Thoughts on Parshat Shmini and Yom HaShoah

Leviticus 9, the opening chapter of this week’s Torah reading, deals with ritual laws that since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70C.E. no longer are a part of Jewish ritual practice. Chapter 11 is an arbitrary list of acceptable and forbidden foods that became the basis for the Laws of Kashrut.. In between there is a mysterious tale about Aaron’s response to the deaths of his sons Nadav and Abihu. In chapter 10 verses 1 and 2, we read:

“Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it. They offered it before Adonai “Aish Zara”, Alien Fire, which he had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from Adonai and consumed them; thus they died instantaneously at the instance of Adonai.”

In verse 3 Moses attempts to explain or console his brother by saying: “This must be what God meant when he said “through those holy to Me I show myself holy and gain glory before the people.” The torah tells us at the end of this verse that Aaron’s response was SILENCE.

Moses’ failed attempt to comfort his brother reminds me that whether we are speaking of the natural death of an aged loved one; the tragic death of the young to disease; the loss of innocent life to violence; or the deaths caused by terror attacks and war, often times our initial immediate response, is silence.

What lessons are there for us to learn from this awful and awesome description of the death of Aaron’s sons? Why does the Torah remind us of this incident two other times, including in Leviticus 16, that is not only the opening of our Torah portion two weeks from now , but also, the Torah reading assigned for Yom Kippur morning? What lessons does this story have for 21st century Jews?

I can understand and empathize with Aaron’s silence in our Torah reading, today. Silence is often our first reaction to tragedy. In a House of Shiva, our very Presence is often more comforting than words we say to the mourner. However, silence is at times an insufficient response to grief.

Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book When Bad Things Happen to Good People written 45 years ago challenges us to struggle with the unexplainable reality that the theology of Deuteronomy which teaches us that Good actions will be rewarded and Evil actions punished is an insufficient answer. Kushner taught that Belief in a God, who is All Powerful, Just, Compassionate, and both Transcendent and Imminent is often challenged by human experience.

In my personal life and throughout my rabbinic career there have been a multitude of experiences that lead me to truly empathize with Aaron’s Silence; Harold Kushner’s struggle; and even the anger of Job, a book that many Biblical scholars see as a Second Temple response to our story of Aaron’s Silence in our parsha this week. However, I certainly cannot see Silence as a model for our response to the death of so many of Aaron’s descendants in the Alien Fires of The Holocaust. Silence is an insufficient response to mass murder, be it the Holocaust or other instances of Genocide, irrespective of who the victims or the perpetrators may be. While the tragic loss of lives, to acts of Terrorism or even Natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms or draughts that leave hundreds, thousands or millions dead, can often time leave us at a loss of words with which to express both our grief and our anger, there is also a responsibility to speak up for victims and to speak out against perpetrators of acts of violence, such as we have experienced in the first quarter of the 21st century.

As often occurs, Parshat Shimini is read this year on the Shabbat preceding Yom Ha Shoah. To me the story of Aaron and his sons has become a lens through which I can view the Holocaust and a continual reminder that I have the right and responsibility to REMEMBER; and the right and responsibility to QUESTION BOTH GOD AND HUMANITY. While the source of the alien fire of Nadav and Abihu remains a mystery, the source of the Fire of Auschwitz is clear. The flames were lit by the Nazis, but fueled by the apathy of the rest of the world. On this 83rd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, we must never forget that too many “good people” standing silent for too long, was a contributing factor to the death of tens of millions, in WWII, whose numbers included the genocide of 6 million Jews Over the first quarter of the 21st century, the consuming fires of War and the Flames of Hate that are manifest in words and acts of antisemitism and racism and xenophobia and have resulted in the deaths of so many caused by terrorism and war, and the devastation of communities, do we, have not just the right, but the responsibility, to speak up and speak out against all who promulgate hate?

At this season of remembrance, when we remember this week the victims of the Holocaust and will transition next week to remember the Soldiers of Israel who have fallen in battle and the citizens of Israel who died in terror attacks we will then transition to celebrate the miracle of the birth of The State of Israel. The words of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 are shouting out to me, “For everything there is a season, a time for every experience under heaven. …… A time to weep and a time laugh… A time to grieve and a time to dance”… and for me this year, in particular, a time to keep silent and a time to speak out.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)