Acharei Mot (also Aharei Mot, Aharei Moth, or Acharei Mos, ) is the 29th weekly Torah portion in the annual cycle of Torah reading in Judaism. It is the sixth parashah or weekly portion () in the Book of Leviticus, containing Leviticus 16:1–18:30. It is named after the fifth and sixth Hebrew words of the parashah, its first distinctive words.
The parashah sets forth the law of the Yom Kippur ritual, centralized offerings, blood, and sexual practices. The parashah is made up of 4294 Hebrew letters, 1170 Hebrew words, 80 verses, and 154 lines in a Torah Scroll.Akhlah Inc., Torah Stats for VaYikra
Jews generally read it in April or early May. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years (for example, 2027, 2030, 2033, 2035, and 2038), Parashat Acharei Mot is read separately on the 29th Shabbat after Simchat Torah. In common years (for example, 2026, 2028, 2029, 2031, 2032, 2034, 2036, 2037, and 2039), Parashat Acharei Mot is combined with the next parashah, Kedoshim, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings.
Traditional Jews also read parts of the parashah as Torah readings for Yom Kippur. Leviticus 16, which addresses the Yom Kippur ritual, is the traditional Torah reading for the Yom Kippur morning service (Shacharit), and Leviticus 18 is the traditional Torah reading for the Yom Kippur afternoon (Minchah) service. Some Conservative congregations substitute readings from Leviticus 19 for the traditional Leviticus 18 in the Yom Kippur afternoon Minchah service.See Edward Feld, editor, Mahzor Lev Shalem for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2010), pages 365–66; Jules Harlow, editor, Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 1972), pages 628–31. And in the standard machzor or prayer book for the High Holy Days in Reform Judaism, Deuteronomy 29:9–14 and 30:11–20 are the Torah readings for the morning Yom Kippur service, in place of the traditional Leviticus 16.Chaim Stern, editor, Gates of Repentance: The New Union Prayerbook for the Days of Awe (New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis, revised edition 1996), pages 342–45.
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Vayikra/Leviticus (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008), pages 107–28.
First reading—Leviticus 16:1–17 The first reading begins the ritual of Yom Kippur. After the death of Aaron's sons, God told Moses to tell Aaron not to come at will into the Most Holy Place (, ), lest he die, for God appeared in the cloud there.. Aaron was to enter only after bathing in water, dressing in his sacral linen tunic, breeches, sash, and turban, and bringing a bull for a sin offering, two rams for burnt offerings, and two he-goats for sin offerings.. Aaron was to take the two goats to the entrance of the Tabernacle and place lots upon them, one marked for the Lord and the other for Azazel.. Aaron was to offer the goat designated for the Lord as a sin offering, and to send off to the wilderness the goat designated for Azazel.. Aaron was then to offer the bull of sin offering.. Aaron was then to take a pan of glowing coals from the altar and two handfuls of incense and put the incense on the fire before the Most Holy Place, so that the cloud from the incense would screen the Ark of the Covenant.. He was to sprinkle some of the bull's blood and then some of the goat's blood over and in front of the Ark, to purge the Shrine of the uncleanness and transgression of the Israelites..
Second reading—Leviticus 16:18–24 In the second reading, Aaron was then to apply some of the bull's blood and goat's blood to the altar, to cleanse and consecrate it.. Aaron was then to lay his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it the Israelites' sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and then through a designated man send it off to the wilderness to carry their sins to an inaccessible region.. Then Aaron was to go into the Tabernacle, take off his linen vestments, bathe in water, put on his vestments, and then offer the burnt offerings..
Third reading—Leviticus 16:25–34 In the third reading, Aaron was to offer the fat of the sin-offering.. The person who set the Azazel-goat (sometimes referred to in English as a scapegoat) free was to wash his clothes and bathe in water.. The bull and goat of sin offering were to be taken outside the camp and burned, and he who burned them was to wash his clothes and bathe in water.. The text then commands this law for all time: On the tenth day of the seventh month, Jews and aliens who reside with them were to practice self-denial and do no work.. On that day, the High Priest was to put on the linen vestments, purge the Tabernacle, and make atonement for the Israelites once a year..
Fourth reading—Leviticus 17:1–7 The fourth reading begins what scholars call the Holiness Code. God prohibited Israelites from slaughtering oxen, sheep, or goats meant for sacrifice without bringing them to the Tabernacle as an offering..
Fifth reading—Leviticus 17:8–18:5 In the fifth reading, God threatened excision (, ) for Israelites who slaughtered oxen, sheep, or goats meant for sacrifice without bringing them to the Tabernacle as an offering.. God prohibited consuming blood.. One who hunted an animal for food was to pour out its blood and cover it with earth.. Anyone who ate what had died or had been torn by beasts was to wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening.. God told the Israelites not to follow the practices of the Egyptians or the Canaanites, but to follow God's laws..
Sixth reading—Leviticus 18:6–21 In the sixth reading, God prohibited any Israelite from uncovering the nakedness of his father, mother, father's wife, sister, grandchild, half-sister, aunt, daughter-in-law, or sister-in-law.. A man could not marry a woman and her daughter, a woman and her granddaughter, or a woman and her sister during the other's lifetime.. A man could not cohabit with a woman during her period or with his neighbor's wife.. Israelites were not to allow their children to be offered up to Molech..
Seventh reading—Leviticus 18:22–30 In the seventh reading, God prohibited a man from lying with another male as with a woman.. God prohibited bestiality.. God explained that the Canaanites defiled themselves by adopting these practices, and any who did any of these things would be cut off from their people..
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to a different schedule.See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418.
In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:
Leviticus chapter 16 Two of the Ebla tablets written between about 2500 and 2250 BCE in what is now Syria describe rituals to prepare a woman to marry the king of Ebla, one of which parallels those of the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:7–22. The tablets describe that to prepare for her wedding to the king, the woman hung the necklace of her old life around the neck of a goat and drove it into the hills of Alini, "Where it may stay forever."Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin, "Ebla Archives," in Old Testament Parallels (New York: Paulist Press, revised 3rd edition, 2006), page 260.
In inner-biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer, "Inner-biblical Interpretation," in Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pages 1835–41.
Leviticus chapter 16
Yom Kippur Leviticus 16:1–34 refers to the Festival of Yom Kippur. In the Hebrew Bible, Yom Kippur is called: the Day of Atonement (, ) and . or a Day of Atonement (, );. a Sabbath of solemn rest (, ); and . and a holy convocation (, ). and .
Much as Yom Kippur, on the 10th of the month of Tishrei, precedes the Festival of Sukkot, on the 15th of the month of Tishrei, Exodus 12:3–6 speaks of a period starting on the 10th of the month of Nisan preparatory to the Festival of Passover, on the 15th of the month of Nisan.
Leviticus 16:29–34 and 23:26–32 and Numbers 29:7–11 present similar injunctions to observe Yom Kippur. Leviticus 16:29 and 23:27 and Numbers 29:7 set the Holy Day on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei). Leviticus 16:29 and 23:27 and Numbers 29:7 instruct that "you shall afflict your souls." Leviticus 23:32 makes clear that a full day is intended: "you shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening." And Leviticus 23:29 threatens that whoever "shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people." Leviticus 16:29 and Leviticus 23:28 and Numbers 29:7 command that you "shall do no manner of work." Similarly, Leviticus 16:31 and 23:32 call it a "Sabbath of solemn rest." And in 23:30, God threatens that whoever "does any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people." Leviticus 16:30, 16:32–34, and 23:27–28, and Numbers 29:11 describe the purpose of the day to make atonement for the people. Similarly, Leviticus 16:30 speaks of the purpose "to cleanse you from all your sins," and Leviticus 16:33 speaks of making atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, the altar, and the priests. Leviticus 16:29 instructs that the commandment applies both to "the home-born" and to "the stranger who sojourns among you." Leviticus 16:3–25 and 23:27 and Numbers 29:8–11 command offerings to God. And Leviticus 16:31 and 23:31 institute the observance as "a statute forever."
Leviticus 16:3–28 sets out procedures for the High Priest's atonement ritual. To make atonement (, ) is a major theme of Leviticus 16, appearing 15 times in the chapter., 10, 11, 16, 17 (twice), 18, 20, 24, 27, 30, 32, 33 (three times), and 34. Leviticus 16:6, 16, and 30–34 each summarize this purpose of Yom Kippur. Similarly, Exodus 30:10 foreshadows this purpose in the description of the altar, and Leviticus 23:27–28 echoes that purpose in its listing of the festivals.
In Leviticus 16:8–10, chance determined which goat was to be offered and which goat was to be sent into the wilderness. Proverbs 16:33 teaches that when lots are cast, God determines the result.
Leviticus 25:8–10 instructs that after seven Sabbatical years, in the Jubilee year, on the day of atonement, the Israelites were to proclaim liberty throughout the land with the blast of the horn and return every man to his possession and to his family.
In Isaiah 57:14–58:14, the Haftarah for Yom Kippur morning, God describes "the fast that I have chosen [on] the day for a man to afflict his soul." Isaiah 58:3–5 make clear that "to afflict the soul" was understood as fasting. But Isaiah 58:6–10 goes on to impress that "to afflict the soul," God also seeks acts of social justice: "to loose the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke," "to let the oppressed go free," "to give your bread to the hungry, and . . . bring the poor that are cast out to your house," and "when you see the naked, that you cover him."
Psalm 103:12 echoes the imagery of the scapegoat removing sins when it praises God for removing our transgressions "as far as the east is from the west." And Psalm 32:1 suggests the effects of the Day of Atonement when it tells how happy is the person "whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered over."
Leviticus chapter 17