Parashat Achrei Mot — After the death (of the two sons of Aharon)
אַחֲרֵי מוֹת
Achrei Mot (אַחֲרֵי מוֹת) means "after the death (of the two sons of Aharon)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
What Happens in Achrei Mot
After the death — achrei mot — of the two sons of Aharon, YHVH sets the terms of approach, so that reverence never again becomes presumption: tell Aharon your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil... lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Once a year, and only thus: on the tenth day of the seventh month, the high priest sheds his garments of glory for plain linen — bathed, humbled, dressed like a servant — and enters with blood. Yom Kippur is laid out in full. First the bull for his own sin and his house's, its blood carried within the veil and sprinkled on and before the mercy seat, with a censer of coals and incense clouding the space so that he does not die. Then the two goats from the congregation, over which lots are cast: one lot for YHVH, one for azazel.
The goat for YHVH is slain as the people's sin offering, its blood brought inside the veil like the bull's — atonement made for the holy place itself, because it stands in the midst of their uncleanness; even God's house needs cleansing from the residue of living among sinners. Then the live goat: Aharon lays both hands on its head and confesses over it all the iniquities of the children of Yisrael, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sends it away by an appointed man into the wilderness — the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land. Blood presented before God; sin carried away from the camp: the two halves of atonement in two animals. And it is fixed forever: on the tenth day of the seventh month you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all... for on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before YHVH.
The portion then guards the altar and the table: every ox, lamb, or goat must be slaughtered at the door of the tent of meeting — no more sacrifices in the open field to goat-demons — and blood is never to be eaten: for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. Whoever hunts game must pour out its blood and cover it with dust. Finally the boundaries of the body: according to the doings of Egypt behind you and Canaan ahead of you, you shall not do. The forbidden relations are named one by one — the uncoverings of nakedness, Molech's fire, and the corruptions for which the land vomited out its inhabitants — with the charge that frames them: keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am YHVH.
Main Themes
Yom Kippur — atonement once a year, within the veil Two goats: blood presented and sin carried away The life is in the blood Afflicting the soul — the fast of the covenant Holiness that refuses the ways of Egypt and Canaan
Key Events
· The warning after Nadav and Avihu
· The high priest's entry within the veil
· The lots over the two goats
· The scapegoat sent to the wilderness
· The prohibition of eating blood
· The laws of forbidden relations
Key People
Aharon Moshe The two goats The man who leads the goat away
Key Verses
Leviticus 16:30 Read →
“for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you. You shall be clean from all your sins before the LORD.”
Leviticus 17:11 Read →
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”
Leviticus 16:22 Read →
“The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”
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