Acherey Moth/Kedoshim 2015

Acherey Moth and Kedoshim

 

Does God Pray for Us?

 

First, let's ask: How does Aaron pray?  In Shemini  Aaron’s  sons (Nadav and Abihu)  get zapped by fire when they make a "strange" offering. There is much commentary on this tragedy.  Aaron shocks many of us by remaining silent after this  loss.   I  personally can't help but wonder...How might he shape his first prayer from now on?

Rav Kook explains the silence of Aaron through a Talmudic story (Ketubot 104a) about Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi. It seems that when Rabbi HaNasi was dying his students…the tzaddikim…were still praying despite knowledge of his impending death.  Why would they do this? If they knew he was going to die, why pray?

They were each infusing a singular light into his soul. They were not mourning for their self-healing. They were focused on the rabbi and his spiritual journey.

As Rav Kook says…

Aaron, who recognized the lofty nature of his sons, realized that this terrible loss could never be conveyed in human language. Thus "Aaron was silent" (Lev. 10:3).

Moses instructed Aaron not to eulogize his sons even for their public activities, because this was a minor benefit compared to the value of their inner holiness. Since this hidden quality cannot be expressed in words, it was preferable for Aaron to remain silent.

Moving on in Torah...God then gives Aaron what we might see today as a time-out. In Torah-time we experience the remainder of Shemini and the laws of kashrut. Then we move on to laws of cleanliness, both inner and outer.

This is the situation though: Sooner or later we need to get back to the order of business and in this case to the priestly sacrifices. While all offerings…according to Rabbi Jonathon Sacks…are  metaphors for that guttural deep and pointed  awe we experience in the face of God…We have to admit that in Acharey Moth (however we see sacrifice)  we are thrown back into that same process whatever our interpretation of it.

Aaron therefore has to be grounded and move forward to satisfy the holy work to atone for his home, himself and his community.

What would he say to God though? How would he pray?

Before trying to know his prayers let’s quickly look at the parshot of the week.  What we see in both Acherey Moth and Kedoshim is much repetition. We are told specifically in many different grammatical contexts how to behave, how to see the beauty of our life, to honor that beauty, to discern ourselves from the profane.  We receive many directions (in different contexts)  to avoid the eating of blood,  the life of our flesh.  And then (for us today) there's the obvious: There are continual  warnings against human sacrifice to Molach, the Canaanite God.  I personally believe that the repetition though isn’t so we will finally “get” it. I think that by filling in all the ways of expression we are receiving completed boundaries.  The various grammatical contexts are the voices and are the boundaries.  There’s no way we can get caught moving off the path...or slipping through the letters…as do Nadav and Abihu.

Once again, the repetition is God delivering to us many holy voices not only so that He can shine his light in us in many ways and forms as do the tzaddikim (in Ketubot) for Rabbi HaNasi...but so that in His grace He can create "safety rails". It's sort of like if we're at a cliff. We might see the rails placed by the National Park service or not. But they are there.

The repetition is therefore the manifestation of God’s prayers for us....for love and safety. This of course is what I think. You may decide to agree or not.

Let’s return to Aaron now. Before he enters the Holy of Holies to take part in the priestly sacrifices, he would possibly be saying this:

God as I enter your home please help me. Please know that I love you. Please God, know that I love you as I enter your home. Know that each movement towards You are a million repeated movements.  Please God my sons are dead and in your light. Know still of my great love and that  the details of each offering protect  Your great love.  Please help me in my prayers.

Finally, to return to my title: Does God pray for us? Certainly. Though we may use the word “bless” instead…the many repetitions in the two parshot this week are the divine parallel to the many holy voices of the tzadikim. Aaron as he returns to his priestly duties… reflects the prayers back up.

It’s about the process. Aaron knows this. So does God. So do our Talmudic rabbis.

And we continually and cyclically learn from them all whether we walk in an earthly paradise or a trashed hell, whether we see our temple  as the local bar or the whorehouse, whether we live in sanity or insanity, whether we attend Temple on Shabbat, a soccer game or the beauty of the forest.  However we hear the prayers, whoever we touch, however we hear God, we are continually being blessed by Him and therefore we have the power to reflect and repeat His holiness, to be holy from now on as He commands. We have the prayers that can keep us safe and grounded...and those that can raise-up the world.