I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs Mondays at 7:00 pm PDT on the rabbi’s cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page.
This week we study Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47).
* In the sacrificial system, if you didn’t have enough money for a pigeon, you could bring grain, but you’re not off the hook entirely if you’re poor.
* Should Orthodox parents worry about sending their kids to a secular university? Can Orthodox Judaism stand up to that challenge?
* Are we about to enter the era of Moshiach? From Chabad.org: “Finally, our sages describe the whole of human history as a seven-millennia week, consisting of 6,000 years of human labor in developing G-d’s world and a seventh millennium that is wholly Shabbat and rest, for life everlasting — the era of Moshiach.”
* I’ve often played with strange fire and I’m jolly grateful I haven’t been consumed. From Chabad.org: “A central event in the Parshah of Shemini is the death of Aaron’s two elder sons, Nadav and Avihu, who “offered a strange fire before G‑d, which He had not commanded”—the result being that “a fire went out from G-d and consumed them, and they died before G‑d.””
* The Torah reminds us not to let important moments pass by unnoticed.
* Is it important to have a beautiful synagogue? Why should all beauty be secular? God had beauty and music in the ancient temple. Men with deformities can’t serve as priests.
* The high priest is commanded to wear linen and wool, but only he. In this sacred garment, it is ok. For the rest of Jews, this is forbidden.
