What are we to make of this week's challenging Torah portion, Sh'mini, in which two of Aaron's sons, Nadav and Avihu are killed by God for offering "alien fire which God did not command them?" If you come to our Shabbat morning service tomorrow, you will hear a lovely explanation offered by our bar mitzvah.
What we know, however, is that Nadav and Avihu's deaths were a tragic outcome that began as a profound and complex ritual that served to dedicate the Tabernacle and ordain as priests, Aaron and his sons.
Rabbi Bernard Bamberger teaches that "the general intent of these chapters is plain. They emphasize the grandeur and importance of cult and priesthood. Through the sanctuary and its sacrifices, God's nearness to [God's] people is established and maintained." (Plaut Commentary p. 792)
Sacred rituals are essential to Jewish life. Rites and rituals have changed and developed over the centuries. However, the notion of bringing God "near to God's people" has always been at the center.
The weekly rituals of Shabbat ground and direct us, as Heschel teaches, to focus on the sanctity of time and space rather than things.
Annual rituals, such as the Passover Seder we recently observed help us refocus our attention on important issues of justice and freedom that sometimes stray from the forefront of our minds.
And there are rituals that are singularly important and momentous, because they happen once in a lifetime.
This Shabbat Karen and I are filled with pride as we prepare to mark one of these lifetime rituals in the life of our family when our first born son, Ezra, is called to the Torah and becomes bar mitzvah. I've watched hundreds of families go through this ritual, but nothing will prepare me for the abundant joy I know that Karen and I will feel as he celebrates this grand and important ritual of our people.
I am not sure how Ezra will feel tomorrow. Excited, confident, a bit nervous perhaps, proud and more. Above all, I hope he feels God's nearness around him, in the fringes of his tallit that wraps him in Jewish commitment, in the faces of family and friends who love him, and in the presence of his TBE family that has watched him grow up in front of their eyes. God will be near to us all tomorrow celebrating with joy.
Karen and I are looking forward to sharing this moment in the developing history of our family with you.
See you tonight at 6:30 p.m. for our musical Shabbat service and tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. for our Shabbat morning service during which Ezra Briskin becomes a bar mitzvah.
Shabbat Shalom,
