Rabbi Jon’s Reflection on This Week’s Torah Portion
4.5.2024
Shemini 2024: The Echoes of a Past Act
A short reflection on Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47)
We are all human so we all stumble at some point in our lives. If and when our stumble is discovered, we pay the price for our actions through repentance and transformation, and then, hopefully, we move forward leaving the past behind. But, on occasion, the actions we take haunt us over and over again, like an echo that refuses to end. Aaron, Moses’ brother and the first High Priest of Israel, finds himself feeling the effects of a past act in this week's Torah portion, Shemini.
Aaron survived the punishment of the golden calf by acting as if he was not responsible for the crafting of an alien god. But we know better -- the Torah teaches that Aaron was responsible because Aaron asked for the gold rings that adorned the ears of the people and then cast them into a mold creating the golden calf (Ex. 32:2-3). In the punishments that ensued for the sin of the golden calf, he was spared. Aaron, it seems, was forgiven for his sin against God. He moved forward in his role as a leader.
In last week's Torah portion, it is taught that Aaron and his sons entered the Tent of Meeting for seven days of ordination. On the eighth day, where today’s Torah portion begins, he was finally the High Priest. Moses called to him and he stepped out of the Tent feeling exhilarated. Who wouldn’t feel excitement on a day when you were reaching the pinnacle of your professional career?
Moses commanded Aaron to make three sacrifices so that “The presence of Adonai may appear to you” (Lev. 9:6). The first offering was to be a bull calf Sin Offering. Rashi believed that this was to finally forgive Aaron for the sin of the golden calf. But as the day’s events play out, it seems that it was a reminder that God had not yet forgiven Aaron for this mistake. Once the three sacrifices were completed, Aaron raised his hands and blessed the people with the words of the Priestly Benediction, but God did not appear. Something was wrong. His true punishment for the golden calf was yet to come.
His two eldest sons, Nadav and Abihu made an offering which they had not been commanded to make and then “Fire went forth before Adonai and consumed them….” (Lev. 10:2). Many reasons are given for their deaths by rabbinic commentators – they were drunk, they were not following Halachah, they were attempting to place themselves on the same level as Aaron and Moses. By viewing their deaths through the lens of the golden calf incident, they were taken as part of Aaron’s punishment.
As a modern reader, we are bothered by the deaths of Nadav and Abihu. But, when viewed as a metaphor for our own mistakes, this illustrates how a past sin can return to haunt us even when we think we’ve “gotten away with something” or believe we have been forgiven. It is infrequent that anyone actually avoids punishment from actions filled with wrong intent, especially when the community is aware of the act.
This series of events instructs us to be aware that every action we take has repercussions with the potential to echo in our lives far into the future.
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SHEMINI SUMMARY FROM THE URJ
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Aaron and his sons follow Moses' instructions and offer sacrifices so that God will forgive the people. (9:1-24)
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Two of Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer "alien fire" to God. God punishes these two priests by killing them immediately. (10:1-3)
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God forbids Moses, Aaron, and his surviving sons from mourning but commands the rest of the people to do so. Priests are told not to drink alcohol before entering the sacred Tabernacle and are further instructed about making sacrifices. (10:4-20)
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Laws are given to distinguish between pure and impure animals, birds, fish, and insects. (11:1-47)
For more information on this Torah portion go to: https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/shmini
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