After we sent out, “ The Sacrificed Goat and Rebuilding the Broke Bridge”, people asked me:
“Are goats more than just goats. Are they in fact spiritual beings? “Can goats really give consent. And then, one of our Children of Abraham supporters who is Jewish asked, “what about the Goats in the Talmud”?
Because these questions were above my pay grade, I referred the matter to the “Children of Abraham Torah Sages.” I was surprised by what they told me.
The first thing they said was, “Dude, were you asleep when you studied Talmud Tamid? It is really deep.”
Pursuant to Talmud Tamid (30a and 30b), prior to being sacrificed, the goat was given a golden cup to drink from. As stated in Talmud Tamid:
“The officer said to them, ‘Go and see if the time is come for slaughtering. If it is come, he that perceived it says, “It is daylight… the whole east is alight…’ He said to them, “Go and bring a lamb from the Chamber of Lambs… They… brought forth vessels of gold and they gave the lamb that was to be the Daily whole offering to drink from a cup of gold.’”
The clear implication is that if the lamb declined to drink from a golden cup, he could not be sacrificed.
Before I could continue The Children of Abraham Torah Sages raised two additional issues:
First, why is the cup a cup of gold instead of a cup made from something else?
Second, if the lamb’s sacrifice is voluntary, why should the voluntary acceptance of sacrifice be by drinking from a cup rather than, as in Ethiopia, by the nodding of the head or by other means.”
Yo! Questions that would cross a Rabbi’s eyes.
But undaunted, the Children of Abraham Torah Sages continued and said:
“Clearly, a gold cup represents Light and Light represents G-D. Clearly to drink from the cup means that, prior to the sacrifice, the goat has become one with G-D. and has entered paradise.
The goat who chooses to drink from the golden cup, drinks because he is now awake and sees that he himself is light, and that the golden cup is light. He understands that he is light drinking light from a vessel of light. At the moment the goat sees this, he sees that he has entered paradise. The goat wants us to know that when we ourselves say Kiddush – and drink from the cup – we ourselves are light drinking light and by doing this we enter Shabbos, which is just another world for paradise.
As the Children of Abraham Torah Sages spoke, they themselves seemed to be turning into light. I was somewhat afraid and looked aside.
But they didn’t notice me and they continued:
“Dude, did you also forget what you learned in Talmud Zevachim and Talmud Menachos” You can not enter paradise directly. You can only enter through a mediating vessel. A mediating vessel is not only a cup but can also be a Tallis or Tefillin. Specifically, in Talmud Menachos, the flour for sacrifice is only flour, but when it is placed in a vessel, it is transformed into pure holiness. Similarly, in Talmud Zevachim, blood remains in its phenomenal state until it is transformed into holiness by placing it in a mediating vessel.
At this point, my head was dizzy and said, “Can you break this down and simplify it for the lay person”
They were surprised and somewhat disappointed that I did not intuitive grasp what they were so joyfully talking about.
They said, “There is more to this Hashem thing than you think. You yourself are holy – pure light. It is your duty in life to break through and see this. The goat is holy and is leading you to holiness. He wants to enter paradise and he wants you to enter paradise.
The Children of Abraham Toral Sages turned to me, and said, “Do you see”.
I actually did not see. But they had persuaded me of one thing, that “there is more to this Hashem thing than I thought”.
So, that’s the report. And if a goat walks by carrying a golden cup, it is probably a good idea to follow him.
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