Portal:Judaism/Weekly Torah portion/Shemini

Shemini (שמיני) Levticus 9:1–11:47 The Weekly Torah portion in synagogues on Shabbat, Saturday, — “Today the Lord will appear to you." (Leviticus 9:4.)

On the eighth day of the ceremony to ordain the priests and consecrate the Tabernacle, Moses instructed Aaron to assemble calves, rams, a goat, a lamb, an ox, and a meal offering as sacrifices (called korbanot in Hebrew) to God, saying: “Today the Lord will appear to you."  They brought the korbanot to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Israelites assembled there.  Aaron offered the korbanot as Moses had commanded.  Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them.  Moses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out, they blessed the people again.  Then the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came forth and consumed the korbanot on the altar.  And the people shouted and fell on their faces. Acting on their own, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, laid incense on it, and offered alien fire, which God had not commanded. And God sent fire to consume them, and they died. Moses told Aaron, "This is what the Lord meant when He said: ‘Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people,’" and Aaron remained silent. Moses called Aaron’s cousins Mishael and Elzaphan to carry away Nadab’s and Abihu’s bodies to a place outside the camp. Moses instructed Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar not to mourn Nadab and Abihu and not to go outside the Tent of Meeting. And God told Aaron that he and his sons must not drink wine or other intoxicants when they entered the Tent of Meeting, so as to distinguish between the sacred and the profane. Moses directed Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar to eat the remaining meal offering beside the altar, designating it most holy and the priests’ due. And Moses told them that their families could eat the breast of the elevation offering and the thigh of the gift offering in any clean place. Then Moses inquired about the goat of sin offering, and was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar when he learned that it had already been burned and not eaten in the sacred area. Aaron answered Moses: "See, this day they brought their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things have befallen me! Had I eaten sin offering today, would the Lord have approved?" And when Moses heard this, he approved. God then instructed Moses and Aaron in the dietary laws of kashrut, saying: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Hebrew and English Text

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Commentary from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University (Conservative)

Commentary from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative)

Commentary by the Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)

Commentaries from Project Genesis (Orthodox)

Commentaries from Chabad.org (Orthodox)

Commentaries from Aish HaTorah (Orthodox)

Commentaries from the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (Reconstructionist)

Commentaries from My Jewish Learning (trans-denominational)