Acharei Mot(h)- Kedoshim: the mixture

 Acharei Mot(h)- Kedoshim:

Again, there is a conflation of the daf yomi ( the "page of the day" of Talmud that is studied by convention since 1923) with the parsha.  Daf yomi is in Yoma, the tractate that deals with the Yom Kippur service as it was performed in the national sanctuaries. ( The second temple was destroyed 1,951 years  ago).  This week, on page 9a, these passage appear: 

מִקְדָּשׁ רִאשׁוֹן מִפְּנֵי מָה חָרַב — מִפְּנֵי שְׁלֹשָׁה דְּבָרִים שֶׁהָיוּ בּוֹ: עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, וְגִלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת, וּשְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים

Due to what reason was the First Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there were three matters that existed in the First Temple: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed.

אֲבָל מִקְדָּשׁ שֵׁנִי שֶׁהָיוּ עוֹסְקִין בְּתוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת וּגְמִילוּת חֲסָדִים, מִפְּנֵי מָה חָרַב? מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהָיְתָה בּוֹ שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם. לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁשְּׁקוּלָה שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם כְּנֶגֶד שָׁלֹשׁ עֲבֵירוֹת: עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, גִּלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת, וּשְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים.

However, considering that the people during the Second Temple period were engaged in Torah study, observance of mitzvot, and acts of kindness,  why was the Second Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there was wanton hatred during that period. This comes to teach you that the sin of wanton hatred is equivalent to the three severe transgressions: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations and bloodshed

With the severe lesson of the loss of political independence, the loss of the protection of a national state, the loss of access to good graces of GD, we are taught this equivalence between careless hatred and the three sins to die for. 

The first parsha, Acharie Mot[h] has three sections.  The first describes the Yom Kippur temple service, prominently including the scapegoat, the goat chosen by  random (appearing) lot to be sent to ( or for) Azazel.  A  unique ritual. Were this rite of the goat for Azazel not a direct communication from Gd to Moses, its author would be stoned for idolatry. It is a demonstration that the ins and outs of  service to the Divine are not predictable; they do not make any rational sense. 

But failure to perform the service exactly as prescribed is a fatal offence. The  parsha,  is introduced by "After the Death"  of the sons of Aaron. It is a warning about entering the inner sanctum at unauthorized times and implies  that the act of entry alone is a risk for death through Divine wrath.  The death of Aaron's sons are proof that they mean business. 

The parsha then prohits offenses that bring destruction mentioned in the gemarrah.  Immediately following the description of the Yom Kippur service, there is an admonition against idolatry.  

וְלֹא־יִזְבְּח֥וּ עוֹד֙ אֶת־זִבְחֵיהֶ֔ם לַשְּׂעִירִ֕ם אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֛ם תִּֽהְיֶה־זֹּ֥את לָהֶ֖ם לְדֹרֹתָֽם׃ 

and that they may offer their sacrifices no more to the goat-demons after whom they stray. This shall be to them a law for all time, throughout the ages.

This is followed by a passage on the sanctity of blood, the prohibition on its consumption . 

כִּ֣י נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר֮ בַּדָּ֣ם הִוא֒

 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. 

(This is a concept well known to hematologists)

The parsha ends in the verses read in synagogue on  Yom Kippur: the forbidden sexual liaisons. 

It is not surprising that the Talmud echoes the relevant Torah passages, but the distortions (especially the twist on blood) are interesting.  The Talmud uses the phrase "spilling blood" to mean murder.  The Torah (according to Jews, cf J Witnesses)  is talking about non-human mammalian blood.  But the phrase is the same  וְשָׁפַךְ֙ אֶת־דָּמ֔וֹ וְכִסָּ֖הוּ בֶּעָפָֽר he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

The second parsha, Kedoshim,  is a whirl of ritual and humanism. 

וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ  Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD.

next verse:

שַֽׁעַטְנֵ֔ז לֹ֥א יַעֲלֶ֖ה עָלֶֽיךָ׃  you shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material.

 It juxtapose the part of religion  that makes sense  to the modern with the most arbitrary, least intelligible of laws.  It is telling that the Lrd is the reason to love your fellow as yourself.  The text does not assume  this to be a natural or obvious idea

Much of the parsha deals with obligations to the poor and the stranger.  These are the commandments to negate baseless hatred.  Thus, the parsha reflects the reason given in the Talmud for the destruction of the  second Temple

The first and second temples differed in their significance.  The first temple was the symbol of the Kingdom of Israel. Its destruction meant the end of the state; it meant eviction, a new landlord.  That condition lasted until 1948.  The second Temple showed that a nationhood could exist while under subjugation. The Jewish people could continue through the transition from the Babylonian to the Persian to Macedonian to the Roman hegemonies. Thus, they could survive their "exile"  indefinitely, regardless of the dominant political entity. The great threat under these new, non-state conditions was groundless hatred.  The antidote was humanism. 

In these parshiot ritual and compassion are dissolved in one another. To our modern eyes this feels like  an  insoluble mixture with grains of  prohibitions and pebbles of victimless crimes desperately suspended in a clear, appealing solution of rules against hate. It is only through great effort that the suspension can be maintained in a confusing agitation, lest the heavy unintelligibles settle to the bottom ( and the clear solution decanted off).  

Actually, what we take for understanding is mostly comfort. The (nearly) universal acceptance of the Golden Rule makes this suppression and redirection of instinctive feelings seem "right".Where is the line between ritual and reasonable?  Relating the death of Aaron's sons to unauthorized entry into the inner sanctum is not the current understanding of cause and effect. Death is never a well understood event.  After death,  ritual is left as a comfort.