Imagine you’re in conversation with a deeply spiritual person—for me it would be Rabbi Brad Artson, Reb Zalman Shachter Shalomi, Joel Olstein, or a good friend comes to you and says—I’ve had some spiritual moments, some deeply spiritual moments. Right now, you’re about to have a deep spiritual moment, an intimate interaction with God, with the ultimate power of the universe, the one who knows your innermost thoughts. Right now.

On one hand, you’re excited and anxious to get started. On the other hand, you might say to yourself, I’m not quite ready for this. Why not? I’m not pure enough, I don’t want to know ... There’s some resistance.

This happens to Aaron in this weeks Parasha, when Moshe turns to him to take over the religious leadership of the Jewish people. Let’s look at it together, to see what happens to him, so that when it happens in our lives, we’ll be ready.

Page 630, the beginning of Parashat Shmini.

Read 1-4. For today the Lord will appear to you. Here’s Moshe, the spiritual giant, telling Aaron, that now is his time to meet God. Until now, he’s been waiting in the wings, and now he’s going to take over the religious leadership as the high priest, in charge of the altar and the services. Now is his time to experience the Ultimate Source of All. What must Aaron be thinking? On one hand, excited and nervous; on the other hand, the text signals some of Aaron’s anxieties from his previous experiences. Take for yourself a calf of the herd, Egel ben baker. His past sins must be coming back to haunt him. It gets worse for Aaron, as the intensity increases.

Read 5-7. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Come forward to the altar , krav el hamizbeach.” These are the three words that changed Aaron’s life, and these are the three words that can change your life. “Krav el hamizbeach.” Step forward to the altar. Here’s Aaron, about to receive his charge from Moses, and he looks at this Golden Altar, and he has all these calves around. What’s Aaron thinking? The Golden Altar, the calves standing tall. It gets worse, our Rabbis imagine that this turns into Aaron’s worst nightmare. The mizbeach, the altar is a table, of gold, and it has karnot on its corners, it has horns, on it’s corners. In hallel we sing about the karnot hameezmeach, the horns on the corners of the altar. Here’s Aaron, being called upon to serve as the ultimate religious authority of the Jewish people, and Moses brings him to the altar, that looks a lot like the Golden Calf! It begins to morph before his eyes. All of a sudden, he re-experiences all the shame of the sin of the Golden Calf. A collection of the commentaries called the Da’at zekenim, writes that this was the Satan, this was evil doing its work in the world. The altar, the road to reconciliation and forgiveness, was blocked by the haunting image of these past sins and he couldn’t rise to the level to which he was being called. He just couldn’t do it. He was being held back.

Moses, his brother, with his new skill of empowering others looks at Aaron, whose face must have been completely white. He looks at him in the eye and says, “krav el hamizbeach, step forward to the altar.” I imagine that he says, “You, Aaron, you are the very reason that this altar exists. The Lord will appear to you, not in spite of your past sins. The Lord will appear to you because of your past sins – and the way you’re dealing with. We have all sinned, brother, the Lord appears to those who strive to do better. The Lord appears to those who feel that shame, and cleanse themselves with forgiveness. Each and every day, thank God, we have the opportunity to live better. The Lord appears to those who know they can do better and want to do better. So, brother Aaron, don’t say I can’t do it. Don’t say, why me? Don’t say you’re not worthy of God’s glory!  God made you. You’re a prince! You’re the child of the Creator—and you carry God’s spark in you soul!           

Now step forward to the altar. This is your time.” And suddenly, the false image of the Golden Calf fades away, and the true forgiving nature of the altar of reconciliation appears. And Aaron takes his proper place among the leaders of Israel.

We all have blockades standing in our way. We all have knots that tie us up. We need to hear someone in our lives say, “Krav el hamizbeach. Step forward to the altar. It’s OK. You are a child of God. God’s blessings are for you. God’s presence is for you. Step forward to the altar.”

I’m telling you that now – right now, Hayom, today, the Lord can appear to us and bring us blessing and peace. Step forward, step forward, and we will step forward together.

Shabbat Shalom.

© Ranon Teller 2006

Sermon Classification: 126