Acharei Mot 5775:     Location, Location, Location

By Rabbi Joshua (locally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

The first section of parshas Acharei Mot consists of a description of the order of sacrifices brought by the kohein gadol on Yom Kippur. This includes the bringing of the incense into the kodesh kodashim, the holy of holies, which is entered only once a year, for this purpose. This section is followed by the prohibition of bringing sacrifices outside of the Mishkan. The Torah tells us that if someone does bring a sacrifice in this way, “it shall be considered as blood for that man, he has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from the midst of his people” (Vayikra 17:4).  Some commentators explain “it shall be considered as blood” to refer to the blood of the animal, in the sense that killing an animal without a legitimate purpose is wrong, just as it was before the flood, when man was not permitted to kill animals at all (see K’li Yakar). Rashi, however, says that it is having spilled human blood, the blood of the person himself, since he sustains the penalty of kareis, excision from his people, for his sin. 

Rabbi Moshe Wernick, in his Leiv Moshe, cites Rashi, and expresses astonishment that sacrificing outside the Mishkan is likened to human bloodshed. Why is it so important that sacrifices not be brought outside the Mishkan?  Why, in fact, isn’t it preferable for a person who wants to praise and thank God for his success to do so in the place of his success, where he raises his animals?  What is so crucial about bringing sacrifices only in the Mishkan? 

Rabbi Wernick answers, that whatever worldly success we have, must be used for our ultimate purpose of coming close to God, and this must be done in a place that is dedicated to that purpose.  Otherwise, there is a possibility that the person will develop a sense of self-importance and pride over attainments, and say, as the Torah warns against, “it is my power and the strength of my hand that made all this wealth for me.” That is why one must bring his sacrifices in a special place, were God’s presence is concentrated, and not in another domain. We may add that the Talmud directs a person to dedicate a special place that he uses for prayer. 

Based on Rabbi Wernick’s explanation, we can understand why the prohibition of bringing a sacrifice follows the section on Yom Kippur.  In the Yom Kippur service, special emphasis is given to the places that the kohein gadol enters where entrance is very limited. This emphasis on the importance of location in serving God is then followed by the prohibition of bringing a sacrifice outside of the Mishkan, again emphasizing the importance of location.

We may further suggest that the importance of place in serving God explains why the laws of tsora’at precede the laws of Yom Kippur service, even though, as Rashi teaches, the service was told to Moshe directly after the death of Nadav and Avihu. Rabbi Moshe Jakobovits, in his Zichron Moshe, explains that the parshiyot of Tazria and Metzora intervene because, according to one opinion in the midrash, Nadav and Avihu sinned through haughtiness of sprit, in that they didn’t marry, because no one was worthy of marrying into their high level of kehunah, and tsora’at, as Rashi points out in the beginning of parshas Metzorah, is caused through haughtiness. Although lashon harah is the primary cause of tsora’at, that, too, can be attributed to haughtiness. The emphasis on the proper location in serving God, as we have seen, is a deterrent to the attitude of attributing one’s success to his own efforts, which interferes with our primary goal of coming closer to God.