This Shabbos we discussed parsha Shemini, including
commentary from Rav Yeager. I would like
to thank Barack for hosting our Kiddush.
Rob Golder led discussion.
Please continue to keep Howard’s mom, Bracha Bat Malka, in
your thoughts and prayers. May she have
a refuah schlema.
I’d like to wish mazel tov to Avishai and Esther and their
families. The wedding is to take place
April 25 at 10:30 AM CST. There is going
to be a live video, please contact David Schlesinger or me for the link.
We discussed the week’s parsha, and how much of the kosher and purity laws, come from this parsha.
We discussed how Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, both lost their lives as
the apparent result of not following directives from Hashem and Moshe. Some commentators add to the reasons they
lost their lives, that they were not married, and they were trying to
perform their duties while intoxicated.
We discussed that Nadab and Abihu offered up sacrifices to Hashem that
were not called for. We discussed the idea that perhaps Nadab and Abihu were martyrs and knew they would
die, but did what they did for a greater cause.
The idea being that this human sacrifice of themselves would result in greater honor for
the creator. We discussed how Moshe said
to his brother Aaron, that through their deaths, honor for Hashem would
increase amongst the people.
We discussed the argument against this idea, that in Judaism
we do not seek martyrdom, and only give up our lives when the alternative is one
of the 3 cardinal sins. These sins
include murder, sexual immorality, and idol worship. In the case of Nadab and Abihu, they were not
facing any of the 3 cardinal sins as an alternative to giving up their
life. Nevertheless, it can be argued
that Nadab and Abihu had good intentions, and even when making the wrong
choices, good can sometimes come out of it.
We discussed the law that the Kohem Gadol, who were in
charge of serving the temple, are not allowed to mourn. Aaron, and his 2 remaining sons, were thus
not allowed to mourn the death of Nadab and Abihu. This is a Kiddush Hashem that they did not
mourn and kept up with their duties in the temple.
We discussed what is meant by a Kiddush Hashem. Kiddush Hashem means to bring honor to Hashem’s
name. We discussed that we can do this
with both life and death. When we allow
our lives to be taken, rather than committing one of the 3 cardinal sins, this
is a Kiddush Hashem through death. When we
act as honorable, spiritual, and moral people, who study and follow the Torah, this
is a Kiddush Hashem through life.
We discussed that the opposite of a Kiddush Hashem, is a
Hillul Hashem. We discussed how through
out the Torah, where it states that we did things “as commanded”, this is a
Kiddush Hashem. However, when Nadab and
Abihu offered sacrifices that were not called for, it states in the Torah that
they did what they were not “commanded to do”.
We discussed that even when we have good intentions, if we do not follow
the Torah and commands of Hashem, it can be a Hillul Hashem.
However, as stated above, there has been some commentary that what Nadab and
Abihu did was to restore Hashem’s honor to an entire community, in which case
it would be a Kiddush Hashem. We
discussed what role good intentions play in determining whether one committed a
sin. And we discussed if we are allowed
to give up our life to save an entire community.
We discussed some of the halakuh related to our historic
legal system. In order to convict
someone in a capital case requires 2 witnesses.
It does not matter how much forensic evidence there is. 2 witnesses are required, so that it is very
hard to get a conviction in a capital case. Contrast that to our modern secular system, in which forensic evidence is often considered more reliable than eye witness testimony.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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