June 17th: Beha’alotecha
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
One of the most confusing terms in the Torah is chatat / “sin offering.” It sounds like a sacrifice one would bring to atone for a sin, but that is not the case at all. It is required in situations that are not the result of wrongdoing but that leave the worshipper in a state of spiritual weakness, a time a sin would be particularly dangerous. When are chatat offerings required? After childbirth, or menstrual cycles, or ejaculations, or contact with the dead. These experiences are not sinful. Menstrual periods are part and parcel of the God-created female body. Ejaculation and childbirth are part and parcel of the first mitzvah in the Torah, “be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1.28) When it comes to attending the dead, that is a mitzvah too. Why, then, would such circumstances require a “sin offering?”
Rabbi Herbert Chanan Brichto, late of the Hebrew Union College, used to explain this as a concern about over-exposure to the life-force. We are bidden lehak’riv, to come close ritually to God and thus absorb God’s energy, but some activities of life leave us with ample dosing—and we should not allow ourselves to overdose. So, when we already have been exposed—and are thus in a vulnerable state, the Torah calls for us to wait for a while, bathe, and then wait until the evening before we offer a chatat / a “sin” offering to protect us from any danger while we are in our exposed/vulnerable situation. Then, once we are ritually cleansed, we can resume our participation in the sacrificial rituals.
This issue comes up in this week’s Torah portion, Beha’alotecha. It has been a year since the Exodus from Egypt which means that it is time for the “first” Passover observance—the first ritual remembrance of the actual Passover back in Egypt. In Numbers 9, we read: “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first new moon of the second year following the Exodus from the Land of Egypt, saying: ‘Let the Israelite people offer the Passover sacrifice at its set time. You shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rules and rites.’”
Moses tells the people the Lord’s instructions, and the people obey. “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.”
However, some of the Israelites are in a state of ritual impurity and do not participate. “But there were some men who were unclean by reason of a corpse and could not offer the Passover sacrifice on that day.” The rules forbid their participation. Some of us would figure we are “off the hook” and do not “have to” offer the sacrifice, but these men feel left out; they want to participate. “Appearing that same day before Moses and Aaron, those men said to them, ‘Unclean though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we be debarred from presenting the Lord’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?’”
Realizing that the men’s case is good—but that the rules have no remedy, Moses asks the men to wait while he consults God. God then responds with what we would call some holy practicality: “When any of you or your descendants are defiled by a corpse or are on a long journey (and cannot offer the Passover sacrifice at the proper time and place), they may offer it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” Thus do we have at God’s instruction Pesach Sheni / a second Pesach where people legitimately unable to participate in the regular Passover have a chance to show their appreciation to God and to draw close to the Divine Presence a month later.
I see two main lessons in this Bible story.
First, we have God modeling a practical spirituality in which the Halacha takes into account the legitimate realities and complexities of life. This is not an isolated example. When someone cannot afford the standard sacrifice of a lamb, God is understanding and allows a turtledove. When Israelites live far away from the Tabernacle or Temple, God allows them to sell their offering (lamb, bull, grain, etc.) and then travel with the money and buy replacement animals and grain in Jerusalem. Such a pattern of practicality is present in the Bible, and it continues in the Mishnah and Talmud—in hundreds of places. Perhaps the most dramatic is the Rabbi’s decision after the Temple is destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Without the possibility of sacrificial offerings, how could/should Jews pray? Consulting the Prophets, the Rabbis reason that God wants piety and obedience much more than lambs and grain, and they substitute (temporarily) the prayer service in place of the sacrificial service. Thus does our Amidah take the place of the ancient sacrifices—until God determines it is time for the Temple to be rebuilt. The point of religion is to infuse/suffuse life with holiness; thus it needs to be expressed in the practical realities of God’s world.
Second, we are reminded that drawing close to God through ritual is a good thing, a spiritually and emotionally pleasurable thing, something that we should want. These men who are unclean because of a corpse could just figure they are relieved of their obligation, but they do not see it only as an obligation. To them, participating in the ritual worship of God is something that they want to do—something that they will miss with regret. Theirs is an attitude for us to consider.
In many of the mitzvot—among them the Passover rules, there is a penalty phrase that talks about someone who breaks the rules being “cut off from the people,” in Hebrew, karet. While history shows us examples of individuals who have been expelled from the tribe or Jewish community, the modern reality is more personal and autonomous. When we desist from Jewishness or Jewish ways, we cut ourselves off from the people. It is not necessarily a matter of official membership; rather it is the choice we make about being Jewish or ignoring our Judaism. These ancient Israelites see the value of being part of Judaism’s spiritual community, and they actively seek ways to participate.