April 5, 2024 / 26 Adar II 5784
Let’s talk about patience.
I write these words just minutes after a 4.7 magnitude earthquake announced its presence in Penn Valley and across a wide swath of the northeastern United States. Along with you, I’m now waiting (maybe patiently, maybe not) to learn more about what just happened.
So far, I know this: the earth just shook and I’m feeling, well, rattled.
The interplay of patience and anxiety is one of the themes of Parashat Sh’mini.
The middle of Sh’mini (the very middle words of the entire Torah in fact) features a debate between Aaron and Moses over a detail of cultic practice. In the very moments after the tragic (and unexplained) death of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, is it proper for the senior priests (Aaron and his remaining sons who are also now mourners) to eat the purification offering (the usual rule) or should it be burnt on the altar? An obscure technical discussion if ever there was one; and also a dilemma with life and death consequences.
Aaron’s sons, without discussion or guidance, burn the offering on the altar. They jump to a conclusion with no deliberation. Moses inquires urgently (those are the Torah’s middle words – darosh darash!) and angrily about their action.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 13:1) describes it this way: What is darosh darash? Two inquiries; he said to them: If you slaughtered, why did you not eat? If you were not going to eat, why did you slaughter? Immediately, Moses was angry with Elazar and with Itamar (Leviticus 10:16). When he became angry, a halakha escaped him.
Another, earlier, Midrash (Sifra Sh’mini 2:12) explains that officiousness and pedantry leads always to error. Moses’s impatience, in other words, leads him astray and to the wrong conclusion!
Impatience matched by more impatience yields conflict, resolved in this instance with a return to patience and humility. Aaron responds to Moses’s angry outburst with words of explanation, words which lead Moses to calm down and to acknowledge another point of view. Patience saves the day and leads to a better conclusion.
Here’s how the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 13:1 again) narrates the moment: Immediately, Moses heard and he approved (Leviticus 10:20). He dispatched a herald to the entire camp and said: I was mistaken regarding the halakha, and Aaron my brother came and taught me.
Quite a turnaround! And quite a good lesson and model for us.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David
