Shabbat Parah

Shemini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47 & Num. 19:1-22

Dvar Torah by ROBERT TORNBERG for ReformJudasim.org

Learning from a Sandwich

This week's parashah, Sh'mini, consists of three distinct parts that do not appear, on the surface, to relate directly to one to another. Let's begin by looking at a summary of each of these parts.

The first section of this portion appears to be a continuation of the previous two parashiyot. Vayikra and Tzav, deal in great detail with how the various sacrifices were to be offered at the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple), and end with a description of the dedication of the Tabernacle and the ordination of the priests (kohanim). Sh'mini opens on the eighth day of the ordination ceremony. Moses instructs Aaron and his sons to bring specific animals for a burnt offering (olah), a sin offering (chatat), an offering of well-being (zevach sh'lamim), and a meal offering (minchah), to atone for any sins they or the people may have committed.

Suddenly in the next section, the "documentary-style" description we have gotten used to in Leviticus changes to a narrative style as we are told:

Now Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the Eternal alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Eternal and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Eternal (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Following this incident, Aaron, whose sons had just perished, is totally silent, and Moses insists that the ceremony be completed as planned.

This difficult, painful, and confusing passage has captured the attention of commentators from the earliest times until today. There are literally scores of interpretations offered in an effort to make sense of this ethically problematic story.1

In the third part of this parashah, the subject abruptly changes as Moses and Aaron hear a detailed cataloging of the laws of kashrut – the dietary laws – directly from God. They are told that from among "land animals" they may eat any animal "that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chews the cud" (11:2-3). This is followed by a listing of animals that may cause confusion (for example, the camel, the hare, and the swine) because they either have cloven hooves or chew their cud, but not both. They are labeled "impure."

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