Acharei MoΘ -Kedoshim: Taboos

 

The death by worship of Nadav and Avihu introduces the parsha.   We are reminded that the inner sanctum is a conduit and a repository of a power that is potentially lethal.

וְאַל־יָבֹ֤א בְכׇל־עֵת֙ אֶל־הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁ מִבֵּ֖ית לַפָּרֹ֑כֶת אֶל־פְּנֵ֨י הַכַּפֹּ֜רֶת אֲשֶׁ֤ר עַל־הָאָרֹן֙ וְלֹ֣א יָמ֔וּת כִּ֚י בֶּֽעָנָ֔ן אֵרָאֶ֖ה עַל־הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת׃

 

he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud over the cover.

 

This lethal, kodesh ( holy)  force  is not one familiar to us.  It is not scientific. There is no attempt to make it understandable. The death of the sons of Aaron by this strange force is the radioactive biohazard sign.  Now it is set up for all the commandments that follow.

It  serves to validate the  deviant Day of Atonement. A pair of identical goats are displayed.  Lots are cast; random is invoked. One goat will be sacrificed in the ordinary manner and its sacred blood (all blood is sacred) will be cast toward the inner sanctum. The other goat is sent to Azazel.  What the hell is Azazel? (Gd damn Molech[Allen Ginsberg]).  Rashi and ibn Ezra evade the problem of the clandestine  ceremony by identifying Azazel geographically. They can then assume that the one Gd is appeased by adherence to script. Rabbi Eliezer (quoted in Ramban) raises the appeasement of Satan as an element in this strange service.  For me, the message is that the entire ritual, including the more usual parts, are not intelligible. It is like the Pythagorean theorem:  You just get used to it.

The theme of command without comprehension is continued throughout the reading for this week. It is a dizzying soup of “It feels right” and “ugh” in  Kedoshim, the second parsha read on this Shabbath. The title sentence sets the tone:

קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י

 

You shall be holy for I am holy.

The Israelites are enrolled into a new contract. We are instructed to emulate an entity that cannot be seen or understood. The commentators ( Rashi, Ramban) understand this to be an approach of abstinence. That is a safe interpretation. But kodesh, the holy, also means this dangerous, tempting thing that can be approached only on a special occasion, by a special person, in a special way. It has its own erotica.

The second parsha is a barrage of ambivalence.

אִ֣ישׁ אִמּ֤וֹ וְאָבִיו֙ תִּירָ֔אוּ וְאֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖י תִּשְׁמֹ֑רו

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You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths:

  There can be a conflict between reverence for parents and keeping the Sabbath. Parents, the source of recognition that the rules of the Shabbath (might) apply, may want things that require violation of the rules.  Parents may have come to compromise on the strict rules of Shabbath observance. How does one resolve the conflict?

Shabbath is the first labor law. It mandates a day of rest, regardless of the importance of the project. The Shabbath confers kindness upon the most abused.  The slave, the beast, rests on the Shabbath. It is a very appealing law conceptually.

Practically, it constrains activity and limits options.  Many fun things are not options to the strict Shabbath observer. Without the restrictions, Shabbath would be a different thing. If left up to the individual, it would be more fun; but the lack of structure would let it fade away.

Reverence for parents is a very widely held value. It is an important part of the cooperativity that has made our species successful. It strengthens the bond that prolongs the care of offspring and preserves the sources of tradition. Left to the individual, this reverence is driven largely by emotion, something that can change with (or without) circumstances.

Making actions that feel right into commandments, making their violation taboo, reveals their tenuous nature. On a deep level, we really do not know why we do things- whether we do them because they feel right or because they are commanded. This is demonstrated by the outcomes of elections that have been manipulated by [social ( and anti-social)] media. The profitability of advertising confirms that our impulses are not [exclusively] our own.

Knowledge is too slow for ordinary decisions, and it usually does not exist beyond the superficial. When motives or phenomena are contemplated in depth, the shallowness of reason is revealed.

Wisdom from my mother

Once, I said to my mother, “I do not understand my wife.”

She told me, “You don’t need to understand your wife, you just need to love her.”

I wonder if she heard that on television?