The Temple Service in Jerusalem, Lottery Or Destiny? (Acharei Mot/Kedoshim) | Land of Israel

But here we are, this week in Israel and all around the world, we delved into one of my favorite parshas. It's called Kedoshim. Actually read two Torah portions, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. And we started this idea last week about holiness because that's what Kedoshim means. And we said that something holy isn't just separated, it's elevated, it's transcendent, and it's a window into the divine. And what I want to do is I want to dive deeper into what that means for our daily lives now, a new insight. And so um Acharei Mot starts with the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. And it describes pretty much in all of the details exactly what happened in the temple on the Day of Atonement. And at the heart of the service is one of the most dramatic and mysterious rituals in the entire Torah. Something that if we only understood its deeper meaning, I think it speaks directly to how we should live our lives every single day of the year. So, the high priest, the Kohen Gadol, would stand in the temple courtyard with two goats, identical. They look the same, same size, same color, same weight. You couldn't tell them apart. And then he would reach into a box and pull out two lots. And one said Lashem, to God. And the other said La'Azazel, to Azazel. Look at Leviticus chapter 16 verses 7 and 8. And he shall take the two he goats and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. And Aaron the priest shall place lots upon the two he goats, one lot to the Lord and the other lot to Azazel. So, the goat chosen for Hashem was brought into the temple as a sacred offering. And the goat chosen for Azazel was led out into the wilderness to a cliff at the edge of the desert and then cast off. And so, I want to ask something here. What is the Torah really showing us in all this? I mean, these sacrifices, they're symbolic. They're acting out something. They're dramatizing ideas so that when we watch them, it affects us. When we see it happen, the drama of it all, it penetrates our hearts. And so, the two goats, they're identical, the same raw material, the same beginning, and yet at the end, one ends up in the temple, brought near to God, and elevated. And the other ends up alone at the bottom of a cliff in the wilderness. And so, what separated them? A lottery. A goral in Hebrew. Remember that word, goral. Or at least that's what it looked like on the outside, it was just a lottery. And like these two tiles in a box, everyone is watching and it's absolutely random. Like whatever is chosen is chosen, pure chance. But as you're watching this in the temple of God, is anything in Hashem's world truly random? And I want to show you something the Hebrew here because it's so cool. And it makes the Yom Kippur service so profound. Leviticus chapter 16 verse 8. Venatan Aharon al shnei has eirim goralot. Goral echad laHashem ugoral echad la'Azazel. And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot to Hashem, one goral to Hashem, and the other lot to Azazel, and the other goral to Azazel. But when you understand the Hebrew, which was on that slide, goral literally means lot, or it means destiny. They're the same word. The same goral in Hebrew means lottery or destiny. And it's at the same time, it's exactly the point. What are we living? A lottery? Is it destiny? And here's the idea I want to plant into your hearts today. The goat of Azazel represents a life lived inside the consciousness of randomness, of lotteries, where life just happens, where success is luck, failure is just bad fortune, parking space, well, that was a coincidence, the the recovery had to be the medicine, the meeting, it was just networking that I was doing, the sunset was just atmospheric light refractions. And that consciousness is the life, that's the context for sin. It's not an evil life, but it's a life where God is absent. And it's not because he left, it's because he was never invited in. And that consciousness, that worldview, that way of living in the world, the Torah says that life is going to lead you spiritually into the wilderness, to Azazel, cast off a mountain, left alone at the bottom of a cliff. It's not just removing sin, it's removing the very consciousness of randomness itself. The goat, the lot, the worldview, all of it gets thrown off the cliff. And the goat to Hashem represents the exact opposite, where life, nothing is random, where you walk through the same Tuesday as everyone else, the same traffic, it's the same emails, the same difficult conversations with your family members, the same challenges in your business, and you see it differently. You see a hand behind it. You see a message inside it. You see Hashem in it. It's the same goat. It's identical, the same world, but completely different consciousness. One a lot, and one a destiny. One ends up alone at the bottom of a cliff, and the other is in the house of Hashem. And right there, that is the bridge between Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. Cuz the very next verse opens up, you shall be holy for Hashem your God is holy. And that's in in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 2, you shall be holy for Hashem your God I'm holy. Last week, we spoke about what kadosh really means. We said that holiness doesn't just mean separated, it means elevated, it means transcendent. It's not just about removing yourself from the world, it's about bringing godliness into the world and then lifting it up. And the modern world associates holiness with monks that have removed themselves from the world. And the Torah says a holy person doesn't escape life, they sanctify it. And so, today I want to go one layer deeper into that word because kadosh has another meaning that I think is the key to everything. So, before the Torah was given at Sinai, God told Moses to go to the people, prepare them. And the word he used there was v'kidash'tem, it's sanctify them, make them holy. Look Exodus chapter 19 verse 10. And Hashem said to Moses, go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow. And let them wash their garments. So, Rashi says v'kidash'tem, sanctify them, as v'zmantam, you invite them. And the Rashbam calls it lashon hazmanah, that's the language of invitation. So, like two of our greatest commentators looking at that word kadosh, and both of them arrive at the same place. Kadosh, holy, is an invitation. Did you hear that? Kadosh, holiness, invitation, they're all the same word. And so, when you think about that for a moment, when we make Kiddush Friday night, what are we really doing? Kiddush is when we sanctify the day over a glass of wine, we make it holy, but how does our blessing make the day holy? The seventh day, Shabbat, it was made holy in the day of creation. So, when we say Kiddush, we're making it holy for us. We're inviting Hashem to our Shabbat table. We're saying, "Come in." I'm inviting Hashem into my home, this meal. I'm inviting him into this moment. I'm inviting him to be with my family. And that changes everything about what holiness is asking of us. It's not asking you to become a mystic, it's not saying spend all day in prayer on a mountain, it's not asking you to withdraw from the world, it's asking you to engage in the world and then invite God into the world that you already live in. That's holiness. Invite him into the difficult conversation with you have with your with your wife, with your husband. Invite him into the business meeting when you're about to cut a corner. Invite him into the midnight worries. Kedoshim says invite him into the harvest field when you reap, leave the corner. Invite him into the marketplace, use honest weights. Invite him into your relationships, love your neighbor as yourself. Every day, every time, it's like that's it's open to us to invite Hashem into every aspect of our life. And every time that the Torah gives us those commands in Kedoshim, every time it tells us to how to live in the world, in business, in family, in community, it ends with the same two words, Ani Hashem, I am Hashem. 18 times it says it in this Torah portion. It's the most in the entire Torah. It's like I am Hashem, 18 chai. That's 18 represents life. And that's not an accident, the Torah is telling us every time you invite me into one of those ordinary moments, that's where life is. That's where I am. The more you invite Hashem in, the more you will see Hashem in your life. And our invitation is the difference between those two goats. But on Yom Kippur, one's just a lottery and one's a destiny. And so, I want to tell you something that happened in my house this week, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It was late. The kids were up past when they should have been. I finally got to my youngest daughter, Channah, and I wanted to say good night. And I was already like running on empty. But right before we were about to say the Shema together, I kissed her on her forehead, and she grabbed my hand. And she said, "Abba, do you think Hashem watches us when we're sleeping?" And I said, "What do you think, Channah?" She's eight. And like the quiet mind of an eight-year-old is thinking. And she said, "I think he does because someone has to make sure we keep breathing." And I just sat there next to my daughter and felt like Hashem was speaking to me through her. Someone has to make sure we keep breathing. Every breath, that is Ani Hashem. God is not waiting for us to arrive somewhere holy to be present in our lives. He's right there in the dark. He's right there in our breathing every breath. And that's the mystery of divine providence of Hashgacha Pratit. It's not just that God only shows up in those dramatic moments of the splitting of the sea, the burning bush, thunder at Sinai. Yeah, he's in all of those, but he's also in your Tuesday. And he's on the phone call that came exactly at that right moment. And that verse that just jumped off the page when you read it this morning. He's present everywhere. And the question isn't that like is he there? The question is whether we're inviting him in. Whether our consciousness day by day, moment by moment is LaHashem. Is it toward God? Or is it to Azazel? Or it's just random. And those two goats, they're not a story about a ritual that happened 3,000 years ago in the temple in Jerusalem. The two goats, they're you and me every morning when we open our eyes. It's the same world, identical. Same day, same circumstances. One goat goes off alone into the wilderness, and one goes to be close to God in the temple. And Goral means lot or destiny. It's the same word. Only we can determine the meaning. Every moment that you say, "Ah, Baruch Hashem." That was from Hashem. You're extending another invitation. Every time you pause and you say, "Thank you." You open the door a little bit wider. Every kiddush you make Friday night, every Shema you say with your child in the dark, every honest act you do when no one is watching, you're choosing LaHashem. You're choosing a life that's aimed toward God. And you are like you're casting your lot on the side of the temple, and you're choosing your destiny. And so, Ani Hashem, I am Hashem. I am here. The Torah's calling us to be holy. How? By inviting Hashem into our everyday lives everyday. Hey, that was a highlight from this week's Land of Israel Fellowship. If you like that highlight, you'll love the Land of Israel Fellowship. Find out more on the landofisrael.com. Join our global community from over 50 countries around the world that gather together every [snorts] Sunday live from Israel. 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