Shabbos Parashas Tazria-Metzorah and AchareiMos-Kedoshim - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Tazria-Metzorah and AchareiMos-Kedoshim - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

And for the person being purified there shall be taken two live clean birds, cedar

wood, crimson thread and hyssop. [Vayikra 14:4]

Aharon shall place lots upon the two he-goats, one lot "to Hashem" and one lot

"to Azazel". [Vayikra 16:8]

Oops, sorry. I misread the calendar last week. Although I was correct about what

Shabbos readings were for last week, I was wrong on the upcoming ones. This

week in Israel is the combined Acharei Mos-Kedoshim. This week outside of Israel

is Tazria-Metzorah, which we read in Israel last Shabbos. Next week, Israel reads

Behar and outsiders read Acharei Mos-Kedoshim. The week afterward, Israelis

read Bechukosai, and the rest of the world reads the combined Behar-Bechukosai,

and we'll be caught up in time for Shavuos.

In keeping with the attempt of last week to find a commonality in the different readings,

our two pasukim here seem to have a connection as well. That connection is

solidified by verse 16:10, "And the he-goat designated by lot to Azazel shall be stood

alive before Hashem, to atone upon it, to send it to Azazel in the Wilderness."

Why are these animals chosen for these rituals? Why these specifications and

accompanying items? What is the tie?

We have yet to see a sacrifice described as being from a dead animal. Yet both of

our verses here specify "live". According to Rashi, this is "to the exclusion of tereifos."

In other words, a healthy animal. Does this mean that in some cases a non-healthy

animal might be acceptable? Perhaps in the case of a first-born, where the animal

fits the category regardless of its condition, with the exception that it is born alive.

But that doesn't seem to explain why our verses say "live". Ramban adds that this

refers to "not slaughtered". This too would seem to apply everywhere, unless we

read it as having to do with the order of the procedure, that we don't just slaughter

the animal and be done, we in fact have other things to do with it prior to the knife.

If so, then these other specifications and accompanying items are not merely

decorative, they're part of the command. That makes sense, they would not have

been written in the Torah without a good reason. What are these items and actions

supposed to accomplish? A cleansing or purification. But how do these things do

that? There isn't any soap or boiling water on the list, so we can understand that

it isn't a cleanliness from dirt issue.

Ibn Ezra says that cedar and hyssop are "the largest and the smallest of plant

species", which represents the entirety of the plant world. The crimson wool

represents manufactured goods. The birds and goats are for the animal kingdom.

The entire world is involved here. Why?

Rashi says that these items were chosen to tell us that we must "lower ourselves

from arrogance like a worm and like hyssop." It isn't the sacrifices themselves

that have meaning here, it is the process of humbling ourselves, of submitting

ourselves to the rule of Hashem. This is what cleanses us from sin.

Why does this take place in both parshas? The first one tells us that this is how

an individual repents, the second tells how the congregation as a whole does

the same thing.