Parashat Achrei Mot - the assumption of family

Words of Torah
Parashat Achrei Mot
Leviticus 16:1-18:30

"And Aaron shall bring his sin offering bull, 
and initiate atonement for himself and for his household."

~~Leviticus 16:6

Sometimes the Torah is obvious, overt, and the message is succinct and crystal clear. "You will not steal!" and "You will not murder!" leave zero room for misinterpretation. However, sometimes the Torah isn't as direct and obvious as it might be when offering the reader the opportunity to learn and glean from its messages and teachings.This week has a hidden gem that with a casual reading might go unnoticed.

In Leviticus 16:6 Gd in conversation with Moses lists some of the laws for the High Priests and offers the above statement expressing the expectation that Aaron and future High Priests will be imperfect and will need a sin offering at some point during their lives. Now, you might say that even this is a point worthy of discussion. That the High Priest who has devoted his life to Gd and who lived a holy experience with everything he did, would have needed to offer a bull for whatever poor choice or action he committed? And you'd be right, that is worthy of discussion...but not this week.

The hidden gem in this verse is that it assumes that the High Priest will be "human" in another way, not in his potential imperfection, but in the expectation of having a family and a "household" for whom the sin offering includes. Being the High Priest in Israel did not mean dedicating one's life, 24/7/365, to Gd, the Temple, and all things sacred. Rather, being a High Priest included having a family, growing in one's life experiences, and being part of and responsible to a community.

The sages say that in order for the High Priest to pray on behalf of the people, he needed to live life as one of them. He was no better, he was no different, he was simply "chosen" to fulfill this specific task just as the other Israelites were "chosen" to fulfill different tasks. Leadership is about being able to empathize and see what the people see, to understand for what they are looking, and to feel their emotions when things go wrong or right. Having a family provided the High Priest this critical perspective.

As Sister Sledge's famous song so eloquently states, "Have faith in you and the things you do," because "We are family!"

Shabbat shalom.