Parshah Shemini

Shemini (Hebrew for "eighth", the third word in this parshah is the 26th weekly Torah portion. It constitutes Leviticus 9:1 - 11:47. It tells the story of the consecration of the tabernacle, the death of Nadab and Abihu, and the dietary laws of kashrut.

There are things that we can only describe as a bit puzzling to the modern mind in this week's parsha.

-Lots of blood and guts in the sacrifices that consecrate the tabernacle.
-Nadab and Abihu get fried when they offer strange fire to G-d
-Aaron holds his tongue about this after Moses talks with him...
Then Moses said unto Aaron: 'This is it that HaShem spoke, saying: Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.' And Aaron held his peace.

-Various animals/foods are distinguished as clean and unclean

This seems to be the guiding principle of the parshah... perhaps Leviticus (and the commandments in general)...

11:44, 45 For I am HaShem your G-d; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy; neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of swarming thing that moveth upon the earth. For I am HaShem that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your G-d; ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

"The Hebrew word for "holiness," "kedushah" ( קדושה‎) has the connotation of "separateness." That which is holy in Judaism is set apart, and the separation is maintained by both legal and spiritual measures. Certain places and times are intrinsically sacred, and strictures are placed on one's actions in those situations"(Wikepedia).

At this time I'm not really sure what to make of a parshah like this...

G-d consuming offerings and Nadab and Abihu (even with good reason- some have posited drunkeness)... it all reminds me of... well, I hate to say it... The scene in the wizard of Oz when Dorothy (Toto) finds the wizard behind the curtain...

Is it possible that G-d's initial attempts to separate out a group of people as a holy nation for His purposes started out as an experiment of sorts? In other words, G-d stood behind the curtain throwing levers to create fire and smoke to awe the peeps into going along...

As time goes on you find no such antics (certainly not to this degree) in the kingdom (David, Solomon -->) and exilic/prophetic periods... Nothing of this kind reported in the days of the inter=testamental period, the days of Jesus on... The NT reports various healings but nothing quite like the giving of the law/Sinai and the tabernacle in the desert incidents.

So did G-d change his/her game plan for communicating with the peeps? And, why have we not had any smoke and fire for the past 20 centuries or so... Why none in my (your) lifetime?

It is most likely that we see an evolution in how the people of G-d writing Torah express their perceptions/conceptions of G-d... It's interesting to think of the Jewish Bible less as a story of G-d's dealings with the peeps and more as a story of the evolution of the peeps perceptions/conceptions of G-d and the laws of the people...

Hmmm... better start re-looking at some reformed and reconstructionist weltanschaungs...

PS This week is Passover... this year in my heart and mind... next year, perhaps a move in the Jewish Holidays from heart and mind to heart, mind and hands... time will tell.