Parashat Sh’mini
29 Nisan 5778 / 13-14 April 2018
Torah: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47
Haftarah (Machar Chodesh): 1 Samuel 20:18-42
From our Chairman of the
Board, Dr. Lenny Adelson:
Dear Friends,
I have entered a team for Temple B'nai
Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier for the 2018 LA Walk to End Genocide by Jewish
World Watch. I am hoping we can support this great cause, including some
walkers!
The walk is scheduled: Sunday April 22, 2018, 9 am
- noon
Pan Pacific Park
7600 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
7600 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(If someone can actually lead the team, that would be
great as I will have other volunteer activities to help with the event.)
To find the team, for to jww.org, click 'take action'
near the top of the page, click "Walk to End Genocide' from the list,
click Los Angeles, April 22, click 'Find a Walker or Team' and scroll.
Follow the instructions to register.
To donate quickly, a direct link to my fundraising
effort:
Thanks, and hope to see you out there!
Lenny
Calendar and dedications
follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Temple B’nai
Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier, check out:
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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THE SEARCH FOR MEANING
Now Aharon's sons Nadav and Avihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered (or "came close" – vayakrivu – root k-r-b) before the Lord strange fire, which He had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed them; and they died before the Lord. Then Moshe said to Aharon, "This is what the Lord meant when He said, 'Through those near to Me (bikrovai – root k-r-b) I sanctify Myself, and gain glory before all the people.'" And Aharon was silent. Leviticus 10:1-3
What happened here? Moshe seems to understand, to know what God "meant", but do we? Why were Nadav and Avihu slain? What was the nature of their sin? Did they sin?
Now Aharon's sons Nadav and Avihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered (or "came close" – vayakrivu – root k-r-b) before the Lord strange fire, which He had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed them; and they died before the Lord. Then Moshe said to Aharon, "This is what the Lord meant when He said, 'Through those near to Me (bikrovai – root k-r-b) I sanctify Myself, and gain glory before all the people.'" And Aharon was silent. Leviticus 10:1-3
What happened here? Moshe seems to understand, to know what God "meant", but do we? Why were Nadav and Avihu slain? What was the nature of their sin? Did they sin?
There are a number of Midrashim and commentaries
which attempt to address these questions. Their sin might have been: 1)
offering (root k-r-b) strange fire (i.e., that was not permitted, or
that was prepared for the purpose of idol worship); 2) offering incense when it
had not yet been commanded; 3) trying to usurp their father's position as High
Priest; or, 4) approaching (also from k-r-b) God while under the
influence of alcohol (see Leviticus 10:8-11). There are other
possibilities as well.
Other Midrashim suggest that they did not sin at all, that their deaths were not a punishment, but a reward. They are "near to" (root k-r-b) God, and God's Holy Name is sanctified by the lives (not the deaths) of those nearest and dearest to Him. Or, again from the root k-r-b, they are korbanot (sacrifices), and they willingly "offered" themselves to "get close" to God. They were brought directly to God as a reward.
Other Midrashim suggest that they did not sin at all, that their deaths were not a punishment, but a reward. They are "near to" (root k-r-b) God, and God's Holy Name is sanctified by the lives (not the deaths) of those nearest and dearest to Him. Or, again from the root k-r-b, they are korbanot (sacrifices), and they willingly "offered" themselves to "get close" to God. They were brought directly to God as a reward.
Perhaps they were neither punished nor
rewarded. One Midrash says that God's intent was to initiate the very
first incense offering with a holy fire direct from heaven, and they happened
to be struck by it because they were too close (k-r-b). Sort of
"collateral damage", or maybe the victims of "friendly
fire." (Yes, a bad pun)
Which of these possibilities is the correct meaning? I believe that none of them are correct, and that each of them is correct! The reason is found in the parashah itself.
Which of these possibilities is the correct meaning? I believe that none of them are correct, and that each of them is correct! The reason is found in the parashah itself.
Leviticus 10:16 contains the phrase "darosh
darash" - Moshe "diligently inquired", or "searched for
an explanation". The words of this phrase, according to tradition,
occur at the exact middle of the Torah (in terms of the letters in the
Torah). The root here is d-r-sh, the same as the root for Midrash.
The appearance of the root twice, when read without vowels, as it appears in
the Torah, might be viewed as a command to each of us to seek our individual
understandings of the events of this parashah, and for that matter, of the
meaning of the entire Torah. Each of us can be k-r-b (whatever that
means!) to God. The search for God, or for the meaning of the Torah or of our
lives, will be fruitless - unless we are diligent, unless we do it with fire in
our bellies. Then the sacrifice will be worthwhile.
Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Tov!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation
Beth Meier
Visit me on Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face
of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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Candle lighting:
7:06 pm
Friday: Shabbat Evening Service –
7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Breakfast/Torah Study – 8:45
am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday: Religious School – 9:30
am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. Installation of Rabbi Flom and Rabbi
Van Leeuwen – 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Some tickets are still available.
Also, please note that there will be parking and a shuttle from United
Methodist Church – 14401 Dickens Street. For more information, call the
synagogue office or visit our website:
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00
noon.
Friday, 20
April: Shabbat
Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 21
April: Breakfast/Torah
Study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, April
22: Religious
School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am.
Next time you
come to TBH/CBM after Pesach, please bring some non-perishable canned and
packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Ze’ev ben Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andriola, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman, Leah Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Lyndia Lowy (Leah bat Sarah), David Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Alan Stolzenberg, Jonathan Woolf, Howard Yudell, and Meagan Yudell.
Please let me
know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is
anyone who may be removed from this list.
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