January 24, 2025 ()
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January 24, 2025 ()
A short reflection on Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16:1- 18:30)
Have you ever felt like a scapegoat – a person that is unfairly blamed for problems caused by others? Unless you live in a bubble, you are aware of the current protests erupting across this country supporting Hamas, a known terrorist group, in its war with Israel. Sadly, protests against the war in Gaza have transformed into protests against Jews.
Let’s blame the Jews. It’s a trope that has been occurring since the time of our Exodus from Egypt. Repeatedly, we have been forced into playing the role of scapegoat. I guess it’s time for us to dust off our goat costumes. Today, according to the protesters, the entire Jewish world is to blame for the death and destruction caused by the current war in Gaza.
My heart breaks for every innocent Gazan caught in the crossfire. Let me state clearly – I want the war to end, I want the hostages to be released, and I want anti-Semitism rhetoric to lessen (I have no hopes of it ever ending). But, Israel did not start the war. The protestors seem to have forgotten about Oct. 7 and the fact that the war began by Hamas, a terrorist group avowed to the destruction of the State of Israel, slaughtering concert goers and kibbutzniks. Where can I find protestors who are against the war but who blame Hamas for the conflict and not the entire Jewish world? Ignorance abounds. The pressure put upon Israel and every Jew is misplaced. It needs to be directed toward Hamas.
Each day that passes, Hamas has the power to release the hostages and to end this conflict. Each day, Israel is blamed and Hamas is praised by protestors. Sadly, the biblical version of the scapegoat ritual was meant to help us. We were never intended to become the scapegoat ourselves.
The scapegoat is described in this week’s Torah portion, Acharei Mot. Leviticus 16:20 – 22 reads: Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated agent. Thus the goat shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
The Israelites transferred their sins onto a goat, sent it out into the wilderness and then started over with a clean slate. They sent this goat to Azazel — a name which some scholars describe as a “devil” or a “demon,” a place like hell, a god-like entity or another aspect of Adonai. It seems that so many of our enemies and those ignorant of the facts are attempting to place the sins of terrorists upon the Jewish community and to send us to Azazel, a hell-like place.
Shaking off the bonds of a scapegoat is not easy when the bonds are being forced upon us. But, we can free ourselves. It is important to stay informed and to separate the issues that confront us from the lies being placed upon us (see links below). There is no simple solution to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda but that has never stopped us from finding a way through a desert and into a promised land.
ACHAREI MOT SUMMARY FROM THE URJ
For more information on this Torah portion go to: https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/acharei-mot
WEBSITES FOR UPDATES ON THE STATE OF CURRENT JEWISH AFFAIRS:
