The right path

Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral of a lady named Neilah. Intrigued by this unusual name, I asked her family for some background. They explained that she was born on Yom Kippur, towards the end of the day, and what better name for her than the climactic service of the day, Neilah?

There’s a certain irony to this. Little Neilah, when she entered this world and began her life, was given a name that would forever remind her of her end.

From the moment we’re born, we’re moving inexorably towards a goal, a destination. We are forever trying to reach our private “neilah”, when the gates close and our striving must end. We may not actively be focused on that goal, but it’s always in our subconscious, driving us, motivating us, leading us onwards.

What’s that goal, that “neilah”? In the Torah’s description of the Temple service of Yom Kippur we read, “From the assembly of the children of Israel, he, the Cohen Gadol [high priest] shall take two he-goats for a sin offering.” The Talmud points out that the two goats had to be identical in every way – appearance, height, and price. Yet they didn’t share similar fates. One was prepared as a sacrifice, and its blood sprinkled in the inner chambers of the Temple. The other was dispatched to a dry and barren wilderness, to a lonely and unceremonious death. That second goat was the proverbial “scapegoat”. The Cohen Gadol confessed upon its head the sins of Israel, and sent it into the wilderness, where it was cast over a cliff. Two identical goats, but two very different fates.

I will not attempt to explain the mysteries of these sacrifices, but I believe we can extract a lesson from them. The two goats were brought as a communal offering. They represent all of Israel, every Jew. They begin life identically. When they enter the Temple precincts, their fates are unknown, either could be the goat that is “for Hashem”, or the bearer of many sins, ending its life in a parched land. Only the lottery of the Cohen Gadol will determine their fate.

Moses closes his monumental sermon to Israel with these words: “See, I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil, and you shall choose life!” Every Jew is offered two choices: to follow a path of good that will lead to eternal life or a path of evil, that leads to spiritual death. G-d will not force our hand, but He does offer guidance, He tells us to choose life. We are the goats, identical at birth, with our fates undecided, but later in life, we “draw lots” that determine our own path. Will it be a path of good and life, or a path of evil and death? After a year in which we have witnessed so much pain and suffering, so much death and destruction, let’s choose life!