Shemini: Human Sacrifice

Death is the central character in Shmini. This is the parsha in which Nadav and Avihu, the eldest sons of Aaron, die in a temple service gone wrong.  Moses frames the event: 

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן הוּא֩ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר יְ׀ לֵאמֹר֙ בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵ֥י כׇל־הָעָ֖ם אֶכָּבֵ֑ד וַיִּדֹּ֖ם אַהֲרֹֽן׃ 

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Gd meant by saying:

Through those near to Me I show Myself holy,
And gain glory before all the people.”And Aaron was silent.

The death of Nadav and Avihu is sandwiched between the animal sacrifice rite that initiated the mishkan (a process that requires the slaughter of the offerings,) and   the  rules and lists that define the animals, birds, fish and insects that are and are not permitted to eat (after ritual slaughter). The parsha ends with laws of tumah, ritual impurity that apply to the carcasses of these animals. 

At the close of the parsha, death is an invisible, but transmissible substance. It is the core of tumah, ritual impurity. When an animal dies by "natural causes", that natural cause may be a transmissible, thus the carcass is taboo.  Touching it ,or carrying it, could transfer the deadly process to the bearer. This is not  irrational. There are processes, e.g.anthrax, that kill people who touch the carcass of an animal that died from it.  Such explanations that involve science are avoided by religionists.  The science may change; the situations of  applicability can be identified.  Explanations that appeal to modern understanding are to be avoided; they dilute the purity of the commandment.  Perhaps the spread of disease is one of several elements in ritual impurity. 

Entering the temple after an exposure  to the tamei ( ritually impure) is a grave trespass. Bringing the transmissible death substance into the crowded courtyard is a public ill. The ritually impure were also excluded from the isolated inner sanctum. The danger of an approach to the Divine had to be purely supernatural, with no trace of the peril of disease.   

Entering the temple while tamei ( ritually impure) carried  the penalty of kareith. Kareith, translated as excision, means that a person was cut off from the community. An element of the excision is early death.   It was recognized that the contaminated might enter the temple courtyard by accident. A sacrifice of expiation was expected  for such a violation.  The purifying death compensates for the pollution of death

People killed the animals in the sacrificial rite. Since the cause of death is human intervention, there is no reason to think that some transmissible death is lurking in the corpse. 

Nadav and Avihu, Aaron's eldest sons,  died because of  their error in ritual. This was  neither a natural ( tamei) death, nor a manslaughter. It was not an ascent, like the deaths of Moses and Aaron. It was an overdose-  an attempt to get higher gone terribly wrong. 

The post hoc interpretation is:

בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵ֥י כׇל־הָעָ֖ם אֶכָּבֵ֑ד

Through those near to Me I show Myself holy,
And gain glory before all the people.

This became a paradigm for thinking about deaths that seem to violate the idea of overwhelming potential power that allowed a terrible injustice.   It brings Psalm 116;15  to mind 

יָ֭קָר בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְ הַ֝מָּ֗וְתָה לַחֲסִידָֽיו׃ 

The death of His faithful ones

is grievous in the LORD’s sight.

Moshe's obituary is disquieting and ambiguous. It reinforces the mortal  danger of approaching Gd.  בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ, through those near me ekodesh . Ekodesh does mean I will be holy, but it also has the implication of incineration. The Talmud (Chulin 115a) renders 

פן תקדש פן תוקד אש

Lest it be burned [pen tukad esh]. 

 Nadav and Avihu are cast into the role of human sacrifices. Their death by ritual  serves some atonement function for those who mourn them.  This epitaph becomes the framework for thinking about soldiers who die in battle, victims of pogroms, suicides, etc. Why did Gd fail to save them? Their deaths are given a (complex) post mortem significance. Gd does not (always) save the unwise and the innocent, but their deaths have meaning. Go figure it out. 

We stand between the filth that is death and the purity of the Divine. Death is grievous, inevitable, significant. Much depends on the interpretation. The answer is silence

. Tzav: Preservation

Tzav: Preservation

This week's parsha begins with the ritual of removing the ashes from the altar. The final product, what you end up with, after all that killing of animals, sprinkling of blood and burning. It is a pile of ash. The ritual consists of taking it to the dump. This work is also sanctified.

Starting the day cleaning up the leavings of yesterday's celebration brings perspective to the day's activities.  Another day will be spent in leaning, slaughtering,  blood sprinkling and burning, and tomorrow morning, the ashes will be cleaned away. 

That cycle is broken.  Jews have not offered animal sacrifices for thousands of years. But we preserve the texts that describe the performance, we preserve a past that is long scattered ashes. 

The destruction of the temples and their service are the focus of traditional collective morning.  The scope of the  loss that is mourned in the fasting cycle that culminates on Tisha Ba'av is not openly mentioned; but the loss of the temple is clearly stated. It is dangerous to confront the prevailing hegemon with tears for the loss of political power. Sorrow for the loss of ritual passes with much less suspicion ( at least in modern times). 

We hide loyalty to a power other than the government  in the  Kedusha, the apex of the communal prayer. The last phrase  in that cunning text is 

Gd will reign forever; Your God, Zion, throughout all generations!

A political power that overrides the temporal is recognized. The implication is that ultimate loyalty is pledged to Gd. Can the ruler trust such a divided loyalty? 

In the modern world, this faith in the greater power  has a degree of acceptance in a modified form. Although national interests are recognized as legitimate, certain acts - war crimes - are forbidden under all circumstances. 

Today is Sushan Purim, the celebration of the (temporary) victory of Esther over Haman's genocidal plot. We relate Haman to Aagag, the king of Amalek in the time of Samuel and Saul.  The Torah reading connected to Purim is about Amalek.  Amaleks's behavior is described in Parshat Zachor, the portion of Deuteronomy read on the Shabbath before Purim:

וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כׇּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחֲרֶ֔יךָ וְאַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ

how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.

Amalek was the first war criminal. They slaughtered non-combatants. Every party to the conflict shares a fear of Gd. This common Gd, demanding a modicum of civility ( a very low bar) is generally acceptable.

I imagine that many died guarding the temple and its service from the invaders.   What were they really  defending? Not the cycle of ash collection. 

Vayikra: The  Called

This week we start the third, the central, book of the Torah. This book starts with some details about the sacrificial rite: Which animals can be offered; where the blood is sprinkled, dabbed and spilled; which parts are burned where. This elaboration of the sacrificial rite is addressed to 

אָדָ֗ם כִּֽי־יַקְרִ֥יב מִכֶּ֛ם קׇרְבָּ֖ן. A human ( adam) who brings an offering. 

The is a reference to the Adam, the first person ( who never brought a recorded sacrifice) . The ritual is primitive, perhaps instinctual . It brings us back to the first pair of offerings and the tragic consequence:

וַֽיְהִ֖י מִקֵּ֣ץ יָמִ֑ים וַיָּבֵ֨א קַ֜יִן מִפְּרִ֧י הָֽאֲדָמָ֛ה מִנְחָ֖ה 

In the course of time, Cain brought an offering

Cain's rejected sacrifice and Abel's  fatal,  envy-generating, accepted offering is associated with the first murder.  Is the the sacrificial rite the source of Cain's murderous envy?  Or is the role of the sacrifice, in that story, just to demonstrate the emptiness of envy.  Any   perception of relative failure, no matter how  irrelevant or correctable, is enough to justify violent domination, murder, and war. Gd told Cain that he could win acceptance with effort and improvement. Cain chose to win by murdering the competitor. The basis of the battle did not matter. Cain had decided on the solution, any problem would suffice. 

This trajectory of sacrificial rite leading to tragic death is the arc of the book of Vayikra ( Leviticus). After outlining some details ,  the climax of Vayikra  is the death of Nadav and Avihu. The Gd-prescribed sacrificial rite is dangerous. Deviation from the prescription can be fatal. The mortal risk associated with error in the performance adds to the significance  of these mysteries. The stakes are high. Proper performance can win Divine approval and the benefits that brings. Malpractice can be fatal. 

This week we recite a special hatorah: Zachor - remember.  After reading the passage  in  that commands us to  recall the Amalek sneak attack, the haftorah discusses Saul's distorted attempt  to carry out the commandment to wipe out Amalek, including their (boycotted) sheep and cattle . When he returns, victorious, from battle, the prophet Samuel asks: 

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל וּמֶ֛ה קֽוֹל־הַצֹּ֥אן הַזֶּ֖ה בְּאׇזְנָ֑י וְק֣וֹל הַבָּקָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָנֹכִ֖י שֹׁמֵֽעַ׃ 

“Then what,”  said Samuel, “is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?”

Why were the assets spared? 

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שָׁא֜וּל מֵעֲמָלֵקִ֣י הֱבִיא֗וּם אֲשֶׁ֨ר חָמַ֤ל הָעָם֙ עַל־מֵיטַ֤ב הַצֹּאן֙ וְהַבָּקָ֔ר לְמַ֥עַן זְבֹ֖חַ לַי

Saul answered, “They were brought from the Amalekites, for the troops spared the choicest of the sheep and oxen for sacrificing to the LORD your God. And we proscribed the rest.”

 Those troops wanted the booty for an offering. The sheep and oxen would not be taken for personal gain, they would not be shorn and or worked or eaten; they would be presented to the glory of Gd and the sanctuary. This was a violation of the instructions. Gd had not commanded that the cattle be offered, the utilization of the loot in this way could, perhaps should, be construed as deriving a benefit from it, and thus forbidden. The troops had  made it up, and king Saul validated it.  That was a mistake that required regime change. 

The second half of the parsha deals with offerings brought for error and sin. Remembering  a forgotten sin or error  is mentioned as an occasion for the offering.  The repressed memory emerges. Study reveals that an action taken long ago was forbidden. A decision has played out, and the consequences now cause regret. The past cannot be undone, but the remorse can be marked as part of  a change in direction. 

הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשׇׁל־בּֽוֹ׃ 

^*Meaning of verse uncertain.

Surely, if you do right,
There is uplift.
But if you do not do right
Sin couches at the door;
Its urge is toward you,
Yet you can be its master.”

The sacrificial rite was dangerous, easily abused and misdirected. Now we must find new ways to redirect, understanding that even the prescribed methods often contained error.

Pikudei: Accounting

Pikudei: Accounting

The parsha opens with an accounting; it tallies the amount of currency metal - gold, silver, copper - that was used in the construction of the mishkan and identifies its uses.    I estimate that the gold and silver came to 77 million dollars. That is based on gold priced at $63.00 per gram; the shekel being 10 grams. Thus the 117,730 shekels of gold is 74 million dollars.  The 301,775 shekels of silver  come to 2.3 million dollars (valuing silver at $0.79 per gram).  The money value is what could be looted by a destroyer, the  salvage value., the value of the material as scrap.   How many Jewish fortunes started with scrap - the  junk business?

The true value of the mishkan ( and the Temples that replaced it) was not the price of its raw materials.  It was a great work of art.  It was a priceless Divine - Human cooperation, executed by the most gifted and inspired artists of the time.  The value of the raw materials was trivial when compared with the product that was created from them.  The magnificence of the priestly garb attracted the  allegiance of Alexander the great; he bowed before them ( Yoma 69a).  The value of that alliance is incalculable. 

This parsha ends the second book of the Torah. The book began with the enslavement of the Hebrews, describes their miraculous liberation from the bondage of Egypt, the hardships of the wilderness and the miracles that sustained the nation. The giving of the Torah, intertwined with the golden calf heresy, is described. Some of the laws of the torah are explicated. Most of the second half, the last five chapters, describe the mishkan ( tabernacle) and its contents.  The book ends with the assembly of the pieces and the cloud ( that is connected to Gd) residing over it, or in it; serving as a guide for the travels of the Hebrews. 

We celebrate the mishkan in its absence. The temple, and the service performed in it, has been gone for 2000 years.  We preserve the details of the mishkan, in all its repetition. It contained the great mystery, the tablets from Sinai. It was magical...but it is gone

 How could the ark  fail to protect itself against being looted?  Great, infinite, power is attributed to the Gd that conferred the tablets and prescribed the structure that would surround it. If the High Priest had a defect of intentionality, he would be struck dead when he entered the presence of this overwhelmingly holy object.  Yet, the Philistines captured it (I Samuel 4:11), it was (according to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon) take to Babylon; and the Romans destroyed the second Temple.  Where was the magic? 

The question is somewhat related to why Gd does not protect the innocents of every generation. How could  Bohdan Khmelnytsky organize the murder of tens of thousands of Jews in the Ukraine in the 17th Century? How could the Nazis and their local collaborators perpetrate their crimes ( in the same territory) ? How can  Putin conquer Ukraine?  See  Psalm 82 ( recited every Tuesday)

עַד־מָתַ֥י תִּשְׁפְּטוּ־עָ֑וֶל וּפְנֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים תִּשְׂאוּ־סֶֽלָה׃ 

How long will you judge perversely,
showing favor to the wicked? Selah

The temple and the ark are not magical - in that way. Their power is the bond between Gd and the people. When the people respect the bond, they protect the symbols, above all by living the covenant. Generosity is understood to be part of justice. The fair share is not the largest amount you can take without penalty. When the symbols work as a reminder of a Divine authority for good, the tablets and the ark protect the people -  and the people protect them.  When they are viewed economically - as treasures , as objects of envy- their value is reduced to scrap.