There are times when the weekly Torah portion dovetails neatly with contemporary life. There are other weeks when writing a reflection requires digging deep into the wells of creativity to find a resonant connection. And then there are the weeks when it is uncomfortably jarring to read the Torah portion in the context of a particular moment in our lives. For me, this is one of those weeks.
The Torah portion of Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47) begins by instructing the priests -- Aaron and his sons -- on how to carry out animal sacrifices, specifically sin offerings and burnt offerings. The concept of sacrifices, not to mention the bloody details, is strange enough to our modern ears. But this week, as we prepare to commemorate Yom Ha'Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Thursday, it is almost sickening to read how "the flesh and the skin were consumed in fire" (Leviticus 9:11), and even more so to consider these words and acts something God would command.
Furthermore, in a linguistic application whose theological implications make me shudder, the word "holocaust" is derived from the Greek word for the Temple sacrifices, suggesting that the victims of the Nazis were burnt offerings to God.
The instructional narrative of this Torah portion is then interrupted by a disturbing story in which two of Aaron's sons, the young priests Nadav and Avihu, offer what the text calls esh zarah, usually translated as "strange fire" -- an offering not requested by God -- and are in turn themselves consumed by God's fire (Leviticus 10:1-2). In the aftermath of this tragedy, Moses warns Aaron and his two remaining sons to refrain from the outward signs of mourning, but reassures them that the rest of the community will mourn their kinsmen.
Though the story serves an obvious purpose in underscoring the tremendous power of the priests and the need for them to be precise in fulfilling their ritual duties, much is left unanswered. Were Nadav and Avihu righteous men but inexperienced priests who made one fatal mistake, or were they deviating from the priestly playbook in arrogance? Were they drunk, or were they so holy that they ascended to God in fiery ecstasy? Are we to mourn them, condemn them for their actions, or hold them in awe for their direct encounter with God? Generations of rabbinic commentators have argued these and other possibilities.
Rereading the story this year, two elements struck me. First, the mourning prohibition Moses requires of Aaron and his sons. How could Moses ask his brother and nephews to forego these mourning rituals? I picture this family holed up in the Mishkan, the portable Temple of the desert, afraid to move for fear of breaking down or of eliciting more dangerous fire, but filled to overflowing with rending grief. The text does not detail the mourning of the community beyond saying that they will cry (Leviticus 10:6), but I cannot imagine that even the loudest communal wailing could give appropriate voice to the personal grief of Aaron and his family.
In light of Yom Ha'Shoah, this scene reminds me of the history of uncertainty and discomfort around how to mourn publicly for the victims of the Nazis. Note, for example, that the original Israeli proposal for a commemoration pegged it to the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which began on April 19, 1943. It is, often, easier to speak of and mourn for those who resisted than those who seemingly did not. Ultimately, the Israeli date for Yom Ha'Shoah is determined in relationship to their Memorial Day and Independence Day, thereby rooting the political origin story of the State of Israel and its ongoing military struggles in the story of the Holocaust. Public mourning always has its context and its purposes, which may or may not relate to the personal needs of mourners.
I am also struck by the power of personal stories and of naming. The story of Nadav and Avihu is haunting not only because it is dramatic and unresolved, but also because the two victims are named and are the sons of Aaron and the nephews of Moses and Miriam, all characters we've come to know well by this point in the biblical narrative. How, I wonder, might we read this episode differently if the two young men consumed by fire were unnamed, of unknown lineage?
Of course, mourning for millions of lost lives is necessarily different than for two. Part of the challenge of Yom Ha'Shoah is the inconceivable vastness of the tragedy, which can be simultaneously overwhelming and distancing. How can one wrap one's mind around a number like 6 million? And how can one relate to the loss of each individual life, especially if one does not have a specific relative or story in mind?
WATCH Violin Survivor:
In college, I participated each year in a communal exercise to grapple with both the hugeness of the Shoah and its individual impact. Each year on Yom Ha'Shoah, we organized volunteers to read the names of the victims, in the middle of campus, for 24 consecutive hours. During my sophomore year, I took the 3 a.m. shift, and stood in front of the library in the dark, chilly April night, reading names into the quiet emptiness. In the midst of this rhythm, I stopped suddenly, my stomach sinking, my breath catching. For there it was: my own name.
I have no idea who that Judith Rosenbaum was, where she was from, or how old she was when she died. Perhaps she was a relative, perhaps not. But I do know that reading her -- our -- name changed me. It brought me into the story in a new way.
Maybe that is the role of Nadav and Avihu, too. We never learn what really happened, just as I won't know the story of this other Judith Rosenbaum. But the possibilities left open by the absences in the biblical narrative make room for us to identify with them, or with Aaron and his family. And suddenly, in the midst of the litany of laws of priestly sacrifices, we might find ourselves confronted by a consuming fire.
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Days of Remembrance - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
I remember wandering through the camp and the now empty rows and rows of foundations where the prisoner huts used to be. The administration building was turned into a museum and featured plenty of photos of people being led to the gas, including children like myself.
I remember walking through the morgue, a big concrete room which the guide said was permanently crammed with corpses as ovens, located in the same room, could not keep up with the influx of the murdered. The room smelled of death, 30 years after the end of the war, and mental image and memory of the smell combined to make the deepest impression on my young mind.
After seeing that place, it seemed as if the childish behavior of others -- racism, prejudice, hatred -- made no sense. Experiencing that place set me apart from my peers, and I remain there today as I mourn the Shoah and its dead.
Undoubtedly this mixed multitude indulged in detestable practices and were headed to a land where the practices were even more detestable, such as child sacrifice. This group needed and received explicit detailed instruction from God. They were told of the consequences, they had seen the consequences meted upon the Egyptian pharaoh and his people with the plagues. They saw how God had led them out of slavery and protected them. They agreed to follow the guidelines. The account as to the disobedience and subsequent consequences experienced by Aarons sons is what this account details. These commands were to be followed, and the priests as well as the other people were to follow the instructions laid out for them. Nadab and Abihu blatantly and wantonly disobeyed these instructions and for that were immediately punished by death. God gives life and God, as the only one with the right to do so, can take life away. He wants people to live, yet some choose, as did the sons, to completely turn away from the true God. These choose for themselves their own end.
That being said, the timing of occurrences of Leviticus is important. The Israelites had left in the exodus from Egypt less than a year or so earlier. Moses wrote Leviticus after given explicit instructions by God as to how this newly formed nation, that was set apart for service of God, should be handled. Since the time of Abel, faithful men had been offering sacrifices to God, but this is the first time they were to receive explicit instructions by God as to sacrifice and offering.
As a new nation journeying toward a new land, Israel needed proper direction. The living standards and practices of Egypt would be fresh in their minds. False worship of gods, brother and sister marriages was what the Egyptians practiced. Now this group was headed towards Canaan, where even more degrading practices were performed. (Continued).
"God is love," says suebeedue. Does he show it when he kills at least seven million people in Noah's flood? Perhaps he exhibits it when he has the Levites kill 3,000 of their fellow travelers. This occurred after Moses' brother, Aaron, made an idol. Aaron was not punished. God's angel kills 74,000 when King David takes an unauthorized census, and God kills 50,000 who peeked into the Ark of the Lord as it traveled back to its people. God repeatedly tells the Israelites to kill entire cities, including women and children: Jericho, Ai, Hazor, and the "towns of Midian."
There may be a loving God somewhere, but he is not in the Old Testament of the Bible.
We judge civilizations from a thousand years ago according to the religions of today. At least the Hebrews wrote the good and the bad. Our own history is feel good fiction. Today we can't separate secular from religious. Everyone is religious, just most people Deny it.
just want to share/add 2 points of interest
1. some of these "rules" like in Leviticus need to be done a certain way on the physical side, so that the spiritual picture of the parable, hidden or spiritual intent, can be translated properly
as an example, the washings, a symbol of being cleaned up by the holy Spirit, John the Baptist did whole body submersion after repentance, while the Catholic side does infants and splash on water, that is not necessarily bad per se, and probably not cause Catholics to be consumed by fire from God, but as Jesus said, "you Scribes and Pharisees (religious folks) clean the outside of the cup and bowl, but the inside (spirit-character) is full of uncleanness; like greed, self-indulgence and wickedness, if you first clean the inside, then the outer (words and actions) would be clean ".....Matthew 23:25-28
2.. there are and have been people that claim to be servants of God (come near with their mouths) but their hearts are far from God, like Elijah and the false prophets, Jesus too, the public is presented with the choice (election time again) between the two opposing sides or ideology, and that it was or became apparent one side appeared more favored or blessed by God (no its not the republicans regardless of their boasting, they have been shamed by their losses ie women's rights, contraceptives/abortion, pornography, gambling etc)
It is Nisan 27-Yom HaShoa
The Day to remember the Holocaust.
A Day in which we shudder to realize that some of those who executed some of the worst attrocities known to Man are still walking this planet. It has not been that long.
And if you want to tell me that only those who thought up these atrocities are responsible and not the entire German People who executed them, I say, find yourself a very stupid Man to believe such a specious argument. The SS and death camps and trains etc, did not run themselves.
I saw these sub-humans every year from 1988-1997 when I went to Frankfurt for the Muisk Messe. I was seated at a very fine restaurant that used to be the home of composer Engelbert Humperdinck. My partner, our sales girl and myself, in our American Suits and the obviously Jewish faces of my partner and I seemed to disturb the other customers as they stared at us all might with looks on their faces that could only mean, what are these inferior beings doing here , inferior Judens that do not accept our total superiority . We are superior to ALL- including God
Like a little mustard with that pretzel?
You mention "The Iceman" story. It is one of the best ever on "NOVA."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneptah_Stele
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/foreignrelations/asiank.html
There are also pictures that show what the Asiatics looked like to Egyptians. They are notably pale and the men are bearded. I don't know if these will come out but here are some.
MBasiatics‑khnumhoteptomb.jpg
MBasiatics‑khnumhoteptomb.jpg
Sobekhotep_4.jpg
beni_hasan_panorama.jpg
And here is a story about the invention of the alphabet by Canaanites on an Egyptian model.
http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=02&ArticleID=06&Page=0
Then, there is the EGO, apparently another facet on our DNA strands, that cannot accept the fact of the end of the electro-chemical thoughts that occur in a live mammalian, human brain.
Combine the two, and you have RELIGION, in it various forms, all over the world. Apparently, it is hard wired in to our DNA makeup?
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This reminds me of the time I drove all the kids down to Disney World for a vacation. It was a LONG ride, and they kept getting restless and fighting in the back seat. No matter how many times I yelled at them they just wouldn't stop, and frankly it got on my nerves.
Finally, while we're going down I-95 at the speed limiy, I reach back, grab one of them, drag him into the front seat, open the driver side door, and toss him out.
I have to say, it worked amazingly well. The remaining kids were totally quiet and obedient - not just for the rest of the trip, but for the entire vacation.
Aaron is stopped from even seeing the promised land because of what Moses did in striking the rock. Aaron is not punished for making a golden calf that caused 3,000 people to be killed by the Levites early in the forty-year trip. Miriam and Aaron both speak against the Ethiopian wife of Moses, but only Miriam gets leprosy for those words. Aaron begs Moses to intercede with God, so Miriam waits only a week for a cure from the disease.
This whole story sounds like it comes from someone on hallucinogens.
I think the Bible says that each of the three dies, and then the Israelites move on after the proper period of mourning. I don't recall that any afterlife is even mentioned for any one of the three. The Old Testament is not big on what occurs after death. People just "lie with their fathers." The paradise you describe does sound fairly boring. If it is correct, who wants an eternity of mellowness?