Shemini - 2022

Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמִינִי (Shemini) and Parshat Parah. Parshat Parah is one of the parshiot leading up to Pesach (Passover) and it reminds us that before we can eat the Pascal Offering, that we need to become purified. There is a specific procedure, that we can’t do now because we don’t have The Red Heifer. But it is a preparation and reminder of the upcoming holiday. I like to think of these Special Parshiot leading up to Pesach as runway lights, we’re getting there, we can see the lights.

In the parsha, we have the start of the offerings in the Mishkan/Tabernacle followed by a serious mistake. There are many Midrash stories about what Nadav and Avihu, 2 sons of Aharon, did. Some say they were inebriated (drunk), some say they only brought an offering not commanded. The result is that they died for this mistake. Using or not using Cloud technologies is not generally a life and death situation, however, there are some companies or organizations that may be on the cloud and do deal with life threatening situations. I’m thinking about the orgs that help during natural disasters. https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/nonprofits/disaster-response/

We also learn from Aharon’s reaction to the deaths many laws of mourning. This is significant to me as my mother’s Yahrzeit (anniversary of a death) is this Sunday. https://www.dubrowin.org/mom/index.shtml

May we all learn how to help others in their times of need and those in mourning. I’ll shoot for a more upbeat drash next week. Shabbat Shalom.