Parasha: Acharei Mot · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

והמשלח לעזאזל "And he who sends the scapegoat to Azzazel, etc." Who or "what" precisely is the "Azzazel?" We are told in Yuma 67 that it is something "tough and hard." This in turn has given rise to many explanations none of which are satisfactory. My eyes have been opened by kabbalists who are privy to the "370 illuminating lights of the Torah," who have written in the Zohar volume 2 page 157 that the barren desert is the habitat of Samael (Satan). In fact, the reason such a piece of earth is called "desert" is because it is Satan's habitat. An alternate name for this desert is Azzazel; a derivative of that name is עוזא, עזאל. Perhaps the word עזאזל is a composite of עז אזל, "a place where the glory of their existence departed." Alternatively, עזא זל, the site of the force of something base, mean; seeing that Samael is the basest of all spiritual forces, the description would be quite appropriate.

והיתה לכם לחקת עולם, "and it shall become for you an eternal statute, etc." The reason the Torah had to add the word לכם, "for you," is that during the earlier part of the chapter G'd had told Moses to address Aaron. At this point Moses is to address the entire nation, to wit "the natural-born Jew and the stranger who had converted." The Torah wants to avoid our making a mistake and tells us that the commandment concerning the activities of the priests only appears at the beginning of the paragraph. We should not think therefore that the commandment to afflict oneself on that day applies only to the non-priests. The word לכם makes it plain that it applies to the whole nation including the priests. We might have reasoned that the priests do not need to afflict themselves, and that especially the High Priest's service on that day would take the place of the afflictions the people submit themselves to. People of the stature of Moses and Aaron might have thought that their bodies were pure enough not to have to undergo the affliction described. This is why the Torah wrote והיתה לכם, "it will be applicable to you" i.e. to Moses and Aaron. We might now have thought that the law to afflict themselves applied only to Moses and Aaron; therefore the Torah wrote האזרח והגר, "the natural-born Israelite as well as the proselyte."

לחקת עולם, as an eternal statute. The reason for the word עולם is because some people would reason that the purpose of the affliction is to expiate for sins. He who feels he has not sinned might decide that he need not submit to the afflictions either. The Torah therefore tells us that the statute is not connected to the guilt or otherwise of the individual, or even of the nation as a whole. On a more profound level, the word עולם with its connotation of something concealed is a reference to the hereafter. Our afflictions in this world have a profound effect on our wellbeing in the hereafter.

תענו את נפשותיכם, ''afflict your persons!" The meaning of the word נפשותיכם here is an affliction which is evenly distributed to all parts of the body and soul, i.e. the abstention from food and drink. Should you argue that what is meant is abstention from work such as on the Sabbath, such an affliction would not meet the criteria we just laid down. 1) the part of the body which performs a certain labour is more affected than other parts of the body when one either abstains from performing that work or performs it; 2) the Torah should have written תענו את גופותיכם, "afflict your bodies," seeing that the soul is not involved unless it is deprived of food and drink. The argument of the Karaites that the words are addressed to the hardship of not being allowed to perform physical labour is null and void.

האזרח והגר, the natural-born Israelite and the proselyte. Torat Kohanim derives from these two words (the extra letter ה in front) that the wife of the natural-born Israelite as well as the wife of the proselyte are included in this legislation. They further deduce from the word בתוככם that wives and slaves are included. This still leaves the problem why the Torah even had to mention that this legislation applies to natural-born Israelites. Surely we did not need the whole word so that we could derive from the letter ה at the beginning that the wife is included! Surely G'd has many other words at His disposal if He wanted to include the wives without His having to write such a superfluous expression as אזרח and גר.

We will understand the matter when recalling a statement in Sukkah 28. We are told there: "what is the reason the Torah wrote האזרח? Answer: "to include the women in the legislation to afflict oneself on the Day of Atonement." Our source for this is Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Rabbi Nafka who said that the Torah compared women to men as far as the the penalties for transgressions are concerned. Clearly then the only reason the word had to be written was to teach that the duty to abstain from food and drink applies already shortly before the onset of the Day of Atonement proper (a few minutes before sunset). Seeing that failure to abstain earlier does not carry the karet penalty [as the Torah associates that penalty with the words "on the day itself" Ed.], I might have thought that women are not liable to the additional time for fasting though they have to abstain from food and drink during the Day of Atonement proper; hence the Torah had to write the word האזרח to teach us that she who has to fast on the day proper also has to fast already during the period the rabbis have seen fit to add before the onset of the Day of Atonement proper. When you consider this statement you can understand why the Torah had to write the word אזרח. The only extraneous letter then was the letter ה which included the additional period in the requirement to fast. The word האזרח then means that in this case, just as in other cases where the Torah employs the word האזרח, it applies to women in the same manner as it does to men. Once the Torah had used the word האזרח to exclude someone from something, it was reasonable that the exclusion would apply to a recent convert who would not require the atonement feature of the Day of Atonement. The Torah therefore added the word והגר to ensure we do not make such a mistake. This left us with the question why the Torah had to add the letter ה also in front of the word וגר? Inasmuch as the Torah is not on record as comparing proselytes' wives culpability as similar to that of their husbands,' I might have thought that a distinction would be made regarding the laws connected with abstention from food and drink. The Torah therefore added the letter ה in front of the word גר to show us that this is not so. Furthermore, the reason the Torah had to spell all this out is that otherwise we might have read into the letter ה in front of the word הכהנים that this is a restrictive clause and that the entire legislation applies only to the priests.

והיתה זאת לכם לחוקת עולם, "and this shall be for you an eternal statute, etc." This verse refers back to the priests and in particular the High Priest to whom the Torah addressed itself at the beginning of our chapter. The legislation mentioned there is described now as everlasting, i.e. when the facilities exist the procedures of the Day of Atonement are irrevocable. The procedure by means of which atonement is attained on that day contains mystical elements which can only be activated by the High Priest, etc.

Another reason for the verse here is that we might have thought that the restriction on wearing his golden garments applied only at that time and only to Aaron seeing he himself had been involved in the golden calf episode and it had not yet been fully atoned for. In the future, however, the respective High Priest would be able to discharge his duties in his full regalia. The Torah therefore had to inform us that this is not so. The Torah adds the words לכפר על בני ישראל to tell us that although all of Aaron's share in that sin had been completely erased even in the celestial spheres, the same could not be said of the people. They would need further instalments of atonement year after year indefinitely. Seeing this was so Aaron became part of that vicious circle once again.

ויעש באשר צוה ה׳ את משה. He did as the Lord commanded Moses. Torat Kohanim writes that this verse is a compliment to Aaron who did not perform all these procedures in order to attain greater stature amongst the people and to aggrandize himself, but who performed all his duties only as a servant of G'd with no ulterior motive. It appears that the Torah also compliments Moses himself seeing that G'd had not spoken to Aaron except via Moses. The Torah goes on record that G'd did not address the person to whom His message was intended directly, but did so only via his trusted servant Moses. When the Torah stated that Aaron complied exactly with what G'd had said, this is proof that Moses had relayed G'd's instructions without adding or omitting one iota. The fact that Moses replicated exactly what G'd told him without adding or detracting is the foundation of our belief in the authenticity of the written Torah, i.e. that it reflects G'd's word no less and no more.