Achieving atonement in mysterious ways
Shabbat Shalom to all our readers.
Parashat Acharei Mot begins by invoking the death of Aaron’s two sons Nadav and Avihu before continuing into the intricate details of the Yom Kippur service. Because the description of this service takes place immediately after invoking the deaths of Aaron’s two sons, the question that remains is what is the link between these two seemingly unrelated events?
The loss of a child is an unimaginable pain for most people – and Aaron loses not one, but two sons. They weren’t regular rank and file people from the community of Israel. They were priests who were elevated to a position of closeness and specialness before the Nation of Israel.
Similarly, Yom Kippur is not like a regular day in the Jewish calendar. It is a fast day that is never delayed, even if it falls on a Shabbat, and it is the only day where five prayers are mandated during one 24- hour period. Yom Kippur is a solemn day, one where we spend all day atoning for our sins before God and request forgiveness waiting for our judgement.
In Yerushalmi Yoma (1:1) the connection between these two events is brought forth. Yom Kippur is known as the Day of Atonement. We fast and wear white because we are like angels before God. Likewise, the Yerushalmi Yoma notes that the death of righteous people also brings about atonement for the Jewish people.
The Meshech Chochmah notes another element in this connection. On Yom Kippur it is considered a time in which we can ask God for atonement and forgiveness for our misdeeds, so it then becomes an opportune time for repentance. In Judaism we believe that our worlds are connected. When a soul leaves a body, it ascends to heaven where it can beg and intercede for people on earth.
A soul is considered to be truly at peace when it returns to God, the source of the soul itself. While we on earth miss the people who have departed, the soul is happy and the other souls in heaven welcome it back. This feeling of happiness that the soul brings to heaven can bring forth good things for people back on earth.
Similarly, like Yom Kippur, this presents an opportunity for atonement because the soul can intercede on our behalf, just like one can beseech God for forgiveness and atonement on Yom Kippur.
However, crucially, both Yom Kippur and the soul of a loved one have a caveat in their abilities to provide atonement: you must believe that it is possible, and you must treat the opportunity with holiness.
Yom Kippur provides atonement for anyone who takes the day seriously, by fasting and praying and taking the resolve to change their ways and behaviour. If one were to treat Yom Kippur just like any day of the year, just without food, it will not have the desired effects and will not open the gateway to mercy.
Likewise, if you do not provide respect to persons who are righteous during their lifetimes, their abilities to intercede on your behalf are limited.
These two events provide us with a model for how to live our lives. One in which the solemnity of the occasion must be recognised. There are certain times in our lives when we are given the opportunities to seek out a higher power. This can be through fasting and praying but it can also be through seeking out the presence of the righteous.
We have to remember that these opportunities for reflection are built into our faith and that it is up to us to use them to develop ourselves and our bond to God.
Gabi Kaltmann is rabbi of the Ark Centre, Melbourne.
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