After giving birth, and having a period of recuperation, the mother brings a sin offering. Many commentators wonder why? What did she do wrong? And some suggest she may have cursed in her pain or sworn never to go through it again. But there is another way of looking at this. Giving birth is so important and so significant for…
Author: Jeremy Rosen
Circumcision
We know about circumcision from Avraham’s circumcising his two sons. Also from the failure of Moses to circumcise his son that nearly caused his death. But here we have the actual law stated as part of the constitution, rather than through a narrative. Why is circumcision such fundamental law and why is there no female equivalent in Judaism? Once again…
Nadav & Avihu
Aaron’s two elder sons, Nadav and Avihu were participating in the ceremony of the dedication of the Tabernacle. It was the inauguration of the ceremonial role of the priests and the final reconciliation of everyone after the Golden Calf rebellion. It’s the finale of the ceremonials. The sacrificial rituals were performed and fire came from the sky, struck like lightening…
Comforting Aaron
The two sons of Aaron, his putative successors, were burnt to death at the Altar. They had seen their father bring incense and then they decided without his permission to imitate him. All kinds of different reasons are given to explain why they did it. Some positive and others are negative. Moses then tries to comfort the devastated Aaron by…
Moses Deduced the Law
After Aarons two sons die, Moses expects the ceremony of dedication to continue. This involved eating from the different sacrifices that comprised the dedication ceremony of the Tabernacle and the installation of Aaron and his two remaining sons Elazar and Itamar. Aaron himself does not know for certain whether he should continue with ceremony of dedication. So, he takes the…
Kosher Food
The laws of what animals, birds and fish are permitted are given this week as part of the Book of Vayikra which deals with issue of personal purity. Purity in Biblical Hebrew has nothing to do with cleanliness as we understand it. Quite the contrary, no matter how clean a person might be, certain actions and states placed them in…