[Avodah] Are Upsherin and Bonfires Taken from the Gentiles?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I wrote:
> On the other hand, there is also the possibility of taking
> something which was originally objectionable, and
> "kashering" it, infusing it with kedusha and new meaning.
> Like the kashering and toveling of a kitchen utensil, this
> is done by carefully removing the tumah and objectionable
> aspects, and replacing them them with kedusha and proper
> kavanos. ... Perhaps someone can suggest an example of
> this which predates the Zohar.

I see that several people have already posted some good ideas. But a lurker who prefers to remain anonymous sent me this idea offline:

> Korbanot, a la the Rambam that it stemmed from AZ. Of
> course, it was HKBH who served as Mashgiach in kashering them.

This is such a perfect example of what I was looking for, that I can't imagine any better.

He made reference to "HKBH served as Mashgiach". I take this to mean that it was HaShem Himself, Who wrote of korbanos in the Torah. His point might be that this serves as a precedent which allows us to kasher ideas which had been objectionable. Or his point might be that only HaShem could do such a thing, and we do not have the ability to do such a thing properly.

But I'd argue against both of those ideas, for it was already the Avos who had kashered this idea, and brought proper korbanos to HaShem.

On the other hand, perhaps I should review the Rambam which my lurker refers to. My recollection is that proper korbanos were originally brought to HaShem in Gan Eden. The AZ-niks treifed up *our* idea; we didn't kasher *theirs*.

Akiva Miller

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