06 May PARASHAT AHARAE-MOT: AVOIDING JEALOUSY

We read in Parashat
Ahareh-Mot of the
special service that the
Kohen Gadol would
perform in the Bet
Ha’mikdash each year
on Yom Kippur. This service included two
goats which were sacrificed to atone for the
nation’s sins. The Kohen Gadol would cast
lots to determine the goats’ fates: one goat
would be offered as a sacrifice in the Bet
Ha’mikdash, its blood sprinkled in the Kodesh
Ha’kodashim (the innermost chamber of the
Bet Ha’mikdash), and the other would be sent
to “Azazel” – the desert outside Jerusalem,
where it was thrown off a cliff, symbolizing
the banishment of Beneh Yisrael’s sins.
Rav Moshe Alshich (Sefat, 1508-1593) raises
the question of why the Torah requires the
Kohen Gadol to draw lots. Why couldn’t
the Kohen Gadol simply choose on his own
which goat should be sacrificed in the Temple,
and which should be sent into the wilderness?
The Alshich answers this question based on
the comments of the Midrash regarding the
story told in the Book of Melachim I (chapter
18) about the prophet Eliyahu and the pagan
prophets. Eliyahu assembled the nation at
Mount Carmel, where he posed a challenge
to the prophets of the pagan god Ba’al. He

said that they would offer a sacrifice to their
deity, after which he would offer a sacrifice to
G-d, and the one whose sacrifice received a
response would then be proven to be real. (In
the end, G-d responded to Eliyahu’s sacrifice
with a heavenly fire, proving to all the people
that He was the true Creator who governs
the universe.) Eliyahu invited the prophets
of Ba’al to choose one of two bulls for their
offering, and they selected one. The Midrash
relates that the bull refused to go along with
the pagan prophets, as it did not wish to be
offered as a sacrifice to a false deity. Eliyahu
then approached the bull and whispered in its
ear, urging it to proceed.
“You should know,” Eliyahu said to the bull,
“that through you, too, the Name of heaven
is being sanctified, when they see that no fire
will come from the heavens for you, as it will
for Hashem.” The bull then went along with
the prophets of Ba’al.
The Alshich explains that on Yom Kippur,
too, if the Kohen Gadol would himself
choose which of the two goats would be sent
to the desert, this goat would be resentful,
envying the other goat, which would have the
privilege of being offered a sacrifice in the Bet
Ha’mikdash. In order to avoid this resentment
and jealousy, the Torah commanded that the
Kohen Gadol should cast lots, such that the

goat destined to be brought to the
desert would not resent the Kohen
Gadol for designating it for this
purpose.
The Alshich adds that for this reason,
the Torah writes that after the lottery,
the goat designated to be led into
the wilderness “shall stand alive
before G-d” (“Ya’omad Hai Lifneh
Hashem” – 16:10), emphasizing that
this goat, too, is special, having been
chosen to be brought “before G-d” in
order to atone for the people.
Of course, the Alshich concludes, it
seems very peculiar that the Torah
would concern itself with the feelings of a
goat. Clearly, the goat knows nothing about
the difference between its fate and the fate
chosen for the other goat. However, the
Alshich explains, the Torah’s intent here is
to warn us about the dangers of jealousy. The
Torah requires a system that is designed to
avoid the goat’s jealousy – even though the
goat, quite obviously, would not feel jealous
– to teach us that we must do what we can
to avoid envy among people. Envy, as we all
know, is a very powerful emotion, one which
can destroy relationships and inflict great
harm. The lots cast by the Kohen Gadol on
Yom Kippur teach us about how far we must

go to avoid causing people jealousy, so that
we avoid the catastrophic consequences of
jealousy.
This is especially important when it comes
to parenting. We need to look no further than
the story of Yosef and his brothers to see how
preferential treatment toward a child can
destroy a family. Parents must be exceedingly
careful not to arouse a child’s jealousy by
showing special love or preference for their
other children. Every effort must be taken to
ensure that each and every child feels equally
loved, cherished and respected, and never
feels inferior to, or less important than, any
other child.