If only we could get rid of our sins so easily. A simple sin offering and whatever you did is suddenly absolved. I personally admit that I have committed my fair share of sins and would find great relief in knowing that they are off my back and my board of good and bad actions was back to either only good or neutral. Especially when so much of what we say to others often comes without intention.
Yet, the Torah suggests that absolving sin is as simple as we would like. In parshat vayikra, 4:1, 13, 22, 27, we are given the guidelines of when to offer a sin offering. These include three things: the sin is committed unintentionally, it involves an action/act, and it must be breaking a mitzvah. For any bigger sin, where a person is aware of what they are doing, they must atone in much larger ways. Rashi clarifies our understanding of verse 4:2 by emphasizing that a sin offering is only necessary when the sin itself would require kerat (excision). This means that we only perform the sin offering if the gravest of sins are performed. For other sins, there are other ways of atoning, each one related to the kind of sin and how bad it is perceived to be.
Considering this idea in the present day realm, we are faced with a few questions. How can we be expected to atone when we don't have a temple in which to do so? What is the parallel method of making atonement if we cannot do a sin offering or any other kind of offering? What purpose does the offering serve in the first place, and why can I not just write it off?
Starting with the last question, we must always make amends. The wrongs we do to others are never simply reversible without action taken on our part. Active participation in life, and therefore in righting wrongs, is necessary to live the life of a good and honest person. But why the sin offering. Scholars at Yeshivat Har Etzion consider that the purpose of the sin offering is to make amends between a person and God, as the transgression that has been committed is harsh enough to cause a rift in that relationship. The sin offering is a physical act that a person can do to acknowledge the need to purify him or her self, and therefore reconnect to the holiness inside. Therefore, we must counter our negative sin action with a positive action.
Next we are faced with a more difficult question: how can we be expected to make a sin offering when there is no temple in which to make it? Many Jews do believe that there will soon be a third temple (in my lifetime!), eliminating the necessity of this question. However, as of this writing, the third temple has not been erected and we have not reinstated sacrifice (the question of what to do with prayer and t'fillot as a whole is a subject for many more conversations to come). Without a temple, we cannot ignore the necessity to atone, but must rather discover other ways of doing so. Although Yom Kippur is one option, it comes but once a year and does not allow for the regular self absolution that sin-offerings are meant to provide. Therefore, we must actively seek out alternative actions that negate our sin.
What are these parallel actions that allow us to make atonement. The hardest question to ask one's self, when we personally are the ones committing the negative actions. What is something that forces us to remove ourself from a situation and actively change our ways. The sin offering is completely outside of one's self and therefore forces a different perspective on the entire situation. Here too, we must discover an alternative method of sin offering. Therefore, maybe preparing some sort of food sacrifice. Or, were people to raise issue with an actual offering of any sort, an extra prayer or two. But truthfully, the sin offerings of today must come from within, as a personal delivery to God. As with most things these day, including the millennial generation, things must be individualized. Each person must have his or her own sin offering. We must each discover what allows us to repent for what we have done.
What, therefore, is your sin offering today? How do you make it and what does it mean to you?
Shabbat Shalom!
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