Mindful Torah...and more

The parashah this week is Shemini ( Vayikra /Leviticus 9:1-11:37). Instead of a traditional d'var Torah I am sharing with all of you an original midrash I wrote about Nadav and Avihu.  These two sons of Aaron, the High Priest, after seeing Divine fire come down from heaven and devour the first sacrifice made in the newly-dedicated mishkan (Sanctuary), decide to take matters into their own hands. They bring a "strange fire" before God, that God had not commanded them, and their punishment was that they were then devoured by Divine fire. The rabbis have commented on this for years, questioning whether Nadav and Avihu were simply brash, arrogant upstarts, or if something else prompted them to bring the "strange fire" before God. I have always liked to think of Nadav and Avihu as the first religious innovators, trying to build on tradition while creating meaningful ritual. Unfortunately, they were a little ahead of their time and so they suffered the cons...

This week's parashah / portion is Tzav ( Vayikra /Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36). In it the detailed description of the various sacrifices to be offered continues.   Last year, my commentary on this parashah began with the following : "The final sacrifice mentioned in the parashah is the zevakh shelamim . This is usually translated as the "peace offering" or "good-will offering.’ The word shelamim comes from the same root as shalom /peace and shalem /whole. One contemporary understanding of this sacrifice is as an offering of greeting. According to Baruch Levine and other scholars, it was a meal shared between the priests, the people who brought the offering and God. "In other words, through sharing a sacred meal there was a connection being made between the people, the priests and the Divine. Not only was this a meal of greeting, but the sharing of the sacrificial animal could also bring a sense of peace and wholeness that was a direct result o...

This week, we read the parashah /portion of Pekudei ( Shemot /Exodus38:21- 40:38), which also completes the reading of the book of Shemot /Exodus. In this parashah , we read of the actual construction and dedication of the  mishkan /tabernacle and the anointing of Aaron and his son as kohanim /priests by Moses. In analyzing this parashah, Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg, in her book “The Particulars of Rapture,” focuses on the image of fire as central to our understanding of this  parashah , even though it doesn’t seem to play a major role in the actual text. Though this may be true, Zornberg reminds us that fire plays a central role in both the Torah and the midrashic/rabbinic interpretations of Shemot .  Moses begins his career as prophet after hearing God's voice from the fire of the burning bush; a pillar of fire guided and protected the Israelites during their journey out of Egypt; fire melted the gold and miraculously produced the Golden Calf; and fire is used fo...