Shlach’s missing alef: G-d’s place in our lives

Towards the end of Shlach, the Torah gives us instructions for a case of what Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan entitles, “Communal Sin Offerings for Idolatry,” based no doubt on Rashi’s explanation of the phrase, “When [the collective] you err and don’t do all of these commandments.”

“If you inadvertently [commit an act of idolatry]” (15:22), the community becomes responsible to “prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as an appeasing fragrance to G-d, along with its prescribed grain offering and libation. [They must also present] one goat for a sin offering.” (15:24) The Torah explains that on account of the inadvertence of the sin, the community has an easy time achieving atonement, as opposed to if the sins had been purposeful.

It is hard to understand how the entire nation would inadvertently commit an act of idolatry. Though maybe a case of Trudeaumania (or any similar hype), or a mistaken belief that a spiritual act of some kind is proper when it is in fact idolatrous, are possibilities.

In either case, the Torah depicts the sin offering in an odd way. The Hebrew word for this offering is a chatat – normally containing the letters chet, tet, alef, taf. In this case, however, for the only time in the Torah when chatat appears, the silent alef is missing.

Why would the Torah leave out a letter that is part of the word? Sure enough, a number of sources and commentators try to explain the missing Alef.

The sifrei (midrash) explains the lesson here, that the sin offering is for mistakenly committing an act of idolatry. Just as the alef is the first letter, idolaters rebelled against G-d’s oneness, the first of all existence.

Rashi suggests this sin offering is different from all others because with every other sin offering that accompanies an olah (burnt offering) the sin offering is listed first. Here the olah is listed first. The missing alef, therefore, is a call to attention to this anomaly.