Thoughts on Parashat Acharei Mot

After the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, God instructs Moses regarding the atoning sacrifices to be offered by the kohanim on Yom Kippur:

God said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud over the cover. Thus only shall Aaron enter the Shrine: with a bull of the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.[…]

Vayikra 12:1-13:59

With time we get used to everything – to bad people around us, to war, to illness… In our life we experience good things and things which are a nice surprise for us, but often also sad and depressing things which we did not expect, which we have not chosen. The mind, as we know, doesn’t like to waste its energy, so that’s why many of the actions we perform take place automatically and we don’t always control our reactions to these or some other events.[…]