This week's portion includes one of the strangest episodes in the Bible: two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, are killed during a public sacrifice when, in their zeal, they bring their own fire to the Altar and are consumed by God's fire.
In the midst of what must have been extreme shock and anguish, Moses tells Aaron, essentially, that the show must go on. He also reframes the loss as an expression of love: God took Aaron's sons because they wanted to be near Him.
When we studied this example in religious school, we were also told that the severe punishment Aaron's suns suffered was part of the price of leadership: those in positions of power must be judged more harshly to set an example.
The portion also includes some more laws of kashrut, or the ritual purity of eating. The Torah presents a list of non-kosher birds. Tradition holds that each has some character trait that makes it unfit for human consumption.
The crane, or "chasidah," for example, is a kind bird; its very name in Hebrew derives from the word "chesed," or kindness. There is one problem: the crane is kind to other cranes, but it is not kind to anything else. Hence it is flawed.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
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An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
