Two Minute Torah Podcast

Shmini 5772 by Alyssa Blumenthal

Shalom! My name is Alyssa Blumenthal and I am a sophomore at Queens College. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah, a project of the College Department of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

This week, we read parshah Shemini, which means eight. This portion begins on the eighth day of Aaron and his sons' installment into the priesthood and opens with the presentation of a sin offering to God, from Aaron, on behalf of the Jewish people to atone for the Golden Calf. God's fire comes down and consumes the offering and the people's sacrifice is accepted.

Things are looking great for the People of Israel. God has forgiven their transgression and Moses and Aaron have blessed them and all are rejoicing in the wondrousness of God.

But then things go awry.

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, decide to present their own offering, and are killed in the process. Normally, Aaron's sons are characterized negatively and as sinners – they brought "foreign" fire to the Tabernacle; they entered the Sanctuary while intoxicated; they made their own religious decisions without consulting Moses, their teacher… No matter if their intentions, were honorable, they still acted against God's will.

But eighteenth century Moroccan commentator Ohr Hachaim offers a different interpretation. He says that these two priests didn't sin, and in fact achieved such great spiritual heights, and had so much love for their Creator, that when they brought their sacrifice, their souls simply "kissed God" and ascended to heaven to reconnect with the Divine.

In fact, in the verse following the telling of Nadab and Abihu's death, Moses tells Aaron that the Lord said, "I will be sanctified through those near to Me, and before all the people I will be glorified," seemingly indicating, that God has been sanctified through Aaron's sons and glorified by their actions.

As we read this week's parshah, let us learn a little bit from Nadab and Abihu. Let us stop, and breathe, and appreciate, and attempt to journey closer to God. Let us attempt to live a life filled with spirituality and awe and love – a meaningful life – and to draw a little closer to being "kissed" by God's spirit.

Shabbat shalom!