Torah Portion for 06/10/2023

In Leviticus 16, Yahweh tells Moses to instruct Aaron not to enter the holy place at all times, except on the Day of Atonement. Aaron must wear special garments and bring offerings for himself and the people. He casts lots for two goats, one is sacrificed as a sin offering and the other is sent into the wilderness to bear the sins of the people. Aaron sprinkles blood on the lid of atonement and makes atonement for the holy place, the tent of appointment, and the altar. He confesses the sins of the people over the live goat and sends it away. Aaron then changes his clothes and makes offerings for himself and the people. This is to be a perpetual law, observed on the tenth day of the seventh month, as a Sabbath of rest. The anointed priest must make atonement once a year for the sins of the Israelites. Aaron follows Yahweh's commands. Leviticus, chapter 16, verses 1-34. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aaron, as they drew near before Yahweh and died. And Yahweh said to Moshe, Speak to Aaron your brother, not to come in at all times to the set-apart place inside the veil, before the lid of atonement, which is on the ark, lest he die, because I appear in the cloud above the lid of atonement. With this Aaron should come into the set-apart place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as an ascending offering. He should put on this set-apart linen long shirt, with linen trousers on his flesh, and gird himself with a linen girdle, and be dressed with a linen turban. They are set-apart garments. And he shall bathe his body in water, and shall put them on. And from the congregation of the children of Israel he takes two male goats as a sin offering, and one ram as an ascending offering. And Aaron shall bring the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and let them stand before Yahweh at the door of the tent of appointment. And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and shall prepare it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell, is caused to stand alive before Yahweh, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness to Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. And shall slay the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and shall take a fire-holder filled with burning coals of fire from the slaughter-place before Yahweh, with his hands filled with sweet incense, beaten fine, and shall bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, and the cloud of incense shall cover the lid of atonement, which is on the witness, lest he die. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the lid of atonement on the east side, also in front of the lid of atonement, he sprinkled some of the blood with his finger seven times. And he shall slay the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and shall bring its blood inside the veil, and shall do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the lid of atonement, and in front of the lid of atonement. And he shall make atonement for the set-apart place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins. And so he does for the tent of appointment, which is dwelling with them in the midst of their uncleanness. And no man should be in the tent of appointment when he goes in to make atonement in the set-apart place until he comes out. And he shall make atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the slaughter-place that is before Yahweh, and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull, and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the slaughter-place all around. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and set it apart from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he has finished atoning for the set-apart place, and the tent of appointment, and the slaughter-place, he shall bring the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and shall confess over it all the crookednesses of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, and shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. And the goat shall bear on itself all the crookednesses to a land cut off. Thus he shall send the goat away into the wilderness. Aaron shall then come into the tent of appointment, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the set-apart place, and shall leave them there. And he shall bathe his body in water in the set-apart place, and shall put on his garments, and shall come out and prepare his ascending offering, and the ascending offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people, and burn the fat of the sin offering on the slaughter-place. And he who sent away the goat to Azazel washes his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterward he comes into the camp. And the bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the set-apart place, is brought outside the camp. And they shall burn their skins, and their flesh, and their dung with fire. And he who burns them washes his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterwards he comes into the camp. And this shall be for you a law for ever. In the seventh new moon, on the tenth day of the new moon, you afflict your beings and do no work, the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on that day he makes atonement for you, to cleanse you, to be cleaned from all your sins before Yahweh. It is a Sabbath of rest for you, and you shall afflict your beings a law for ever. And the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place, shall make atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, the set-apart garments. And he shall make atonement for the most set-apart place, and make atonement for the tent of appointment, and for the slaughter-place, and make atonement for the priest, and for all the people of the assembly. And this shall be for you a law for ever, to make atonement for the children of Yisrael, for all their sins, once a year, and he did as Yahweh commanded Moshe.