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Acharei Mos: Tainted Ideals*

On יום הכיפורים the Kohen Gadol brings three different korbanos: one for his own personal sins, one for the sins of the entire nation, and one specifically for the sin of טומאת מקדש, allowing the בית המקדש to become impure, a sin which is attributed to the Kohanim. What is it that makes this particular sin so severe that it needs its own special atonement on יום הכיפורים?

R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the בית המקדש is symbolic of the highest ideals of the Jewish people, of perfection itself. And so by having a מקדש in their midst, the Jewish nation proclaimed both its loyalty to pure Jewish ideals and its desire to draw closer to perfection. Despite whatever shortcomings we may have had, the ideals remained intact.

However, once we allow the בית המקדש to become defiled, we show that we do not cherish and look up to the Jewish ideals in their purest form. We have allowed the actual way that we live our lives to water down our ideals. And once that happens, we have no ideals left to guide us and urge us to be better. We have nothing left to go back to. This is is why such a dramatic rectification is required specifically for this sin.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום