Questions on Parshas Acharei Mos to think about and discuss:

1. What is the common theme that comes up in the Parshas Acharei Mos?
2. How many mitzvos are there in the parsha?
3. What mitzvos in the parsha apply nowadays?
4. What lies behind the seemingly strange avoda of Yom Kippur?
5. The Parsha is often called “Acharei Mos”, but sometimes the “Mos” is omitted. Which is it?
6. What is the significance in the two goats used in the Avoda of Yom Kippur being so similar?
7. What is the idea behind the Kohen Godol only being allowed to enter the Kodesh Hakodoshim on Yom Kippur?
8. What are the two types of sacrifices brought on Yom Kippur?
9. Why is the mishnayous that deals with Yom Kippur called “Yuma”?
10. What is the significance that all the main parts of the avoda in the Beis Hamikdosh on Yom Kippur are done by the Kohen Godol?

Ideas for answers:

1. A theme in the parsha is the punishment of Kores. The majority of mitzvos that come with this punishment appear in Parshas Acharei Mos, most notably those of aroyois.
2. The Sefer Hachinuch counts 28 mitzvos in the parsha consisting of two positive mitzvos and 26 negative mitzvos. Virtually all these mitzvos apply nowadays and the majority of them apply equally to women and they mainly deal with aroyois.
4. When trying to understand Yom Kippur, you must first understand what it is coming to achieve. The key is atonement for sins. This is a day out of this physical world, climbing into the spiritual realms. The Kohen Godol, representing the whole Jewish Nation, enters into the Kodesh Hakodoshim, a place above the limitations of this world. The Oron’s physical measurements did not take up any space in the Kodesh Hakodoshim (Gemora Megilla 10b). On this day, there is no new yetzer hora (Gemora Yuma 20a השט”ן=364, meaning it operates all 364 days of the solar year but not on one day – the day of Yom Kippur. The Gemora BB 16a says that the yetzer hora and soton and malach hamovess is all the same). When we appreciate the day we are dealing with we know that how we view these actions cannot be understood superficially. Instead, a deeper and more spiritual understanding is required.
5. In the chumoshim it is called Acharei although people usually refer to it as Acharei-Mos. Perhaps this is because it is more descriptive being synonymous with the deaths of the Bnei Aaron that acts as an introduction to Yom Kippur which is the day when life and death are decided.
6. They represent the two identical pathways that start off the same and how one branches to the good and ends up connected to the Kodesh Hakodoshim while the other goes to the bad and ends up killed thrown down a mountain. This is the bechira, free choice, given to a person which pathway he takes.
7. This reflects the nature of the day. It is a time when we can reach to the highest inner spiritual levels (seen in access to the Kodesh Hakodoshim) not freely open to us the rest of the year.
8. There are the sacrifices brought on behalf of the entire community and there are the sacrifices brought that come from the Kohen Godol.

Did you know…

Most of the reading from the Torah on Yom Kippur comes from Parshas Acharei Mos. The beginning of the parsha that talks about the avoda on Yom Kippur is read in the morning while the parsha dealing with aroyois is read by mincha.