 |
|
 |
Parshat Shemini
2006
The Kashrut Connection
Oftentimes in the world of Jewish communal service, we forget what it is that separates Jews, what makes us distinct and what makes us a community. When Jews came to North America in 1654, they brought the concept of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) with them. When these early Americans sat with the founding fathers of this country, it was at a different table, eating different food. This action speaks to two thoughts: kashrut is something that defined these Jews as a community, among themselves and within themselves; kashrut also served to separate them from the rest of the people in their midst. Kashrut was thus a defining factor in creating and dividing this community and perhaps had an impact on the relationship between Jews and their new home. Kashrut plays a large role in this week's parsha and necessitates questions of what role kashrut played in the time of Moshe and Aaron, in 1654 and today.
Parshat Shemini, which literally refers to the opening of the Tent of Meeting on the eighth day, includes both a story as well as many instructions. The first half of the text tells us of Moshe, Aaron and Aaron's sons. Moshe asks Aaron to make a sacrifice, "making expiation for yourself and for the people; and sacrifice the people's offering and make expiation for them, as the Lord has commanded." Aaron follows the specific instructions with regard to the slaughtering and presentation of the sin offering, as told to him by Moshe. When the sacrifice is complete, "the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar." This was proof that God exists and gave the Israelites faith in the actions of Moshe and Aaron.
With the example set of how to sacrifice, and, after spending seven days in the Tent of Meeting for their period of ordination, two of Aaron's sons offer the Lord a strange fire, and they are immediately killed. Aaron's sons are carried away, and Aaron is told not to mourn publicly for fear of angering the entire community. Instead, he is rejoined with an instruction from God: "Drink no wine or other intoxicant...for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the clean and the unclean." The rest of the Parsha outlines the rules of kashrut-what animals, birds, and sea creatures can and can not be eaten, and God tells us to follow the instructions so that "you shall be holy, for I am holy."
The initial question I struggle with is, what is the connection between what has just happened to Aaron's sons and God's introduction of the laws of kashrut? Why does God choose this point in time to dictate the rules of kashrut? Is God showing us that there are important choices to be made in life? Kashrut is presented as a distinction that we must recognize-a difference between certain living things, that some are pure and holy, that some are not. Rabbi Lauren Eichler Berkun of the Jewish Theological Seminary writes, "By now we are familiar with the theme. We must make choices: not all animals may be sacrificed. We must make distinctions: not all fires are godly. We must make separations: there is a time and a place to mourn, to drink, to feast ..." We learn that God has very specific answers, and the stage is now set for the laws of kashrut to be passed down.
These laws take up about half of the parsha and are very exact in their nature. I want to offer the idea that it is not these laws themselves that make Jews and the Jewish community, but it is our ability to make choices-between pure and impure, holy and unholy, and between kosher and unkosher. As American Jews, we are part of a society that demands we be a community, and that community demands we be part of the greater society. In this overlap, we are faced with choice: to be kosher, to be part of this community, to try to make change in ourselves and our society. The choice to be a Jewish community within the context of the larger American society originated with the first Jews that came to the United States in 1654 and through the waves of immigrants that followed-Jews of different backgrounds with different customs came to form a culture that requires we decide who we are.
Prepared by Abbey Greenberg, Tzedek program associate, Hillel's Schusterman International Center
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Shemini at MyJewishLearning.com.
|
 |
|
 |