When the Sacred Becomes Familiar: Acharei Mot 5786

 This piece was originally posted in Hanassi Highlights, Thursday 23 April 2026. You can also read it in Hebrew, thanks to ChatGPT, here.

Parashat Acharei Mot opens with a striking instruction. Before describing the sacred service of Yom Kippur, the Torah warns that even Aharon, the Kohen Gadol, may not enter the Holy of Holies “at all times.” Rashi explains that it is precisely because the Divine Presence rests there that one must avoid becoming too accustomed to it. The greatest spiritual experiences lose their impact when they become routine. Even holiness can be dulled by familiarity.

A similar idea appears in the Navi: one who enters the Beit HaMikdash through one gate must leave through another. Even retracing the same steps risks diminishing the uniqueness of the encounter. The Torah alerts us to a basic truth about human nature: habit reshapes perception. What is repeated often enough begins to feel ordinary—even when it is anything but.

This challenge is not confined to the Beit HaMikdash. It is woven into the fabric of everyday life. Moments that once felt extraordinary—moments of clarity, gratitude, even transformation—gradually recede as routine reasserts itself. The intensity fades, not because the reality has changed, but because we have grown used to it.

And that same dynamic shapes our relationship to Eretz Yisrael. Living through the miraculous return to our homeland after centuries of exile, do we still experience a sense of wonder? Or has the extraordinary quietly become familiar?

In 1967, in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War, Rabbi Norman Lamm cautioned that if we do not open our eyes, we may fail to recognize a “giluy Shechinah” unfolding before us. The danger is not only denial—it is habituation. When something becomes part of the texture of daily life, we cease to see it for what it truly is.

Perhaps the avodah of our time is not to seek constant intensity, but to guard against indifference.

To notice again what we have begun to take for granted. To approach familiar mitzvot with fresh attention. To speak and think in a way that reflects awareness rather than assumption. Above all, to ensure that what is sacred does not become merely routine.

The Torah’s message is both simple and demanding: do not become too familiar. Because when we preserve that sense of awareness, we allow even the ordinary to become a space in which the Divine presence can once again be felt.

Shabbat Shalom!