Shemini - 2020

Chevra, this week’s parsha is שמיני (Shemini). The parsha starts with the kickoff of a new region, aka the priestly service in the mishkan. Soon after the start, however, Nadav and Avihu die doing an unauthorized service. The IAM was setup correctly, but these Admins went beyond what they should have. In our world this would include a large bill item and potentially being fired. Here they were fired for reel (they burned up). This is followed by a dispute between Aharon and Moshe. Moshe disagrees, but then commits when he sees that what Aharon is saying makes more sense. That the offering brought by Nadav and Avihu should not be eaten by their father. We learn a number of laws of mourning from this parsha and this incident. While talking about the consumption of the sacrifice, the Torah goes on to tell us about the laws of Kashrut. Now that we have all gone through this most interesting holiday season, may we all be together again before the next holiday season (Yom HaAtzmaut, Lag BeOmer, and Shavuot). Shabbat Shalom.