Categories: In Print / Featured / Halacha & Hashkafa

Possessed By Possessions

|

October 9, 2025, 1 PM ET

Print

Zevachim, Daf 23 Our Gemara on amud aleph discusses the requirement of the Pesach sacrifice to be slaughtered and eaten only by those who have registered as part of a group that shares in the sacrifice. What is the psychological significance of such a requirement? The B’nei Yissaschar (Nissan 4:4) observes that the Paschal sacrifice takes place in the spring season – an offering of sheep or goats, a hallmark of material wealth and success, at a time when those who have those assets feel the greatest promise and potential. At that moment, the individual should take to heart that all his possessions and wealth exist only because he has “registered,” symbolically indicating that whatever he has is only because G-d so decrees. Furthermore, the redemption from slavery was not merely from the tyranny of Pharaoh, but from the psychological enslavement of those dependent on material assets. Slaughtering a goat is a way of renouncing that material possession and declaring it under the province of G-d, while requiring advanced registration signifies the understanding that wealth comes from G-d. A person who understands that his happiness and success are not dependent on anything material but only on his level of morality and attachment to G-d is truly free. “There is no free man like the one who is involved with the study of Torah” (Avos 6:2). This is derived from a play on words in Shemos (32:16), where the term “charus,” which means engraved, is read instead as “cheirus,” freedom, teaching that engagement with Torah grants true freedom. I will add that requiring advanced registration and partnership with a group represents the understanding that not only does wealth come from G-d but also being part of community. The need to possess and control can ruin relationships. As Socrates says in Plato’s Republic (IX): “The tyrant never tastes of true freedom or friendship.” If we are consumed with our fears and possessions, and do not believe that we answer to something higher, we will find it difficult to relate properly to others, and others will not truly love or see us for who we are.

Don’t Let Your Stuff Get in the Way

Daf 24 Our Gemara on amud aleph discusses the requirement that there be no barriers between the priests and the Temple floor, or their hands and the holy utensils. They must perform the service barefoot, and have direct contact with the ground. What is the psychological significance of this requirement? Rav Hirsch (Shemos 3:5) comments on this in relation to Moshe being told to remove his shoes at the burning bush:

Understand the high destiny of the ground on which you already find yourself and surrender yourself completely to it. Removing your shoes expresses complete devotion to the significance of a place, allowing one’s personality to gain a foothold and position entirely and directly on it and within it. The priests were only allowed to walk barefoot in the house of rest, and there was no space between the ground and their feet, just as there was no separation between the feet and their hands when handling implements, or between the priestly garments and their bodies. Everything holy is not a man-made, outward-looking display. Everything has a direct effect on the individual, and the individual must unite directly with the holy and be sanctified by it, if he wishes to serve G-d.

Rav Hirsch speaks of shedding constructs and barriers, a mindfulness and surrender to the experience, allowing the spiritual to penetrate. Many people think of kavanah in prayer as paying attention to the words or focus. Surely this is valuable. However, the kavanah that Rav Hirsch is speaking about is allowing the experience of the Divine process and location to penetrate by letting go of the outer or internal man-made distractions. Often there is correspondence between spiritual truths and emotional truths. When interacting with your family members and your spouse, let go of your barriers, your defenses, and your belief that your need to control using man-made constructs. Instead, look at the person in front of you and see the person as they are, from the inside out. Do not let your own stuff get in the way.

“S’lach Lanu, M’chal Lanu, Kapper Lanu”

Daf 25 Our Gemara on amud aleph refers to the bowls in the Temple, which are used to collect the sacrificial blood, as kafurei zahav, golden bowls, based on the verse in Ezra (1:10). In a play on words, they also derive that the lips of the bowls can be used to wipe the sacrificial knife clean, as the root of the Hebrew word kafurei (K-F-R) implies to clean. The Hebrew word “kapper” has some interesting etymological roots and is most often associated with forgiveness, as in “Yom Kippur.” But the root K-F-R has a number of related meanings and connotations. The Machberes of Menachem ben Saruk (one of Rashi’s frequently used grammatical guides) lists ten uses of this root:

Kapper or kofer connotes a redemption or substitute, such as a payment or replacement object to atone for, or suffer a deserved fate instead of the person (Vayikra 17:11 and Devarim 32:43).
Forgiveness or atonement (Vayikra 16:33 and Tehillim 78:38).
An annulment or disavowal (Yeshayahu 28:18 and Bereishis 32:21).
A coating that covers a boat (Bereishis 6:14); a light dusting or covering (such as frost, which we find in Tehillim 147:16 and say in Pesukei de’Zimrah), as well the Manna, which was described as “frosting” (Shemos 16:14).
Henna blooms (Shir HaShirim 1:14). (I do not know how or if this word usage is related to the others.)
A cover, such as the cover of the Ark (Shemos 25:18 and Vayikra 16:14). Perhaps the English word “cover” is related.
Lion (Tehillim 104:21). (I also am not sure how or if this word usage is related to the others.)
A village – “kfar” (Divrei Hayamim I: 27:25 and Shir HaShirim 7:12). This may come from the idea that it is walled in, ensconced, or protected in some manner, related to covering. Or since it is a small village, it is considered a protective space relative to an encampment.
The use in our Gemara – bowls in the Temple. This might be related to the words for cover, forgiveness, or cleansing, because of the function of atoning via sacrifices, and we can see how all these are related.

In Lashon Kodesh, we have synonyms for forgiveness or atonement, and most famously in the Yom Kippur liturgy, we state: “S’lach lanu, m’chal lanu, kapper lanu.” Sefer HaCarmel, which is a dictionary made from an anthology of the linguistic distinctions developed by the Malbim’s commentary, explains the connotations of these three words, Selicha, Mechilla, and Kapparah: Kapparah is, as we discussed, a substitute, a wiping away (but perhaps not without residue), restitution payment, cover, or some adjustment of the original punishment. S’lach is a forgiveness that comes without relationship to any payment, cover, or redemption; it is more like an amnesty or free pass. In regard to M’chal, the Carmel does not discuss its relation to forgiveness explicitly, but notes that it is a constructed dug-out area in the earth to hide things (see Malbim on Yeshayahu 2:19.) Perhaps this, then, has a connotation of stowing away or stashing the sin. Therefore, depending on the sin, our merits, and our mood, we ask G-d to allow us to make restitution via payments or corrective actions, or perhaps for the sacrifice to suffer our deserved fate in place of us. Other times, we may not have enough merit, so we ask Him to at least hide the sin and put it away – “M’chal lanu.” If we are bold and also realize we have nothing to stand on, we might even ask that G-d just grant us a clean slate and a free pass – “S’lach lanu, M’chal lanu, Kapper lanu.”