe away sins completely, to repair relationships or fix missteps as good as new. And would I really want these moments wiped away for good, or would I rather move forward having learned something from them?<\/span><\/p>\n

Leviticus 16 is primarily about the rituals of Yom Kippur in the Temple, however, the topic is introduced in an interesting way. The opening lines remind us of the death of Aaron\u2019s two sons, who were consumed with fire when bringing an unauthorized offering to God: “<\/span>God spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before God, and died” (16:1).<\/span><\/p>\n

Various answers have been suggested for what if anything they did wrong, ranging from being drunk while bringing an offering, to bringing an uncommanded \u201cstrange offering.\u201d The Talmud Yerushalmi suggests another:<\/span><\/p>\n

Hiya bar Abba said, \u201cAaron\u2019s sons died on the first of <\/span>Nisan<\/span><\/i>. Why is their death mentioned on Yom Kippur? To teach that just as Yom Kippur atones for Israel, so too the death of righteous people atones for Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, they didn\u2019t do anything wrong, but the people did, enough to warrant the death of these two righteous priests.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is another important pair that appears in this chapter: the two goats used in the service, one goat for God and one for Azazel. The goat for God is offered as a sin-offering on behalf of Israel. Aaron confesses the sins of the people on the goat for Azazel, which is then sent away \u201cto the wilderness.\u201d In rabbinic literature, the goat is killed in a fall off a particular cliff deep in the wilderness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the two goats, says the Yerushalmi, the death of Aaron\u2019s sons atone for Israel\u2019s sins. Nadab comes from the word for donation or generosity, and Abihu, \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, means “He is my Father” (referring, as I am reading it, to God).<\/span><\/p>\n

The dichotomies set out in these contrasts\u2014of Nadab and Abihu as righteous martyrs or punished sinners, of Nadab and Abihu with zeal for the worship of God in contrast to Israel who needs atonement through the death of righteous people, of the goat for God and the goat for Azazel, of burning one sacrifice to go up to God in the heavens and banishing the other to forlorn areas of the earth\u2014leads me back to the questions: can our past ever be erased, to make a fresh start? And if so, would we want to, if it meant no longer having learned the relevant lessons?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Temple creates an unparalleled space of either-or, of a world with precise distinctions and categories that cannot tolerate the messiness of life. People are very rarely purely righteous or evil, our past mistakes become a part of us as much as our past successes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nadab and Abihu may have been blameless, or they may not have, but their death is as much a part of the story of Yom Kippur as the goats we offer to atone for our sins.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":84019,"id":84019,"title":"ps52-good evil","filename":"ps52-good-evil.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ps52-good-evil.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/evil-v-good-falsehood-v-righteousness\/ps52-good-evil\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps52-good-evil","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84018,"date":"2020-11-24 13:31:43","modified":"2023-07-17 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