A very nice perspective on this week's
Parsha of Achrei Mos by Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov*
(excerpts)
As instructed in the first of this week’s double Torah reading, Achrei Mos – the portion that is actually read on the day of Yom Kippur – the first goat was to be solemnly sacrificed in the Temple, the second was to be taken to the cliff of its name and thrown off, dying unceremoniously before it even reached the bottom.
While the intriguing "two goats" ritual seems shrouded in mystery, with rather little offered by way of explanation, it is not, I suspect, due to a lack of importance. It is more than obvious that any ceremony which the Torah dictates, especially one that is preformed in the Holy Temple, and not just at any time but on the holiest day of the year, by the High Priest, does not lack in significance.
The lesson of the Yom Kippur goats is that there are two distinct ways to live human life, they are as mutually exclusive as they are divergent. Our existence is either G-d oriented, or it is self oriented. And the corollary follows directly: eternal spiritual life, or its extreme opposite. The goat that becomes a sacrifice on the Temple altar might symbolize the idea of Divine dedication and service, which ultimately culminates in fusion with its eternal Divine source, and as such, eternal spiritual existence.
While, since the destruction of the Holy Temple, we may ourselves lack the actual goat service, we can certainly learn from the Torah’s eternal command regarding this awesome ritual.
*Rabbi Kahanov is a Shliach in Jacksonville, Florida.
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