Here’s a video of this week’s Torah Thoughts read by the Rabbi if you’d prefer not to read it: Torah Thoughts by Rabbi Alex, Parashat Shemini
In the year 1752, Benjamin Franklin may or may not have sent a kite into the sky with a key attached during a lightning storm. This, as any school child is well aware, was his way of testing electricity. But, what it really led to was the invention of the lightning rod, a simple device placed on top of a house to prevent future fires. Franklin can also be credited with setting up the first fire department in 1736, thus saving countless lives along the way. As, Franklin once wrote: “an ounce of prevention… a pound of cure.” His actual kite experiment, if conducted as he suggested, would have led to certain death. Luckily for us, tragedy was avoided, as he most likely, only picked up an ambient charge from the lightning and not a direct hit. As another saying, not attributed to Franklin tells us, “if you play with fire, you’ll be burned.
This is exactly what happens at the beginning of this week’s portion, Parashat Shemini, in the book of Leviticus, as Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu bring a “foreign fire” to the sanctuary and are consumed in flame. It is one of the most horrendous incidents in all of Torah, decimating the priestly family instantaneously, in a pubic, gruesome fashion. While the words of the Torah cannot convey the full devastation in the moment, it is one simple phrase that stands out, “vayidom Aharon, and “Aaron was silent.” Here is the man recruited to help Moses speak with Pharaoh, and this tragedy has taken away his words. The priestly duties, burning sacrificial offerings next to raging fires, are inherently dangerous and, even when all goes according to plan, the story of Nadab and Abihu highlights just what the stakes are. We too have high stakes, the threat of which keeps rabbis, cantors, and board members up at night. We, like Benjamin Franklin suggested, need to be vigilant, striving to remove potential dangers, before calamity occurs. So, check your smoke detectors and please, if you are driving don’t text.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
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Last Updated on 04/21/2017 by wpadm