Achrei Mot

📜 The Story

Parashat Achrei Mot begins right after the sad story of Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aharon who died when they brought a strange fire to Hashem. Because of this, Hashem teaches Aharon exactly how to enter the holiest place in the Mishkan safely and with great care, so nothing like that would happen again.

Hashem commands that only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol may enter the Kodesh HaKodashim, the innermost and holiest room, where the Aron was kept. He had to wear simple white linen clothing instead of his usual golden garments, and bring special incense and offerings for himself and for the whole nation.

As part of the Yom Kippur service, two goats were brought, and a lottery decided their fate. One goat was offered to Hashem as a sacrifice, while the other was sent out into the wilderness, symbolically carrying away the sins of Bnei Yisrael. This is where we get the word scapegoat from.

The parsha then teaches important rules, like the mitzvah to bring offerings only at the Mishkan, and never to eat the blood of an animal, because blood represents life itself. Here we also find the famous verse, "Vachai bahem", teaching that Hashem gave us mitzvot so that we should live good, meaningful lives through them, not be harmed by them.

Finally, the parsha teaches Bnei Yisrael to be holy and different, following Hashem's special ways of kindness and purity rather than copying the customs of the nations around them. This is a beautiful lesson about choosing to be our best selves, guided by Hashem's Torah.