Torah Sparks
Leviticus 16:1 – 18:30
Leviticus 19:1-20:27
Our double Torah portion begins with the detailed description of the High Priest’s rituals for the Day of Atonement. While the day included various sacrifices, as we would expect, it also included the famous and strange ritual of the “Scapegoat.” Readers have pondered the meaning of this ritual for millennia.
The scapegoat was one of two goats that were set aside for Yom Kippur. By lottery one of the two was selected to be a standard sacrifice, while the other was designated to be sent out alive to the wilderness and to perish there. One question that is presented by the pairing of these two goats is whether the scapegoat can be considered a sacrifice at all. The Torah uses the same word for offering a sacrifice – “v’hiqriv” – for the scapegoat, just as it does for the other sacrifices. But our JPS translation was not happy with rendering the same word in the same way in all these cases. Over and over, as the Torah sets forth the Yom Kippur ritual, Aaron is instructed – “v’hiqriv” – which is translated as “Aaron is to offer,” (Lev. 16:6) or “Aaron is then to offer.” (v. 11)
But when the verb is applied to the living goat our translators render the word as “Aaron shall bring forward,” (v. 10) and “shall be brought forward.” (v. 21) Clearly the translators were not content with putting the scapegoat in the category of a sacrificial offering. Instead they read the word more literally. The root “qrv” that gives us the word for sacrifice relates to nearness and closeness. A sacrifice is meant to bring us close to God. The translation seeks to picture that movement as moving forward toward God.
But what if we stayed more closely with the simple meaning of the verb – “to bring near.” Perhaps the verse is saying exactly what it says – that Aaron must bring the goat – not forward to God – but nearer to himself. First we draw the goat near and only then do we send it far away. This drawing near is for the sake of the next step: the confession of sins. Indeed, as an act of atonement, those sins must be verbally placed upon the goat, who will carry them into the wilderness, into oblivion.
But before that can happen the Torah is telling us that we must first bring our sins close to us. This drawing close is first of all an act of taking ownership and responsibility. If we wish to attain forgiveness for our sins we must first recognize that we have committed them. It can be a painful recognition. We have done this: we must separate and distance ourselves from this; but first we must draw close to this.
Thus, there is sometimes another aspect to this bringing close. Paradoxically, there are times when, as we seek absolution for our sins, we must also first acknowledge how close we feel toward those very sins, how much they are part and parcel of who we are. In seeking atonement we act out an act of self-acceptance by embracing even that which is faulty about ourselves. We can acknowledge this, says the Torah, without insisting on holding on to our sins and never letting them go. But how can we send a part of ourselves away like that? We can, teaches the Torah, because we have the capacity for recuperation and regeneration. We need not try to freeze ourselves into a state we attained yesterday. We can grow beyond that and still be ourselves. So we draw the goat close and then we send it away, while we remain in God’s house, forgiven, purified and ready to serve.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
Image: “Infinite Loop – Self Portrait” by Lorenzo Basile
used with permission via Creative Commons: Attribution-NoDerivs License
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