A Word of Torah
D'var Torah: With Him I Cannot Dwell
Rabbi Andy Shapiro Katz, CY Director of North American Engagement
After referring back to the death of Aharon's sons, Nadav and Avihu, a few parashot ago, Aharei Mot goes on to cover three main topics: 1) Yom Kippur, including the activities of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy of Holies and the preparation of the "Seir L'Azazel" - the goat upon which the nation's sins are placed before it is sent away, 2) Kashrut, including the prohibition of consuming blood, and 3) Prohibited sexual relations.
Although there doesn't appear to be much of a connection between the three, I suggest that each represents one of the main categories of Jewish ritual law: 1) worship in particular times and places, 2) regulation of consumption and, 3) regulation of intimate relationships, even between consenting adults. Generally speaking, these are the areas where "ethics" is the least involved.
These are also the areas that make us most distinct as Jews, setting us apart from the non-Jewish world and dividing the Jewish people into different religious streams and sub-communities. We may have particular ways we understand and apply particular value-laden "ethical commandments," but we are not divided by questions of how much tzedaka we give.
It is within that context that we encounter a puzzling verse: "Thus he shall purge the Kodesh (the central area of the Mishkan) of the uncleanness and transgression of the Israelites, whatever their sins; and he shall do the same for the Ohel Mo'ed (Tent of Meeting), which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness." (VaYikra 16:16). The simple meaning is that before the Kohen Gadol enters into them to perform the special Yom Kippur ritual to purge the nation of its sins, he has to perform particular rites to "purge" the Kodesh and the Ohel Mo'ed of the uncleanness they have accumulated due to Bnei Yisrael's sins. But that last phrase - "which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness" - jumps out for being so obvious (Like, of course, the Kodesh and the Ohel Moed are still there, where else would they be?) and asks us to dig deeper.
The Mishkan was built, as its name makes clear, as a place for God to dwell in the midst of Bnei Yisrael. As Shemot 25:8 says, "V'asu li Mikdash, v'shachanti b'tocham." We know that those entering the Mishkan must, therefore, take the utmost care to be pure. So we might have thought that the general impurity of the Israelite nation would make it impossible for the Mishkan to be there - or more exactly, for God's presence, the Shechinah, to dwell there. (Absent God's presence, the Mishkan isn't really a Mishkan). Our verse comes to communicate something quite important, as Rashi explains in his commentary: "...although they are unclean, nevertheless the Shechinah dwells in their midst." God is with us, individually and collectively, even when we sin. It is not how and when we worship, what we eat, and with whom we are intimate that drives away the Shechinah. Rather, as we see in Babylonian Talmud Sotah 5a, the issue is pride:
Rav Hisda says, and some say that Mar Ukva says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: He and I cannot dwell together in the world, as it is stated: 'He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I destroy; he who is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him will I not suffer [oto lo ukhal]' (Psalms 101:5-6). These verses should be understood as follows: Do not read the verse as: "Oto lo ukhal"; rather, read it as: Itto lo ukhal, meaning, with him, I cannot bear to dwell.
All communities - right and left, modern and traditional - commit their sins and accumulate their impurities, but God dwells in our midst as long as we stay humble. And the best way to do that is to stay focused on what we get wrong and others get right, and not vice versa. Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, an Orthodox rabbi often seen as the standard-bearer for pluralism and Jewish communal unity, captured this notion well when he said "I don't care what denomination you belong to, as long as you're embarrassed by it."
