Making Meat
Apr 21, 2017 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Shemini
Dr. Mark Post of the University of Maastricht stunned the world several summers ago by producing the most expensive burger in history. Working from stem cells taken from a live cow, his team cultured muscle tissue that they then turned into an edible product resembling ground beef. Amongst all the specifications for kosher animals in this week’s parashah, lab-grown meat is unsurprisingly absent. Jews therefore want to know—is it kosher? Could it even be pareve?
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Silence Speaks Volumes
Mar 26, 2011 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Shemini
We’ve all been on both sides of this story. Sometimes we find ourselves as the one in mourning or going through a particularly hard time, having to put up with the well-intentioned words of friends and acquaintances that inadvertently rub salt in our wounds; and at other times, we find ourselves trying to offer words of comfort, and speaking banalities that—even as they come out of our mouths—we realize are of no help.
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Easing the Transition From Shabbat
Apr 1, 2016 By Shira D. Epstein | Commentary | Shemini
The parashah delineates several distinctions between holy and unholy: what constitutes an acceptable sacrifice; which animals fall within the category of kosher; the actions that might transition a vessel, oven, or garment to the status of unclean.
At the end of Shabbat, we invoke these same words during havdalah, praising God “who makes a distinction between holy and profane.”
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How Can People Be Holy?
Apr 1, 2016 By Stephen A. Geller | Commentary | Shemini
Shemini (Lev. 9–11) contains two main topics: the elaborate sacrificial rites performed on the eighth day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the laws regarding kosher and nonkosher animals. The first topic details the numerous sacrifices accompanying the last stages of the dedication of the shrine, which reach an intensity matched only by the yearly rites of the Day of Atonement. This is no accident, because the annual event is meant to restore the shrine to the purity it possessed on the day it was dedicated.
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Fiery Zeal
Apr 17, 2004 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Shemini
The Bible presents an idealized picture of life – how good it could be – but tempers that picture with frequent intrusions of tragedy. The creation story itself sets that pattern. The Garden of Eden is perfect, but human beings do not live there for long. Adam and Eve disobey God, and are banished into a world increasingly gripped by cruelty.
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Everyday Distinctions
Mar 29, 2003 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Shemini
Ask an observant Jew why he or she keeps kosher. Many will reply, “because God so commanded” or “because it is a mitzvah in the Torah.” Many others will reply, “Because keeping kosher forces me to think about my Jewish identity every time that I sit down to eat. Kashrut compels me to make choices. Kashrut distinguishes me as a Jew.”
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Sacred Space
Apr 6, 2002 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Shemini
The writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel are justifiably popular. Many educators, especially but not only in the Conservative movement, teach Heschel’s views on prayer, Shabbat, and God’s place in the lives of the individual and the nation. One of Heschel’s most frequently talked-about concepts is that Judaism holds time to be more sacred than space. In Heschel’s most famous example, the Shabbat has greater holiness than any place or building.
Faith in the Face of Loss
Apr 6, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shemini
Death in old age is sad but not tragic. The pain of loved ones left behind is tempered by the knowledge that this is the way of the world. Thus King David on his deathbed instructs Solomon, his son, soberly: “I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man” (I Kings 2:2). There is no reason to protest. The loss will take resolve to overcome, but the naturalness of the death holds its own comfort.
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