Parashat HaShavua - Acharei Mot

Why would God’s physical dwelling place among the people, the purest place and greatest purifying force among them, itself need to be purified? In this week’s parasha of Acharei Mot, we learn how the Kohen Gadol would “cause atonement of the Shrine (kodesh) for the impurity and transgression of the Israelites, whatever their sins; and he shall do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which dwells with them amidst their impurity / וְכִפֶּ֣ר עַל־הַקֹּ֗דֶשׁ מִטֻּמְאֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וּמִפִּשְׁעֵיהֶ֖ם לְכל־חַטֹּאתָ֑ם וְכֵ֤ן יַעֲשֶׂה֙ לְאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד הַשֹּׁכֵ֣ן אִתָּ֔ם בְּת֖וֹךְ טֻמְאֹתָֽם׃.” (Lev. 16:16)

This depiction of the presence of a vulnerable mishkan amidst an imperfect people is a bit disheartening compared with its initial description, when God tells Moshe, “You shall build me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them / וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָֽׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם,” (Ex. 25:8) which later is explained to be “amidst Bnei Yisrael / בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל.” (Ex. 29:45) And how will its status be elevated? God says, “it will be sanctified by My glory / וְנִקְדַּ֖שׁ בִּכְבֹדִֽי,” (Ex. 29:43) and repeats: “I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will sanctify Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests / וְקִדַּשְׁתִּ֛י אֶת־אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד וְאֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חַ וְאֶת־אַֽהֲרֹ֧ן וְאֶת־בָּנָ֛יו אֲקַדֵּ֖שׁ לְכַהֵ֥ן לִֽי.” (Ex. 29:44) So then why this week do we learn that it can become compromised and require purification?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary on the Torah, explains as follows: “The perfect ideal of the Torah that is expressed in the Sanctuary – and which, extending from there into the life of the people, is always about getting nearer and nearer to its actual fulfillment – is in danger of becoming lost and something less than the perfection aimed at if the contrast between the actual life of the people and the ideal is not recognized as being a contrast, and the Torah in the ideal purity of its demands is not brought home to the minds of the people. This saving of the ideal purity of the Sanctuary of the Torah from being lowered by the actuality of the sinful lives of the people is what is meant by ‘for the impurity and transgression of the Israelites, whatever their sins.’” (Lev. 16:16, p. 436)

Rabbi Hirsch elsewhere expresses the idea more succinctly when he says the mishkan requires atonement because, “If anything requires protection against its ideal becoming dimmed by the distance between it and the actuality, surely it is this ideal of the highest moral perfection, which we are to keep unceasingly before our eyes as our ultimate goal… The priest and the people have to remind themselves once a year of this distance between the ideal and the reality.” (Ex. 30:10, p. 575)

Thus, according to Hirsch, the annual spiritual cleansing of the mishkan is not actually about it being tainted or compromised internally, within. Rather, it is our annual reminder that we fall short of the ideals manifested by that mishkan. We must not confuse our reality – our actions, how we live – with those ideals, and develop the false perception that we are meeting them.

The message that we must not lose sight of our ideals even amidst the messiness and mistakes of daily life is compelling. We need to stop and reflect where we do well in meeting those ideals and where not. And, as Hirsch suggests, we must not fool ourselves, and try to fool others, that we are meeting the highest standards where in fact we fall short.

However, at the same time, it doesn’t seem to me that the Torah describes a mishkan that is inherently and eternally uncompromised and inviolate when it refers to atonement of the kodesh and Tent of Meeting. Our highest ideals can become compromised within, even those of divine origins. Instead, to me, the more meaningful and slightly different interpretation is that our compromised ideals are restored through human agency in partnership with God. As Hirsch writes elsewhere regarding the mishkan, “priest and people are given an important high order to activity, namely, to make as the object of their activity, their becoming co-worker with the cherubim-guard of the Torah with which God’s self had promised to build up the spiritual and material development of the people.” (p. 438) And it is through that partnership “priest and people have gained afresh, as the foundation of their new future, the impulse for the highest ideal individual and national life.” (p. 439)

May we also be ever mindful of our ideals, returning to them to reflect, in partnership with others and with God, where our greatest achievements might be, and where their repair and our rededication are most needed.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor