Monday, April 30, 2012
Acharei Mot- Kedoshim
Vayikrah 16:1-20:27
13 Iyar 5772 / May 4-5, 2012
Vayikrah 16:1-20:27
13 Iyar 5772 / May 4-5, 2012
Half Man, Half Beast
by Laura W, MH London Alumna
by Laura W, MH London Alumna
Once again, at the beginning of this week’s Torah
portion, the priests in the sanctuary/Temple are commanded by H-shem to,
“…go out unto the altar that is before H-shem and make
atonement for it; and you shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the
blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. (Verse
18 )”
There are two main schools of thought regarding this
practice. Sefer
Hachinuch explains that individuals bringing an animal
sacrifice for a sin understand that they personally should have been sacrificed
as punishment for the rebellion against G-d, but G-d mercifully accepts the sacrifice in
his or her place. [1]
In Chassidish thought [2] on the other hand we see that
an animal sacrifice is used as a response to the moment of sin when our
‘animal’ nature takes over.
Animal sacrifice in this case represents an existential
metaphor for our spiritual development. Sacrificing animals in the
Temple represents the way in which a person sacrifices their own
animal-nature and in a sense makes their own body a Sanctuary that is able to
receive the Divine Presence.
According to
Yogic thought [3] there are 4 primitive urges programmed into our
mental-physical experience. These are Sustenance (food), Sleep, Sex, and
Self-preservation. They give rise to emotions, drives and other urges and affect
our behaviour and our relationships, both with ourselves and with others.
My blessing to you this week is to recognise the Torah as
a process that helps us observe our behaviour, and for H-shem to gives us the
strength of character to bring a sacrifice in order to regulate ourselves
and direct these urges to a higher purpose. So when you feel one of these 4 animal urges take hold. Stop.
Take a breathe. Listen to the message. Then act.
[1] Wikipedia
[3] Mika Hadar
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)