We will focus on the ritual of Yom Kippur and the "scapegoat" Michael (michaelstrassfeld.com)
Offering from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality: "A special learning and practice session with our friend and teacher Rabbi Michael Strassfeld based on his new book,Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century(We will meet via Zoom on Thursday, April 27, from 3-4 pm ET/12-1 pm PT. RSVP and get the Zoom link by clicking here"
A word of Torah: This week’s Torah reading, aharei mot-kedoshim, includes the ritual of Yom Kippur, where the priest sends away a goat that carries Israel’s sins. According to tradition, if the red string tied around its horns turned white, everyone would know the ritual had succeeded. The first English translation of the Bible in 1530 by Tyndale translated the Hebrew as “escapegoat.” Over time the word for this animal became known as a “scapegoat.” Weirdly, today it describes someone who gets blamed who isn’t really responsible.
In our lives we have no miraculous way to know we are forgiven. The people we have hurt have no means to ascertain the sincerity of our teshuvah/repentance. We no longer have sacrificial animal offerings to atone for our sins. Presumably when people offered sacrifices, they believed that the ritual would lead to God’s forgiveness. It is also possible that bringing a sin offering to the Temple was a form of a public announcement of your sin, hence a way of making a public penance.
Today, people are often more concerned with other people forgiving them than having God’s forgiveness. Like the list of sins in the confessional on Yom Kippur, we don’t ask forgiveness for ritual sins but for the wrongs we have done to other people in our lives. Without the biblical rituals, how do we attain forgiveness?
After Adam and Eve ate of the Tree in the Garden, God went searching for them and asked ayeka/where are you? It is the eternal question. Adam replied that he was hiding because he was afraid because he was naked. We actually know from the previous verse that they had already made clothing. It was guilt that Adam and Eve were feeling. They tried to hide from what they had done. They were afraid of exposure. In response to God, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake. They didn’t take responsibility for their actions, which is the first step of teshuvah. The second step is to be open to your nakedness—to fully see the consequences of your behavior and how you have failed. Instead, we have the first cover up in human history. Only a full and honest accounting can lead to forgiveness by others and by yourself.
Today, we have often focused on predatory deeds that are seen as particularly damaging and on the question whether the perpetrators need to be “sent outside the camp,” which occurred in the Torah with people who had certain kinds of impurities.
Lev. 16:30 states: For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse (le-taheir) you of all your sins. This suggests, first and foremost, that forgiveness is possible. It also suggests there are two parts to forgiveness, atonement for the wrong doing and being restored to purity. The latter was supervised by the priests who acted as spiritual doctors in the Torah. Today the Jewish world needs a process led by people with the right expertise that can guide those who really engage in a process of atonement to a restoration and re-integration into community.
The difference between guilt and regret is that the guilt never faces the wrongdoing straightforwardly. There's just this strong emotion of "I wish it hadn't happened. I wish I hadn't done it. I wish I had never gotten angry." Or, "I wish I hadn't done that embarrassing thing," and so on. Regret is the opposite of guilt. We acknowledge it, we expose to ourselves that we have done something harmful, and how it came about from our ignorance, but we don't get caught in emotions or story lines.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Song
ve-anahnu lo neida mah na'aseh ki aleikha eineinu zekhor rahamekha Adonai ve-hasasdekha ki mei'olam heimah
We are uncertain what to do for our eyes are upon You. O God remember your infinite mercy.
from the High Holiday liturgy.
