Leviticus - Cycle One - 1601-1830 - Acharey Moth

In Acharey Moth we start with two signs. First, there is a flashback and a repetition of the death of Aaron’s sons. Repetition in Torah transforms meaning. It generally points out that it’s not what you think, but more. Dying (in this situation) is not what you think, therefore, but more. It’s not punishment but (and I agree with other writings here) it’s a sign of enlightenment; the many steps we take to get closer to God .

Then, God says he’s going to appear. This sign is clear; put on your seat belts.

So, Aaron is told to atone for himself, his sons and for the lives of the Israelites. For a sin offering, he’s to find two goats. The first is to be sacrificed, its blood let into the light of God. The other will take all the dirt and inadvertent misdeeds of the Israelites onto its head and go to a cliff. There’s a dichotomy here reflecting the human condition, the body spirit conflict and connection. For now, however, let’s stay with the two goats. As Gertrude Stein might say, goat is a goat.

Here is the flashback (in more detail). Aaron’s sons die because they get carried away, to put it mildly, and merge with the divine. They get caught up in the flames during a sacrifice. Once again, whether these boys are punished or rewarded also poses the same body/spirit dichotomy but let’s focus on Aaron. Aaron’s blood is the blood of his sons. He’s atoning as a priest but also (without a doubt) as the father; he has, consciously or not, also merged with the divine through blood.

This whole Torah portion is about blood. Blood is everywhere. At first glance it’s shocking to race from the Yom Kippur atonement, the Sabbath of Sabbaths and the sprinkling of blood/light on the altar to warnings against private sacrifice, or the letting of blood for one’s own benefit, sacrificing to demons, eating blood, and/or having sex with blood relatives or near-blood relatives. Then, as if things aren’t outrageous enough, God says that if we miss this mighty mark we will be vomited from the earth. How dramatic. But if the ultimate goal of Torah is divine consciousness (and it is), we’re not going to get there through in-breeding, murder, sex with animals, idol worship, hero worship, blood sucking, soul sucking, letting our souls be sucked on by others, no matter the struggle, the fear, the emptiness, how lost we get and how easy it is to pick up this energy from others. Ultimate consciousness just isn’t going to happen if we don’t watch ourselves carefully.

But where’s the connection? How could this warning come right after Yom Kippur? Maybe because in real life once cleansed we relax, get vulnerable. But I think there’s more. I think that blood, in representing life force, empowers us to atone for our lives, our separate bodies, our inability to be at one with God as of yet. Ironically, blood challenges that atonement as well.

Let’s take this farther. Corrupting our blood or dimming our divine spark might ease the pain of our condition but it could break up our psyches. We could go mad, into exile as compared to our wandering in the landscape of consciousness. Even at death, the earth would spit us up and our soul would be split from all else. I don’t know if Judaism has a hell. If there is one though, that would have to be it.

Ah, what to do? First, we need to recognize that our life force gives us tickets in both directions, one off a cliff, the other beyond it. Second, we need a good cleanse please. Third, we need to focus on the blood relation between Aaron and his sons, between Aaron and us, that lovely pull towards consciousness. We can do this. We have the ability not only to atone for our multiplicity, but to watch ourselves in this process, to be present, persistent, especially when we are most vulnerable, when our blood is at its purest.

Our observation of our behavior therefore has to be acute, honest, solid like words on archment. As for Acharey Moth, it’s all about knowing Torah, being it, recognizing that at our brightest we are in our greatest need. It’s about bringing our blood, our light, to cleansing and keeping it clean, so that, like the sons of Aaron, we are free, even in life, to wander towards absolute union with the divine.