So, as Racheli and I were reading through the pasukim about the korban shlamim today, I recognized many of the steps that were taken when bringing the korban. The person has to bring the animal to the opening of the Ohel Moed, give it to the Kohen to put on the altar etc. But, then we came upon one pasuk which stated that the blood and the animal itself are holy, and if one touches them, they become holy as well. This seems quite odd to me. Bringing an animal as a sacrifice to God is already a strange concept that I have learned to accept, but how is touching the blood or the animal going to make you holy?! I recall learning in chumash some time ago that touching a dead body makes one impure. Doesn't it seem to be the same kind of thing here? If I touch a dead animal's body, I will feel gross and violated, like I am touching a dead human body. Even though the korban is a special sacrifice to God and could be a holy act, I cant grasp how touching the dead body will cause one to become holy! Is anybody else bothered by this?
I am bothered by this! It is weird to me that touching a dead body can make someone holy or help to atone for their sins. There is s much to consider when talking about korbanot.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that should be thought about: What if you are a kohen who is squeamish around blood? In the korban Alexa and I are learning about, the Kohen dips his hand in the blood. The thought of something like that makes me sick, and if there is a poor kohen like that, what then? Can he just quit and say, "Whatever, this is disgusting."
Poor man...
I wonder if there is actually an answer to this, because it pretty much seems like there isn't..
Well, I think that my personal opinion to your question is that we are really spoiled today and think much differently than people did back then. If the kohen was told that he had to dip his hand in the blood, I think that he would just do it and deal with it. We seem to be really grossed out by all of this, but if we lived back then I'm sure that it would have made a lot more sense or else we would never have had korbanot in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhich pasuk are you referring to specifically? To the best of my knowledge, it isn't saying the blood and the body of the animal make you holy. Let me know which pasuk and I can help clarify things a little.
ReplyDeleteI think it was passuk chuf (20) in perek vuv. We somehow interpreted it as "anything that touches it would become holy". Please tell us where we went wrong, because otherwise this would be very weird.
ReplyDeleteSo, then, touching a the dead body doesn't make anyone holy? Is the dead body holy? I am still not sure what about a Korban is holy.
This becomes a question about the meaning of the word "kadosh." The translation "holy" is incorrect and is what is misleading you. That is a great question to use your meforshim to help you address and to include in your presentation! Happy to help you work through it tomorrow in class.
ReplyDeleteThis is super weird, I agree.. I would think that touching an animals blood would bring about the same consequences as that of touching human blood - which is becoming impure. I'm interested to know what the correct translation of kadosh was in this case.
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