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This week our Torah portion is a double portion, entitled Acharei Mot-Kedosheem. It covers Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27. Acharei Mot is translated After the Death, and Kedosheem means Holy Ones. These parashas emphasize the importance of holiness in all aspects of life, reflecting the call to be holy, as God is holy. It also highlights the need for practical ethics, responsible conduct, the command to love your neighbor, and ultimately it all points to Messiah Yeshua as the ultimate sacrifice that provides access to God, and enables believers to live holy lives.

At first glance the parasha seems like it’s a long list of do’s and don’ts. But being a people holy to God involves much more than “do this” and “don’t do that”. What kind of people are we? This is what God wants us to examine through these parashas.

Beginning in chapter 16, following the deaths of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, Adonai warns against unauthorized entry into the Holy Place. Only the High Priest was permitted to enter the innermost chamber in the Sanctuary, and only once a year. This would occurr on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. One of the features of the Yom Kippur service was the casting of lots over two goats, to determine which should be offered to Adonai and which should be sent away, to symbolically carry off the sins of Israel out into the wilderness. This ultimately foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice that Messiah Yeshua accomplished on the cross for us.

Adonai goes on to warn against bringing offerings anywhere but to the Holy Tabernacle. He forbids the consumption of blood and details the laws prohibiting incest and other deviant sexual relations. In chapter 17, the phrase, “They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot,” signifies that any Israelis who had been worshipping foreign idols (demons) and engaging in pagan rituals, were now forbidden to do so. God was instructing them to worship only Him and to offer sacrifices only at the designated place, and only according to His prescribed laws.

Also in chapter 17, Adonai prohibits the eating of blood. He instructs Moses about the sanctity of blood, and tells him that the life of all human beings is in the blood and that it is blood which makes atonement for the soul. This is why we are unable to be saved in any way other than Yeshua’s perfect sinless blood, which He gave for the atonement of mankind’s sins, becoming our Passover Lamb.

Chapters 18 and 19 detail the things that God deems to be morally right and wrong, and chapter 20 warns us of the consequences of defying those prohibitions. In addition, a severe warning is issued for those who would imitate the horrible practices of the Canaanites who then inhabited the land; especially the sacrifice of their children to the pagan god Molech.

Adonai is showing Israel and, by extension, you and me, that it’s important to live holy lives. Parashat Kedosheem even begins with the command, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  So what does living a holy life look like?

The key is in the words, “…you shall walk in His ways.”  We are to emulate the character of Adonai, and share His priorities.  Just as He is merciful, we are to be merciful. He is patient, kind, and forgiving, so we too should exhibit these qualities. Messiah Yeshua emphasized this guiding principle in His own life, saying, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). It naturally follows, then, that Yeshua instructs you and me to also imitate God the Father. He tells us, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48)

The Yom Kippur sacrifices are a beautiful picture of what is described in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53, where we read: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him (Messiah) the iniquity of us all.”

Just as this scapegoat – ‘the goat of removal’ took the sins of the Jewish people and carried them away into the wilderness, so Yeshua removed our sins. Scripture tells us in the Psalms that “As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us.” When Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) saw Yeshua coming to the Jordan River, he said, “Hinei seh ha’Elohim, hanoseh chatat ha’olam (Here is the Lamb of God who carries away the sins of the world.”

Once we begin to see these Scriptures in their biblical Jewish context, not only do they make more sense, but they also bring a richness and depth to our faith that we otherwise wouldn’t have. I encourage us all to delve deeper into the Word on a daily basis, and to call on the Holy Spirit to help and enable us to live holy lives.