26. SHEMINI

By Rabbi Phyllis Berman

The traditional synagogue reading from the Torah for Shabbat Shemini includes the passage in which two sons of the High Priest, Aaron, bring "strange fire" as an offering to God, and are consumed in an instant as if they had become the burnt offering. (Lev. 10)

Though most traditional commentators focus on what Nadav and Abihu did "wrong" in offering "strange fire" that caused them to be consumed, I go in a completely different direction.

I think about "strange", that which is unfamiliar or unknown, like a "stranger" or an idea before it's become popular. I think about how innovators -- in science, in spirituality, in music and art, in loving -- are ahead of their time, inspired by and absorbed by that which most others might consider "strange". I think about how, especially when one is creative, one can become totally consumed by the creative process.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Fires to Consume, Fires to Enlighten: Sh'mini

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow*

It reads, to modern eyes, like a cookbook. The Torah portion of Sh'mini begin