Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One;
Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our
Elohim, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples,
and have given us your Torah.
Lev 21:1 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aharon, and
say to them: ‘No one is to be defiled for the dead among his people,
א וַיֹּאמֶר
יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, אֱמֹר אֶל-הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן; וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם,
לְנֶפֶשׁ לֹא-יִטַּמָּא בְּעַמָּיו.
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1 And YHVH said unto Moshe: Speak unto the priests
the sons of Aaron, and say unto them: There shall none defile himself for the
soul (nefesh) among his people;
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We
assume that this applies to dead people, however the word death (Heb. “Mut”) is
not used. We may thus assume this implies to those who have sought to separate
themselves from YHVH and His Torah.
This
instruction in the Torah was possibly the reason the Muslims built a grave yard
in front of the eastern gate of the Temple Mount in Yerushalayim.
“The Hebrew name of the Golden Gate is Sha'ar HaRachamim (שער הרחמים), Gate of Mercy.
According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) used to appear through
the eastern Gate, and will appear again when the
Anointed One (Messiah) comes (Ezekiel 44:1–3) and a new gate replaces the present
one; that might be why Jews used to pray in medieval times for mercy at the
former gate at this location
The Ottomans also built a cemetery in front of the
gate, in the belief that the precursor to the Anointed One, Elijah, would not
be able to pass through the Golden Gate and thus the Anointed One would not
come. This belief was based upon two premises. First, according to Islamic
teaching Elijah is a descendant of Aaron, making him a priest or kohen. Second,
that a Jewish kohen is not permitted to enter a cemetery. This second premise
is not wholly correct because a Kohen is permitted to enter a cemetery in which
either Jews or non-Jews are buried, such as the one outside the Golden Gate, as
long as certain laws or Halakha regarding purity are followed – Wikipedia. “
Lev
21:2 except for his relatives who are
nearest to him: for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for
his daughter, and for his brother;
Lev
21:3 and for his maiden sister who is
near to him, who has had no husband – for her he is defiled.
Lev
21:4 ‘A leader does not defile himself
among his people, to profane himself;
Lev
21:5 they do not make any bald place on
their heads, and they do not shave the corner of their beard, and they do not
make a cutting in their flesh – see also 19:28 -
Lev
21:6 ‘They (the priests, sons of
Aharon) are set-apart to their Elohim and do not profane the Name of
their Elohim, for they bring the offerings of יהוה made by fire, and the bread of their
Elohim, and shall be set-apart.
Lev
21:7 ‘They do not take a woman who is a whore or a defiled woman, and they do
not take a woman put away from her husband, for he is set-apart to his
Elohim.
Lev
21:8 ‘And you shall set him apart, for
he brings the bread of your Elohim, he is set-apart to you. For I, יהוה, setting you apart, am set-apart.
Lev
21:9 ‘And when the daughter of any priest profanes herself by whoring, she profanes her
father. She is burned with fire.
Lev
21:10 ‘And the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was
poured and who is ordained to wear the garments, does not unbind his head nor
tear his garments,
Lev
21:11 nor come near any dead body,(nefshot
met) nor defile himself for his father or his mother,
