D'var For Shemini

This week's d'var is written by Sam Rothkopf.

Aaron and his sons officially begin their jobs as Kohanim.  First they prepare a sacrifice, and then all the Jews come to the entranceway of the Mishkan to watch as they bring the sacrifice up on the altar. Then, Moses and Aaron bless the people and everyone sees as a fire came down from heaven and consume the sacrifice. The people are so overjoyed that everyone begins to sing praises to G‑d. But then, in middle of all the celebration, two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, light a fire to bring a sacrifice that they aren’t supposed to bring, and as their punishment, they die. This was a huge tragedy on Aaron, but he does not say anything, he remains quiet and accepts G‑d's judgment. Moses tells Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Itamar, to continue doing the service in the Mishkan, while the rest of the people of Israel mourn the death of Nadav and Avihu. We then learn about a law that G‑d tells Aaron: Whenever they will be serving in the Mishkan, Aaron and his sons, the Kohanim, are not allowed to drink wine and become drunk.

G‑d tells Moses to tell the people about the animals that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten. Kosher animals have two signs: they chew their cud and have split hooves. Kosher fish must have fins and scales. We are given a list of the non-kosher birds, and a list of four types of locusts which are kosher; the Torah tells us that all other insects are not kosher. We also learn about the idea of purity, which is like a spiritual type of cleanliness. If something becomes impure, by touching something impure, for example, the dead body of a non-kosher animal, then it must be immersed in a special body of water called a mikvah. The mikvah has a special power to restore purity to things (like vessels and dishes) and people that have become impure.

I think it is fitting that in this portion, it talks about how Aaron's sons are spiritually impure, but then later on it goes into how you can become pure again. In this parsha, G-d is sending the people a warning by letting everyone see when Aaron's sons are killed but then to ease their distress he tells them that sometimes people make mistakes and this is how to atone for them. G-d held the kohanim to a higher standard than the rest of israel and that is why when they messed up so bad he had to send a distinct message to everyone else.