04-24-2025 Torah Commentary

Now that Passover has come and gone, it is time to catch up with our journey through the Pentateuch or first five books of the Hebrew Bible.  When we left off, we had just begun our reading of the second parashah in the Book of Leviticus.  Because of the holiday pause it behooves us to quickly review where we were before beginning this week’s parashah. 

 Genesis is a book about the creation of our family. It is written in a narrative style that often leaves much to the imagination and provides us with many more questions than answers.  The Bible’s second book, Exodus, takes us from the micro to the macro, from the familiar to the national. It is in Exodus that we are transformed.  We are no longer a clan but now become an independent people well on the way to nationhood.

 The Book of Leviticus (Sefer-Vayikra) is a different type of book.   Despite some beautiful phraseology and memorable quotes, Leviticus is not an easy book to read.  In the first parashah we read about the different forms of sacrifice (perhaps the modern term would be “fines”) that were to be performed as compensation for sins.  Taking the time to study the text from a modern perspective and translating the ideas into the regulations and laws of a modern secular state we soon learn that the text has a great deal to teach us regarding laws and punishments.  

 The name of this week’s parashah is “Shmini”  and you will find it in the Book of Leviticus 9:1-11:47.  When we first read Shmini, we have the impression that the parashah deals with a series of disjointed themes. The text informs us of a myriad of details dealing with our personal lives. However, if we read this text on a deeper level, we see that this is a text whose subtheme is what it means to be an adult.  This section in the subtlest of ways teaches us that a key difference between being a child and an adult.  Although adults often make choices for children, mature and free adults in most cases make their own choices and live with the consequences of their choices.  

Being a realistic book, Leviticus teaches us that in life we do not always receive everything we seek. To be an adult means to learn to live not only with life’s blessings but also to accept its disappointments. This week’s parashah also poses a number of questions that teach us how to be mature adults. For example, it asks us to know when to express our feelings.  The difference between a child and an adult is that the adult not only knows his/her feelings but when and where to express those feelings and when and where to be silent.  

This week’s parashah teaches us that when recounting an incident humans tend to construct their own narratives, and that these narratives are never complete.  It teaches that we tend to emphasize those parts of a story that benefit us and leave out those sections that are not to our benefit. Shmini reminds us that no personal story is ever complete.   A lesson from this week’s parashah is that no one is perfect, that we all make mistakes and we all need to be able to own those mistakes. 

This parashah, along with much of the Book of Leviticus forces us to face our own humanity, and to realize that it is easier to criticize another then to change oneself. Leviticus also teaches us that holiness comes through our willingness to admit our errors, correct them and then to forgive. These are not easy tasks, but then Leviticus is not an easy book.  What do you think?