Acharei Mot

[3] 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.

[18] 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.

[21] In the fifth reading, God threatened excision (כרת, karet) for Israelites who slaughtered oxen, sheep, or goats meant for sacrifice without bringing them to the Tabernacle as an offering.

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.

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 .

And third is that the fast occurs at the conclusion of harvest time, to teach people not to rely solely on the food that they have accumulated as the cause of health or life, but on God, Who rules in the world and Who nourished our ancestors in the desert for 40 years.

[45] The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:[46] Rabbi Levi taught that God gave Leviticus 16:1–34 on the day that the Israelites set up the Tabernacle.

[59] The Mishnah taught that on the morning of the day before Yom Kippur, they positioned the High Priest at the Eastern Gate and brought before him oxen, rams, and sheep, so that he could become familiar with the service.

[72] Rav Ḥisda asked why Leviticus 16:4 instructed the High Priest to enter the inner precincts (the Kodesh Hakodashim) to perform the Yom Kippur service in linen vestments instead of gold.

The Gemara taught that Rav, on the other hand, explained the words "and he shall slay it before him" in Numbers 19:3 to enjoin Eleazar not to divert his attention from the slaughter of the red cow.

In contrast, the Gemara posited that Eleazar might not have needed to pay close attention to the casting in of cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet, because they were not part of the red cow itself.

Rabbi Simeon bar Yoḥai said that God showed Abraham all the atoning sacrifices except for the tenth of an ephah of fine meal in Leviticus 5:11.

The term "ordinances" (מִשְׁפָּטִים, mishpatim), taught the Sifra, refers to rules that even had they not been written in the Torah, it would have been entirely logical to write them, like laws pertaining to theft, sexual immorality, idolatry, blasphemy and murder.

[87] Similarly, Rabbi Joshua of Siknin taught in the name of Rabbi Levi that the Evil Inclination (יצר הרע, yetzer hara) criticizes four laws as without logical basis, and Scripture uses the expression "statute" (chuk) in connection with each: the laws of (1) a brother's wife (in Deuteronomy 25:5–10), (2) mingled kinds (in Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11), (3) the scapegoat (in Leviticus 16:7–22), and (4) the red cow (in Numbers 19).

"[90] The Mishnah taught that one would bring the High Priest the goat to be slaughtered, he would kill it, receive its blood in a basin, enter again the Sanctuary, and would sprinkle once upwards and seven times downwards.

[91] Then the High Priest came to the scapegoat and laid his two hands on it, and he made confession, saying: "I beseech You, o Lord, Your people the house of Israel have failed, committed iniquity and transgressed before you.

[106] The Mishnah held a person culpable to punishment for eating an amount of food equal to a large date (with its pit included), or for drinking a mouthful of liquid.

[125] Resh Lakish taught that great is repentance, for because of it, Heaven accounts premeditated sins as errors, as Hosea 14:2 says, "Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity."

But the Gemara said that that is not all, for Resh Lakish also said that repentance is so great that with it, Heaven accounts premeditated sins as though they were merits, as Ezekiel 33:19 says, "And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby."

Rabbi Judah, however, taught that all are judged on Rosh Hashanah and the decree of every one of them is sealed in its own time—at Passover for grain, at Shavuot for fruits of the orchard, at Sukkot for water.

Rabbi Jose taught that humankind is judged every single day, as Job 7:17–18 says, "What is man, that You should magnify him, and that You should set Your heart upon him, and that You should remember him every morning, and try him every moment?

The House of Hillel, however, taught that God inclines the scales towards grace (so that those in between do not have to descend to Gehinnom), and of them David said in Psalm 116:1–3, "I love that the Lord should hear my voice and my supplication .

Interpreting what constitutes profanation of God's Name within the meaning of Leviticus 22:32, Rabbi Joḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Jehozadak that by a majority vote, it was resolved in the attic of the house of Nitzah in Lydda that if a person is directed to transgress a commandment in order to avoid being killed, the person may transgress any commandment of the Torah to stay alive except idolatry, prohibited sexual relations, and murder.

When Rav Dimi came from the Land of Israel to Babylonia, he taught that the rule that one may violate any commandment except idolatry, prohibited sexual relations, and murder to stay alive applied only when there is no royal decree forbidding the practice of Judaism.

[153] The parashah is discussed in these medieval Jewish sources:[154] Maimonides noted that the scapegoat that was sent into the wilderness in Leviticus 16:20–22 served as an atonement for all serious transgressions more than any other sin-offering of the congregation.

Maimonides noted that it was on Yom Kippur that Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second tablets and announced to the Israelites God’s pardon of their sin with the Golden Calf.

For this reason, the law interdicts all material enjoyment, trouble and care for the body, and work, so that people might spend the day confessing their sins and abandoning them.

[165] The parashah is discussed in these modern sources: Jacob Milgrom taught that the evidence of the ethical impulse in the sacrificial system attained its zenith in Yom Kippur.

To begin with, Milgrom taught, the pagan notion of demonic impurity was eviscerated by insisting that the accumulated pollution of the sanctuary was caused by human sin.

[175] In 1977, the Central Conference of American Rabbis of Reform Judaism adopted a resolution encouraging legislation to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults and prohibit discrimination against them.