This past week has been a busy one for us.  The week started with Purim which includes dressing up in costume, getting so drunk you cannot tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, and reading the book of Esther that is in the Tanach (bible).

The book of Esther is an interesting book because it is the only book in Tanach that does not mention the name of god.  And yet, if one looks carefully at the events in the story, one cannot help but wonder how the events could unfold so perfectly as to redeem the Jews, without god nudging things along.  Still, god does not intervene directly; humans are in control of the final outcomes.  Esther does not have to go to the king, for example.

In other words, we have a book that describes how god works with us by allowing us to have a say in things.  Strangely enough, our parsha (weekly Torah portion) hints at this.  It is called Shmini which means eighth, as our parsha begins on the eighth day after the mishcan (tabernacle) was set up, and the day after Aharon and his sons completed the ritual that made them priests of haShem (god).

Now eight in the family tradition of Yaakov (Jacob) is the number that signifies going beyond oneself.  Seven represents all places in this world:  north, south, east, west, up, down, and center.  Eight represents going beyond this world, beyond the finite.

Let’s come back to our parsha before we get too carried away though.  It is the eighth day and Moshe (Moses) calls together Aharon, his sons, and the elders, and he tells Aharon to prepare a sin offering and an olah (going up offering), and then to tell the people to prepare a sin offering, an olah, a shlamim (peace/wholeness) offering, and a meal offering, because today haShem will appear.

Everybody did as was told and came to the entrance of the tent of meeting and Moshe told Aharon to perform the sacrifices and atone for himself and the people, and Aharon did so, with the help of his sons.  When Aharon finished doing the sacrifices, he blessed the people and came down from the altar.  Moshe and Aharon went into the tent of meeting, came out of the tent, blessed the people, and the glory of haShem appeared to all the people.  A fire then came from before haShem and the fire ate the offerings on the altar.  The people sang joyfully and fell on their faces.

It was at this point that two of Aharon’s sons, Nadav (meaning to volunteer) and Avihoo (meaning my father is he) offered a strange fire that was not commanded.  The result was a fire came from before haShem and ate them and they died.  Moshe then said to Aharon that haShem had said, “With those close to me I will be kodesh (made holy), and on the face of the people, I will have glory.”  To this, Aaron was silent.

Moshe then called to two sons of Aharon’s uncle to carry away Nadav and Avihoo.  Moshe then told Aharon and his remaining sons not to go unshaven or to tear their clothing (signs of mourning) so they would not die and to keep haShem from getting angry at the people.  He also told them that the house of Yisrael would cry over the death of the two, and that they are not to leave the entrance of the tent of meeting so they will not die because they have anointing oil on.  They did as Moshe said.

HaShem then told Aharon that neither he nor his sons should drink wine or beer before entering the tent of meeting, in order that they do not die, and to separate between holy and mundane, between mixed (tamae) and pure (tahor), and to teach the children of Yisrael all the laws that haShem had told them through Moshe.

Moshe then talks to Aharon and his remaining sons and tells them to take the remaining meal offering and eat it beside the altar for it is most holy and must be eaten in a holy place.  He also tells them about the parts of the shlamim offering they get to eat.  Later Moshe asks them about the sin offering and found that it had been burnt.  Moshe became angry with Aharon’s sons for this for they were to eat it as part of the atonement of the community . Aharon then explains to Moshe why they didn’t eat their part of the sin offering and Moshe saw it was a good answer.

God then spoke to Moshe and Aharon and told them to tell the children of Yisrael about which animals they are allowed to eat from and which they are not allowed to eat from.  The animals they cannot eat from, they are warned will also make them tamae (mixed), and they are told how to become tahor (pure) again.  They are also told what to do if some part of the carcass of an animal touches an object.

The parsha ends with us being told to make ourselves kodesh because god is kodesh, and not to make our souls tamae.  This is the law of all animals, to separate between tamae and tahor and between an animal that can be eaten and may not be eaten.

Now I know there has to be something relating to the fact that Aharon and his sons are told not to get drunk so they can separate between tamae and tahor, and all the details of what animals we can get eat so we can separate between tamae and tahor.  This connection will have to wait for another time, because it is not what came to me this week.

What came to me this week has to do with a conversation between Moshe and Aharon and Aharon’s surviving sons.  If you recall, after Nadav and Avihoo died, Moshe tells Aharon and his sons that they cannot make any outward signs of mourning, and to this Aharon says nothing.  Then Moshe tells them about all the parts of the sacrifice they are to eat, and shortly after he notices that the part of the sin offering they are to eat is missing and comes to find that it had been burnt.  He then becomes angry with Aharon’s sons until Aharon explains why they couldn’t eat it.  Moshe is satisfied with Aharon’s answer.

My big question here is:  where is haShem in all this?

Sure he is around in Moshe’s words.  Moshe tells Aharon not to show outward signs of mourning, and to this Aharon is silent.  He is also around when Moshe asks about the burnt sin offering, because that went against what she told Moshe.

Here, however, Aharon does not remain silent.  Aharon gives an answer and Moshe accepts it.

Now it is nice that Moshe accepts Aharon’s answer, but what about god?  Isn’t it god’s law that was broken?  Does god not have a say?  Why does the Torah only mention that Moshe approved?

There are two things going on here.  The first is that Moshe told Aharon and his sons not to show outwardly that they are mourning by letting their hair grow and tearing their clothes.  This Aharon accepts without question.  Why?  Because he realizes that they are in the sacred space of ministering to god, and when a person is in that space, they must do their best not to detract from the space and its purpose.  Tearing of one’s clothing as a sign of mourning would detract from the space by bringing in the energy of the death of Aharon’s children. (As a side note, I think this is also why we are not supposed to mourn over shabbat when somebody dies Friday afternoon.  Shabbat is a sacred space/time where we are closer to haShem.)

Now, if you are willing to accept what I have just said in regards to why Aharon was silent, you have to ask why they didn’t eat the part of the sin offering that they were required to eat.

I think that the answer to this is the same answer I gave to why they did follow the rules:  they didn’t eat from the sacrifice because they realized they were in the sacred space of ministering to god, and when a person is in that space, they must do their best not to detract from the space and its purpose.  I know, I also hear the contradiction here.  Let me try to explain.

It is one thing not to do something to show one is in mourning.  It is another to actively do something that goes against the feeling one has inside.  God had just killed two members of their family.  Now, they can refrain from showing outward appearance of mourning, but internally they are in mourning.  In a sense, there is a space of mourning within the sacred space of ministering to god.  Aharon’s answer to Moshe is that this space exists and cannot be ignored.

God forgives the people when they make a sin offering.  Aharon’s answer to Moshe is that while they are willing not to show they are mourning, internally they are, and given that god just took two members of their family, how can they eat from the sin offering whose purpose is about forgiveness?  They are not in a place of forgiveness, they are in mourning.  Therefore, just like the tearing of their clothing would detract from the space of ministering to god, so too, eating would detract from the sacred space of mourning.  This is what Aharon told Moshe, and Moshe heard it and understood it and accepted it.

However, this doesn’t answer my original question:  where is god in this?  Aharon and his sons have just refused to follow a law of haShem’s.  It is all fine and dandy that Moshe agreed with the reason, but Moshe is not god.  Why does god not have a say in this?  After all, in other places where a law is challenged, we see Moshe check in with god before issuing a response.  Why not here?

The answer I am about to give is a dangerous one.  There is a story in the Gemorah (the oral tradition of the tribes of Israel) that tells us about a dispute over whether an oven was kosher.  One sage said yes, and the rest said no.  The sage who said yes asked heaven to support him and a voice from heaven was heard saying that he was correct.  The other sages said that was nice, but the Torah is no longer in heaven, it is now on earth, and therefore heaven’s opinion carries no weight.  The story ends with, I think Eliyahu (Elijah) the prophet, asking god what he thought of this response.  HaShem’s answer was to laugh and say that the sages got him on that one.

What this story is telling us is that yes, haShem gave us the Torah – instructions on how to live.  But once given, the Torah is ours to understand and relate to.

It is no different then when you give a person a gift; they are free to to as they wish with it . The gift is theirs and no longer yours.  So, too, is the Torah once haShem gave it to us.  And the Torah is making that clear by only including Moshe, the receiver of Torah, and not haShem, the giver of the Torah, in accepting Aharon’s explanation.

With this power, we can ignore the Torah or disobey it.  We can throw it away just like we can any gift.

But before you do that, before you throw it away or ignore it, remember that it is not just some run-of-the-mill gift.

No, the Torah is a gift by haShem telling/showing us how to get close to the Divine Creator and still be who we are here on earth.

Imagine on your wedding night, if your partner gave you a magical book that would allow you to get completely in touch and in tune with your partner, to become one with your partner and still maintain your uniqueness.  Would you not relish and cherish this book?  Would you not try your best to follow it?

This is the Torah.

Yes, the book is yours and you can change it if you need to.  But be careful doing so.  For each time you do, you will find it that much harder to connect with your true love.  This is the teaching that I saw in this week’s parsha.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.