Shemini – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

This Torah Portion is very rich. Some of its content is obvious and easy to understand, while some is hidden and is only revealed when reading the commentaries and interpretations.

The obvious part includes the list of what is pure and what is unclean, with nearly half of the portion being an explanation about the clean types of animals, that one can eat, and the kosher laws. These laws have been preserved in the collective consciousness of the Jewish people for generations. At the same time pork, or more precisely, the avoidance of eating pork, became a central part of the Jewish identity.

The deeper and the hidden content of this week’s reading is the dedication of the Tabernacle followed by the sin and the death of the sons of Aaron; a terrible and almost unconceivable trauma. What happened there, and why?

Let’s start with the list of animals that are not meant for eating. It seems like in every generation we try to find a convincing explanation of why it is forbidden to eat them.

Sometimes we think that the kosher laws and food limitations preserved our nation in exile, separating us from others, as it did not allow our cultures to mix.While sometimes we thought that the kosher laws are given for health reasons; that the Jewish dietary laws are the recipe for a good and healthy life.

It is also possible that God commanded us to keep kosher because of the both reasons. I usually like to understand the logic behind the commandment, in order to keep them with meaning, and when needed, to adopt them to the current time and age.

My understanding of this commandment is that it helps to preserve our identity. Meaning that those who keep kosher, naturally separate themselves from the rest of the food in the world. It is clear when we look at the kosher practices through the last 500 years of our history in the exile that the house where kosher was kept, managed to keep its Jewish identity in the exile, even in a hostile environment.

God called us, the people of Israel, to be “holy”, meaning to be separated from the rest of the world. And after a long list of animals that are not kosher, comes the divine call:

This commandment comes in connection with the consumption of kosher food.The way I understand it is that God called us to be separated from other nations, and the most effective mechanism that has proved itself through history is through the customs of cooking and eating.

Here we come to the most common debate in the Jewish-Christian world; the debate about kosher laws in connection with Yeshua’s saying about what comes into your mouth.Yeshua teaches us a very important principle:

I might seem like Yeshua’s saying contradicts the kosher laws of the Torah, but it is not so at all. Yeshua speaks in the spirit of Isaiah the prophet, who said that God did not require sacrifices and burned offerings, but rather mercy between man and his neighbor, although the Torah clearly commands the offering of sacrifices.

In the same spirit, Yeshua says that what enters a person’s mouth defiles him for a short period of time, and the next day he is clean from the impure food. But the words that come out of our mouth have the power to defile us or hurt other people for a much longer period of time.

We are keeping the kosher laws, but the impurity from food, according to the Torah, is a low-grade transgression, that defiles for one day.

Yeshua teaches us that if we are careful about what comes into our mouth, how much more, we have to watch what comes out of our mouth, like slander, gossip or insults to others.

Our Torah Portion begins on the eighth day, and what happened before the eighth day? The acceptable interpretation is that it took 7 days for the Tabernacle to start functioning, when priests were appointed and preparations were made for the sanctification of the Tent of Meeting.

This was the day when the Tent of Meeting was sanctified. On this day, the work of God in the Tabernacle began.

During the construction of the Tabernacle the children of Israel donated much and volunteered a lot, so the entire nation waited anxiously for the beginning of the fellowship with God; for the beginning of the Holy work of the Sanctuary.

And now it comes!

Through the book of Exodus, the children of Israel suffered ups and downs with many dramatic and emotional events, such as when the entire Egyptian army was about to catch up with them; a dreadful moment of paralyzing fear. And then the amazing miracle; passing through the red sea. Oh, the joy of the miraculous victory against all odds and all logic!

The Children of Israel have experienced a reality beyond our wildest imagination. And at the end of the book of Exodus, the Glory of God fills the entire Tabernacle, in the sight of all Israel. God accepted the work that Israel had done, and from that moment on, He dwells in our midst.

And now, after all the work is accomplished, with the priestly garments made, the shifts of the priests arranged, with the offering orders and the duties, are organized till the last detail. In the middle of the celebrations, Israel witnesses yet another traumatic and painful event.

The two sons of Aaron’s, two of their beloved leaders, the priests called to serve in the sanctuary, are killed in a divine act of punishment, when the fire of God consumes them.

What happened here?

The reason for such a severe punishment for the sons of Aaron is stated in the Bible clearly:

However, it is not clear enough. For generations, the Torah commentators try to explain their sin, saying that they came drunk, or they came without washing their hands and feet, or that it was a rebellion, a spiritual ecstasy, or other reasons.

Each of these commentaries comes with an extensive explanation from the Scriptures and its own logic. For example, the claim that sons of Aaron came to the sanctuary drunk, is based on what comes that right after the punishment:

You see, that it is easy to conclude that the reason for their death was drunkenness. That sons of Aaron came to serve God while drunk, and right after they died, God gives Aaron a warning to stay away from alcohol when serving in the Tabernacle, or else you will die.

Other commentators emphasize the issue of holiness, but I would like to focus on the actual explanation of their sin in the Bible:A strange fire or unauthorized fire.

The New Testament describes God as fire:

Fire, and especially “fire from God” happens at important moments in Israel’s history, starting with the covenant God made with Abraham, when the mysterious pillar of fire passed in between the sacrifice to seal the covenant between Abraham and God.

The divine fire appears again in the burning bush, and it is said clearly, that the place is “holy”. God commands Moses to stop and not to come closer. Moses takes off his shoes because the divine power sanctifies the area around it.

During Exodus, the level of holiness increases even more. We read that the Lord himself was leading Israel in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” (Exodus 13:21)

The Lord descended on Mt. Sinai in fire:

And in our Torah Portion, the fire from heaven comes down again. Moses prepared the children of Israel for the meeting with God with the following introduction:

And after all the work was done to the last detail:

In all these examples, the source of fire is divine, and is not initiated by people. And this fire is not acting as a normal fire. It consumes the sacrifice, but not the burning bush, which was burning but remained untouched.

It comes down upon the altar soaked with water, as with Elijah on Mt. Carmel. Water does not bother the fire from God, on the contrary, it consumes water as well:

So what is it, this fire of God?

The fire of God is the Holy Spirit, it is the Divine Presence – Shechinah, and it reveals itself in different levels of holiness. The Holy Spirit can reside in men, it fills us with prophesy and other gifts of the spirit. It is what connects people and God.

In the New Testament Yeshua promises us that the Holy Spirit will be in every disciple, in anyone who is serving the Messiah.

On the day of Pentecost (Shavuot), (which, according to our tradition, is also the day of Torah giving), in the same manner as the fire of God descended upon Mt. Sinai, in that same way the Spirit of God descended upon Yeshua’s disciples:

The New Testament describes the Holy Spirit as fire, the Holy Spirit rested upon each of the disciples, as tongues of fire.

Back to the sons of Aaron.The fire came from God and willingly consumed the sacrifice on the alter, it was a heavenly fire, divine and holy, and it must not be desecrated. But the Sons of Aaron brought a new fire, additional fire, a man-made fire, fire that they started themselves, as it is written:

It was another fire; it was the desecration of holiness. There is no forgiveness for the desecration of the Holy Spirit, and the punishment was swift. The fire came from God and consumed the sons of Aaron, and they fell dead before the sanctuary.

The New Testament teaches us that there is no forgiveness or mercy for desecration of God’s name or the Holy Spirit:

Either by mistake or maliciously, the sons of Aaron tried to change the divine order given through Moses. The fire consumed them in the same way as later the fire would consume Korah and his followers.

What’s left to discuss is if their action was premeditated or was it a mistake? The commentators have split opinion about it. Some say it was premeditated, a stand against Moses and Aaron. Others think it was a mistake, a personality flaw or good intentions, but not worthy of their position.

I tend to think it was a mistake, that they didn’t have ill intentions. I find a hint to it in our Haftorah from 2nd Samuel chapter 6. When the Ark of God was moved to Jerusalem on the cart, at some point it looked like the cart is about to fall, instinctively, Uzziah stretched his hand to hold it, he touched the Ark and immediately fell dead.

I do not think that Uzziah had bad intentions. On the contrary, he worried about the Ark too much. He profaned its holiness. He touched the Ark of the covenant, and paid for it the ultimate price.

In the light of this Haftara, I think that the sons of Aaron sinned by mistake. They saw the joy and the celebrations. They saw people’s excitement from God’s answer, from His closeness.

But the closer God comes to people, He reduces his holiness. As from afar like on Mount Sinai, it appears as a mighty fire, but amongst a crowd, it would appear much smaller, as a candle flame over the head. That is because people cannot see God, cannot get closer to Him and remain alive. Like in the Lord’s answer to Moses’ request:

So may be God’s revelation before Israel was not satisfactory in their eyes. Maybe they wanted to add something.

For the sake of the people, they added fire; man-made fire, unauthorized fire. And they paid the price for desecrating the sanctity of God.

This Torah portion teaches us that we need to be very careful not to desecrate the divine holiness.It starts with respect in the house of God, whether it’s our congregation, or our church.

Respect and a humble spirit, as we pray, praise, and seek his face.