Parashat HaShavua: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

On Being an "Insider"

“And you shall say unto them: any man from the house of Israel, or from the strangers that sojourn among them, that shall offer a burnt-offering or a sacrifice, and he did not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to sacrifice it to God — that man shall be cut off from his people.”

(Leviticus 17:8, 9)

These verses contain the commandment that B'nei Yisrael are forbidden to bring a sacrifice outside of the “Tent of Meeting,” or the Tabernacle. The punishment for this transgression is karet. Why would bringing a sacrifice brought outside of the Tabernacle be forbidden? One might say that, perhaps, the Tabernacle is the only place holy enough for sacrifices. One might even argue that personal sacrifices, such as the olah and shelamim, should be brought from one's own house, and not from a communal gathering place, as this might even add a more personal aspect. To help answer this question, consider the following parable:

There was once a king who owned a magnificent palace. Whenever his friends, the nobles, would come to visit, he would invite them into his personal chambers, where they would sit and dine. Other citizens of the kingdom were not allowed to enter these chambers, rather, if they requested an audience with the king, they would have to meet with the king in a public chamber of the palace. One day, a poor beggar approached the palace in the hopes that the person who lived there might be able to give him some money or food. When he approached the gates to the palace, he demanded to speak to the king. One of the sentries that were standing guard over the palace gates ran off to tell the king that a beggar was outside and had requested an audience with him. Instead of inviting the beggar into the public chambers of the palace, however, the king got up off his throne and personally went outside to give the beggar money. Some of the king's servants remarked that the king seemed to have shown more respect to a lowly beggar than he did to his own friends, since the king left his throne to give the beggar money, whereas even the nobles were required to walk through the palace to speak with the king. The king explained that he did not want the filthy beggar to enter the palace, lest he make the palace dirty, whereas the king's friends, the nobles, were clean and dignified, and thus were allowed to enter the palace.

B'nei Yisrael could be compared to the king's nobles. They were personally invited to enter the king's palace — the Tabernacle — in order to bring sacrifices. This was because B'nei Yisrael, at this point, were very close to God, and they were holy, or “dignified.” They had Moses as their leader, who spoke to God face-to-face, not like other prophets, who would receive a prophecy through a dream, riddle, or parable. This generation of B'nei Yisrael had a direct relationship with God, which was why they were not only allowed, but were required to bring sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later in the Holy Temple, God's palace. B'nei Yisrael's camp and, later, the land of Israel, can be compared to the “public chambers” of the king's palace.

We no longer have the Holy Temple or the Tabernacle to bring sacrifices; we are no longer God's “nobles,” who were able to enter the innermost chambers of the palace. Yet, we are also not the beggar, who is not even allowed to enter the palace. (The fact that he is not allowed to enter the palace is an insult to the beggar.) Instead, we are the middle ground — the general public who, while allowed to enter the “palace,” or Eretz Yisrael, although we are not allowed to bring sacrifices. This past Wednesday, we celebrated Yom Ha'aztmaut, marking the anniversary of being able to, finally, re-enter the “public chambers” of the king's palace, or Israel.  It is the Jewish dream to, one day, be able to bring personal sacrifices to God in his “innermost chamber,” a privilege not given to any other nation, and we will be able to rebuild the personal relationship with God that we once had.