Avodah Excerpts 2008

 

Avodah Excerpts 2008

 

 

In ancient times, the Temple stood as our touch-point, the beating heart of the Jewish world. In the Temple, Divine energy transected human. Its rhythms were designed to guide and fuel the life of the people, unfolding in streets and homes and fields below. Priests and Levites performed their daily ministrations of sacrifice, of burning and washing, lighting the oil, offering the grain, grinding the incense, ensuring through their day by day continuity that the lines of communication between Israel and G!d would remain open, always.

This most holy day of atonement and purification called for Temple service more intricate and demanding than any other day of the year. Feel now how the focus narrows, as the pressure of precision mounts. The Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, is about to become the messenger for the entire people of Israel. For a week he has been kept in semi-seclusion, studying, weeping, building his strength in preparation for this arduous day of service, of confessions and killing of animals, sprinkling of blood, burning of incense. Five times this day he will immerse himself in water, five times change his vestments, alternating between gold and pure white linen, defiled by day’s end with the blood of bulls and goats. Ten times he will pronounce the Ineffable name of the Holy One, thrice enter the Holy of Holies, a cord tied around his ankle to pull him out should he faint or expire. The well-being of the entire community depends on the success of his service.

Now we are each to become for a few moments the High Priest. We prepare to remove the last protective clothing of self, of everyday persona, to “immerse” in the sights, sounds and smells of the ancient Temple service. Whatever still veils your heart or clouds your vision, now is the time to let it go. Now is the time to stretch your soul further than it’s ever been stretched with the awesome responsibility of kipper, of “covering for” the whole kahal, for all the people praying today.

At the same time, feel yourself as one of the crowd of Israelites spilling from the Temple courtyard into the grounds below, waiting to hear the unpronounceable name of G!d issue from the Holy of Holies, to watch the scapegoat carrying the sins of the people led toward the heights and dashed on the rocks below, to glimpse the Kohen Gadol emerging successfully from the inner chamber.

Come. Just for these few moments, soften your mind to the magnetic tug of a distant memory, a faint but deeply rooted memory that lives inside your body, your dreams, in the body of every Jew. A Temple rises on Mt. Zion, high above the holy city of Yerushalayim, its dazzling white stones hot in the late summer sun. You have come from afar, walked through the dust to join the mass of people streaming through the streets of the city, crowding the gates leading to the Temple mount, packing the courtyard. It is the most holy Yom Ha-Kippurim, the day of atonement and purification for all the people.

A week before the Tenth of Tishrei, the faithful would separate the Kohen Gadol
B athe him in purifying waters,
C ajole him to read the laws aloud, until, at
D awn on the ninth day they stand him at the eastern gate
to view the offerings, reduce his food lest an
E mission befall him in his sleep.
F irst thing, before the dawn, the kohanim draw lots to see who
will remove the ash
F rom Inner Altar and Menorah and who prepare the offering parts
F or burning.
F inally, when the lookout announces the first
G leams of dawn, a sheet is spread around the Kohen
G adol, who removes his clothes, immerses and then dons
G old vestments, sanctifies hands and feet, makes in the morning’s offering the
G ash, burns incense and prepares the
G rand Menorah, completes the burnt offering service, strips and
G oes down to immerse again, emerges to don white
G arments, pure in sanctity, in which to serve the King of
Glory.
G o now and find your place in the room in which to perform three full prostrations, should you so desire. I will direct you when kneel and to when respond with the words, “Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam va-ed!” The bull to be sacrificed for personal atonement stands between the inner chamber and the Altar,
G azing southward. The priest approaches, leans his hands on the beast’s
head, and speaks the truth of his sins – our sins -- from his very G ut.

ana ha-shem
I beg you G!d
chatati
I have stumbled
aviti
I’ve been spiteful
pashati
I’ve rebelled
l’fanecha ani uveti
before you, I and my family.
ana va-shem
I beg you O G!d
kaper na
please cover for me
la-cha-ta-im
for the stumblings
v’la-avonot
and the spitefulness
v’lif-sha-im
and the rebellions
she-chatati
that I have committed unwittingly
v’she-aviti
or maliciously
v’she-pashati
or willfully
l’fanecha ani uveti
before you, I and my family.
ka-katuv b’torat moshe av-d’cha mi pi ch’vo-decha:
As it is written in the Torah of Moshe your servant, coming from your mouth:
ki va-yom ha-zeh y’chaper aleychem l’taher et chem mi-kol cha-to-teychem lif’ney adonai.
for on this day he will atone for them, to purify them from all their sins before Adonai! This prostration is for yourself and your family.
v’ha-kohanim v’ha-am ha-omdim ba-azarah
and the priests and the people standing in the courtyard,
k’she-hayu shomim et ha-shem ha-nichvad v’ha-nora m’porash, yotzeh mi-pi kohen gadol
when they would hear the glorious, awesome name issuing from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol
bik’dusha uv’tahara
in holiness and purity
Hayu koraim umistachavim u-modim v’noflim al p’neyhem,
they would kneel and prostrate themselves and give thanks and fall on their faces, saying:
Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam va-ed!
Blessed is the glorious name through all time and space!
V’af hu haya mitkaven l’gomer et ha-shem k’neged ham’varchim v’omer lahem: v’arah b’tyvcha hagadol m’orer rachameycha v’soleyach l’ish’chasid’cha!
You will be cleansed! May You in your abundant goodness arouse your mercy and forgive each of us and our families! [gong and rattles]

He, the Kohen Gadol, now strides to the east courtyard, finds the pair of
He-goats, bought by the whole community,
Grasps the golden lots, one
Goat chosen for the Holy One and one for the cliffs.
Facing the wilderness toward which it’s
Headed stands the one chosen as scapegoat, a piece of red wool
tied to its
Horns,
Heavy-hearted with the sins of the tribe, as the Kohen
Gadol exhorts Yah to
Forgive, to cover for the sins of all the priests and Levites, servants
of the
Holy One. The second prostration is for our community.

v’ha-kohanim v’ha-am ha-omdim ba-azarah
and the priests and the people standing in the courtyard,
k’she-hayu shomim et ha-shem ha-nichvad v’ha-nora m’porash, yotzeh mi-pi kohen gadol
when they would hear the glorious, awesome name issuing from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol
bik’dusha uv’tahara
in holiness and purity
Hayu koraim umistachavim u-modim v’noflim al p’neyhem,
they would kneel and prostrate themselves and give thanks and fall on their faces, saying:
Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam va-ed!
Blessed is the glorious name through all time and space!

V’af hu haya mitkaven ligmor et ha-shem k’neged ham’varchim v’omer lahem: titharu! V’atah b’tuvcha hagadol m’orer rachameycha v’soleyach l’shevet m’sharteycha!
You will be cleansed! May You in your abundant goodness arouse your mercy and forgive our community! [gong and rattles]

Finally the Kohen Gadol slaughters the bull and then the
Goat, dipping blood from each with the tip of his
Finger, whipping the blood outward, a sprinkling motion one time up and
seven times down, upon Ark and
Golden altar, running back and
Forth before it congeals, and in each place
He counts out the sprinklings with such care:
one, one plus one, one plus two, one plus three, one plus four, one plus five, one plus six, one plus seven! And don't forget the delicate, difficult offering of
Incense! How
Intimate, swift, concentrated are the actions of Kohen Gadol!
Just the living goat remains as the
Kohen showers upon it the sins of all the people,
Laying hands upon its head. The final prostration is for the whole people
of Israel and for the world.

v’ha-kohanim v’ha-am ha-omdim ba-azarah
and the priests and the people standing in the courtyard,
k’she-hayu shomim et ha-shem ha-nichvad v’ha-nora m’porash, yotzeh mi-pi kohen gadol
when they would hear the glorious, awesome name issuing from the
mouth of the Kohen Gadol
bik’dusha uv’tahara
in holiness and purity
Hayu koraim umistachavim u-modim v’noflim al p’neyhem,
they would kneel and prostrate themselves and give thanks and fall
on their faces, saying:
Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam va-ed!
Blessed is the glorious name through all time and space
V’af hu haya mitkaven l’gomer et ha-shem k’neged ham’varchim v’omer lahem: v’arah b’tyvcha hagadol m’orer rachameycha v’soleyach l’ish’chasid’cha!
You will be cleansed! May You in your abundant goodness arouse your mercy and forgive the whole people of Israel and all the peoples of the world! [gong and rattles]

Many watch as through the streets is
Marched the sin-bearing goat to desert’s harshness and a high cliff.
Now the Kohen completes his service with burning of final
Offerings,
Purifications by water
Questing still after cleansing, he
Reads from
Scripture the day’s
Torah portion.
U-ulating, rejoicing as the sun’s rays grace the
Western sky,
EXcitedly, the people carry home the exhausted priest. A
Year’s darkness scrubbed from their souls, they sing and dance, in ecstatic
Zeal:

Zir oram ka-shachar yibaka
Kolam yis-u v’yaronu big-on tzur olamim
Ashrei ha-am shekakah lo
Ashrei ha-am she-Adonai elohav


Their radiant light will burst through like the dawn!
They will raise their voices and trill the grandeur of the Rock of eternities!
Spiritually dynamic is the people for whom it’s like this!
Spiritually dynamic is the people who call YHVH G!d!

[final gong and rattles]