We almost always read parshat shemini during the period of tragedy and transition from Passover to Yom Hashoah, and Yom Hazikaron. We often ask ourselves what is the “right” reaction to unfair tragedy. We usually try to assign meaning to what has happened, or to blame someone else or even the entire system (e.g., the hospital, government, teachers). Fortunately, today, we have usually stopped blaming the victim (he smoked; he was fat; they went like sheep to the gas chambers; they didn’t see the writing on the wall; they were driving in the territories; she dressed provocatively; it’s dangerous to travel when it’s raining; they went to a party on Simchat Torah instead of going to the synagogue). We try to ‘understand’; to make sense of what is totally incomprehensible as a way to keep ourselves sane. But the truth of the matter is that bad happens to good people and good to bad people and that is the way of the world. There are those who say in the liturgy “al het” –we have sinned–for things that are beyond our control and beat their breasts as they pray. This approach will not result in salvation, nor in safety from evil or disease, since there is no absolute protection from the inevitable, the crazy person, disease, terrorism, and the arbitrary whim of God towards those who are close to him.

But what if God, the creator of both good and evil, is behind it all. What if He has not made clear what He wants. What if the sacrifice of animals, as a substitute for human beings, is something that He considers proper, yet not enough.  I have a very strange reading of this week’s parsha which will make some people (and maybe everyone) very angry. I will be leading up to it. But first a bit of background.

HOLOCAUST AND OLAH—SHOAH

The word Shoah comes from the prophet Tzefaniah 1:15: It will “be a day of wrath, trouble and distress, calamity and desolation [יום שואה ומשואה] darkness and deep gloom…” The word Holocaust, the early translation of olah, comes from the Greek word, olos (whole) kaustos (completely burnt) which means burnt entirely or went up in flames as a whole, and probably derived from the Septuagint, the translation of the Bible into Greek. In Early English bibles (like the King James Version, translated by William Tyndale), the word olah  עלה, the burnt offering was translated as holocaust.

In the first chapter of parshat Shemini (the eighth day) the word olah appears 8 times. In Chapter 10 it appears only once, at the end of the chapter. It has been translated variously as “burnt offering of” (most translations); “offering up” (Schocken Bible) “ascent offering” (Kehot Humash) and in two 19th century French translations as “holocaust”.

Prends un veau adulte pour expiatoire et un bélier pour holocauste, tous deux sans défaut, et amène-les devant l’Éternel.

Il dit à Aharone: prends un veau, bétail pour (victime du) péché et un bélier pour holocauste, sans défaut, et présente (les) devant l’Éternel.

THE AKEDAH

As a prelude to the story of Nadav and Avihu, I should point out that a reference to their death is in the parsha of Aharei Mot, which is also read on Yom Kippur. We should keep in mind that the High Holiday season begins with the “akedah” stories of the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, the former being sent off to die in the desert. He is miraculously saved by an angel who tells Hagar where there is water. The latter, Isaac is miraculously saved by Abraham seeing a ram which turns out to be a substitute for his son Isaac. The eternal question: was Abraham meant to actually sacrifice his two beloved sons? In the Akedah story, the word olah appears a few times. God tells Abraham to:

“Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering וְהַעֲלֵ֤הוּ שָׁם֙ לְעֹלָ֔ה  on one of the heights that I will point out to you.”

Later on, Isaac points out to his father:

Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the........

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