Hubris Defies All Logic: An Insight into the Sacred Ketoret

There are at least two things that left me baffled about this week's Torah portion; they both revolve around the ketoret or the incense offering. 

Firstly, how could it be that 250 people offered the sacred incense offering, knowing that only one would be chosen, and very possibly, Aharon at that? Each knew what the stakes were: death. Plain and simple. It was either him, or one of the 250 others (Aharon included). And yet, each so willingly, with the greatest of alacrity, brought forth and prepared the most sacred of incense offerings, a concoction of spices that to this very day one is forbidden from preparing. 

I can't help but being reminded of Stalin; his paranoia led him to replace his security chief at whim, each incoming chief knowing that he too would be replaced and relegated to most certain death. Yet, for those fortunate - or unfortunate few - they had the greatest certainty that they had been chosen, hand-selected, by no other than Stalin himself; in the case of the offerors of the ketoret, they knew their chances were slim to none. 

And perhaps a corollary to this first question, when the eidah, or masses had suddenly been struck by a plague in response to Korach's rebellion, Moshe told Aharon to rapidly offer the ketoret and stand amongst the people. What role did standing amongst the people serve? Why did he have to stand amongst them (as Moshe commands him so deliberately)? 

What Korach and his accusers were essentially saying is that Moshe and Aharon had created an elitist society, and it could very well be that it was so vital, after having offered the sacred ketoret, to stand amongst the people, so as to accentuate that the true role of the Kohen Gadol was to use his closeness to Hashem to achieve oneness with the people. The ketoret was the bringing together of all of the spices, the most fragrant, and the least so, and thus, having offered the sacred smells to the Almighty above, Aharon returned to the people to show that it was on their behalf that he had offered the ketoret, not for his own elevation but theirs. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Parshat Kdoshim makes us think twice about how we treat people who are mean to us. "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow man as yourself: I am Hashem." The sages teach that taking a revenge takes the following pattern. One man asks his fellow man to lend him a sickle because his has broken and he needs to harvest his wheat and trim the weeds that threaten his wheat. His friend says no. A month later the same scenario plays out, just this time, the one who refused needs one himself. His friend says no. Why, he asks himself, would he lend his friend a sickle if his friend didn't lend him one? The rationale even makes sense. In the business world, there's a new term, "coopetition," companies usually do compete but sometimes cooperate for their mutual benefit. The thinking makes sense when it comes to the nitty gritty of human relations; Nobel Prize winner, Professor Israel Aumann talks about w...
Read more

Can Moshe Have Misheard God?

Sometimes we hear something, but we don't really hear what has been said. Or, we understand a message differently from how it was intended. That was what happened in this past week's parsha, Shemini, when Moshe's wrath flared against Aharon's sons, Elazar and Itamar for not eating the he-goat of their sin offering. He chastised them. "Hashem gave it to you to procure forgiveness for the community's sin and to atone on their behalf before Hashem. Its blood was not brought into the sanctuary within; it should have been eaten in the holy domain as I had commanded." For a little bit of background, for Aharon HaCohen, it had been a fraught day to say the least; Elazar and Itamar's older brothers, Nadav and Avihu, had been eaten alive in a heavenly flame that took their lives but left their bodies intact. Moshe commanded Mishael and Elzaphan, their cousins, to then remove them by their tunics and place them outside of the camp. The day, in essence, ha...
Read more

What if God Was One of Us

The answer is, it would be pretty darn bad.  This week's parsha speaks to four different situations where one accidentally sins, and the consequent atonement process.  On Shabbat, a friend asked me, "Why does the verse  say, ' When a chieftain (i.e. leader) sins, unwittingly bearing guilt by performing an act Hashem has commanded him not to do (Vayikra 4:22)..?' Why doesn't the Torah say " If " like it says for all of the other transgressors, 'If the annointed priest sins...If the high assembly sins...If a layman sins..?' What distinguishes between the Nasi or tribal chief, or head of Israel, and every other potential sinner'"? I told him, "You see, it's like the expression, ' She'elat Chacham, Chatzi Teshuva ' (the question of a wise person, is already half the answer). A person who has to lead others, will inevitably get his hands dirty." You can't lead without making mistakes, you can't be human withou...
Read more