Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat SheminiRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Shemini · שמיני · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:06Parashat Shemini. This week's parasha has 910:09pesukim, and the parasha talks about the inauguration of the Mishkan, which took place on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, as well as the kosher animals.0:17We divided the parasha into five parts. The first part of the parasha, the Torah tells us the events that took place on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, which is the Yom HaShemini, the eighth day.0:26Second part of the parasha, the Torah tells us about the death of Nadav and Avihu.0:32Third part of the parasha, the Torah tells us about the kosher animals, the kosher species.0:36Fourth part of the parasha, the Torah tells us about laws of0:40tumah. And finally, the parasha comes back and tells us a few short laws about the creepy creatures of what we can eat and we cannot eat.0:49Seventeen mitzvot in this week's parasha, six mitzvot aseh and eleven mitzvot0:54lo taaseh. And in Sefer HaChinuch, they number from number 149 until 165.0:59Let's get to the parasha in depth,1:02and we begin with the first part of the parasha. Torah tells us about the events that took place on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the eighth day.1:07Why is it called the eighth day? Rosh Chodesh should be the first day.1:10And here we need a little bit of1:13background, and that is that Moshe Rabbeinu was told to put up the Mishkan on Chaf Gimmel Adar,1:18and Moshe put up the Mishkan for seven consecutive days.1:22He did what we learned last week's parasha, Parashat Tzav.1:24However, Hashem did not appear yet.1:27There was no sign from Hashem that He's coming back to the Mishkan.1:31So finally, Moshe calls over Aharon in this week's parasha, Vayehi bayom haShemini, on the eighth day, which was Rosh Chodesh Nisan,1:37and he tells Aharon that it looks like Hashem wants you to become the Kohen Gadol, for you to perform the avodah, and you should bring the korbanot.1:47And therefore, Moshe commands Aharon to bring animals for his korban and for the sake of the Jewish people.1:53For Aharon's sake, Aharon is to bring a calf, an egel. For korban chatat, a ram and ayil for korban2:01olam, and for the sake of the Jewish people he's to bring a he-goat for chatat, a calf and a lamb for olam, a bull and a ram for shelamim, and finally mincha mixed with oil.2:15Then the Torah tells us how Aharon brought the2:17korbanot. First, Aharon brings the olat tamid.2:19What's the olat tamid?2:20Although the parashah doesn't say it, or doesn't say it clearly, it's hinted in the2:25parashah that Aharon first brings the korban olah, which is the daily sacrifice that was brought every single day in the morning,2:29and then Aharon performs the special avodah, the special services of the day of inauguration.2:36First, Aharon brings the egel chatat, the ram, the calf that was brought for the sake of korban2:42chatat, which was done in order to be as a kaparah for Aharon's participation in2:49chet ha'egel. And what he does is that after shechitah, he dips his hand in the blood and applies it to the horns of the2:55mizbeach. Afterwards, Aharon burns the emurim, the fats, on the3:00mizbeach, and then the rest of the animal, unlike a normal chatat, the rest of the animal was chopped up and taken outside the Jewish camp to be3:06burnt. Next, Aharon brings the3:09eil ha'olah, and again with the eil ha'olah, what he does is the ram that's brought for the korban3:14olah, he slaughters it, he takes the blood, and this time he applies it,3:18shtei matanot sheba'arba, he applies it twice to the edges of the mizbeach, hitting all four sides of the wall,3:23cuts up the animal and burns its limbs on the mizbeach as a regular korban3:28olam, and then afterwards he rinses the emurim, the fats, and the innards of the animal, and he burns them on the3:36mizbeach. The next animal that Aharon brings is the korbanot for the sake of the Jewish people, which is the se'ir chatat asher3:44la'am. He goat for the sake of the nasi, and that's done exactly in the same way that he did the agel hatat, which was a korban3:51chatat. Next, Aharon brings the korban of olat, the olah of the Jewish people, and that's the calf and the lamb,4:00and he does it in the same way that he brought his own korban4:02olah, which is after applying the blood in the two corners of the4:07mizbeach, he chops it up and burns all the limbs as well as the fats on the4:12mizbeach. Afterwards, the sixth korban to be brought on that day was the korban4:16mincha, which is made from flour and oil, and just like all the other korbanot, Aharon takes a kemitzah;4:23he takes a three-fingerful, and from the flour with the oil he burns on the4:29mizbeach. And then Aharon brings the seventh korban of the day, which is a korban4:34shelamim for the sake of the Jewish people, which was from the bull and the ram.4:37And here Aharon applies the blood in the same way that he did with the korban4:42olah, which is hitting the two corners of the mizbeach, applying it to all four walls of the4:49mizbeach. Then he does tenufah, like every other korban4:51shelamim, by placing the fats of the bull and ram on top of the4:55chazeh and the shok, which is the breast as well as the right thigh, and after waving it he burns the fats on the5:01mizbeach. Other korbanot that were brought also on Rosh Chodesh Nisan5:04were not mentioned in this week's parasha again directly,5:07were the seir chatat of Rosh Chodesh.5:09Every Rosh Chodesh, and this was Rosh Chodesh Nisan,5:12we brought in the Beit HaMikdash as well as in the Mishkan a he-goat as a korban5:18chatat. And also what was brought was, what's found in Parashat Naso,5:22the korban of the first of the Nesiim, who is Nachshon ben Aminadav, was also offered on that day.5:29After Aharon brings his korbanot. It seems that there was a delay.5:34Hashem doesn't respond, and Aharon is embarrassed,5:37and he feels that Hashem did not want to accept his offerings5:39because he participated in the5:41chet ha'egel. So Moshe and Aharon both together pray,5:46and they say the pasuk,5:51Vayehi noam Adonai Eloheinu aleinu, ma'aseh yadenu konenah aleinu, ma'aseh yadenu konenehu, and they pray that Hashem should bring the Shechinah in all of our deeds, what we did,5:57and Hashem appears to the Jewish people.5:58How does He appear? What is the6:00sign? A fire comes out from heaven, consumes all of the animals that were on the6:05mizbeach, and the nation sees what happened, and they realize that Hashem came back6:09and He forgave them.6:10As it says in pasuk, and they were all joyous, they all vayaronu,6:13the whole nation yelled out together in tremendous joy.6:16We move on now to the second part of the6:18parashah. As the celebrations were going on,6:21the two older children of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, who were still single at the time,6:26they offer a korban ketoret.6:28A ketoret is a very holy korban, which we spoke about in parashat6:32Ki Tisa, and they bring it on the6:34mizbeach. Some say it was brought in, the Kodesh6:36Kodashim; some say it was only brought on the6:38mizbeach hazahav. In any case, they were not commanded to do so,6:40and as a result, the fire from the ketoret comes out,6:44and it goes through the noses of Nadav and Avihu6:46and burns them on the inside, killing them on the spot.6:50However, their bodies still remained intact.6:52What is the reason that Hashem killed Nadav and Avihu?6:55So Rav Dessler, in his book Michtav MeEliyahu, chelek bet, brings from all different types of sources7:02sixteen reasons of why Nadav and Avihu were killed.7:05We're only going to say three quick reasons.7:08Number one is that they decided a halachic ruling7:13without consulting with the Gedolei Hador, Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon7:17HaKohen. They also, according to some opinions, they performed the service after drinking wine,7:21and the main reason, as it says in7:24the Torah, they were not commanded to bring this ketoret.7:28In any case, the reaction to the death of Nadav and Avihu7:31was that, first of all, Moshe explains to Aharon7:34that this was actually foretold by Hashem,7:37that something great will happen7:39where somebody great will pass away7:43as a sacrifice himself on the day of the Mishkan.7:46Aharon accepts Hashem's decree,7:49as it says, Vayidom Aharon. Aharon was silent; he did not complain.7:51And the Jewish people, of course, were saddened7:54because over here you have two of the greatest Jewish people7:56that just died in front of them. Moshe then orders, Mishael and Elzaphan.8:00who were the cousins of Nadav and Avihu, to remove their bodies,8:06and Hashem commands the Kohanim, who were the remaining two brothers of Nadav and Avihu, as well as Aharon, not to mourn8:16and all the things that we usually do for mourning, Hashem tells them not to do that8:21in order not to interfere with the joy of the inauguration.8:24Aharon is then commanded by Hashem that he has to be careful that any time any service is done by any of the Kohanim,8:32it cannot be done after drinking wine or being intoxicated.8:36And then the Torah tells the story of the8:37se'ir ha-chatat. Now this se'ir ha-chatat is a little complicated to explain.8:40In short, what it was was that there was three he-goats that were offered that day for the sake of the celebrations of the day:8:50two for the sake of that day and one because of korban chatat of Rosh Chodesh, as we mentioned beforehand.8:56Moshe told the Kohanim that they should eat from the9:01mincha, even though usually halacha says that a mourner, or an onen in this case,9:06is forbidden to eat from the kodashim in the Beit HaMikdash.9:11Here there was an exception; they were to eat from the mincha that was offered that day.9:15That was the command that Hashem told Moshe.9:17Aharon and his children reasoned that this only applies to the special korbanot that were brought that day,9:23but not to the korbanot that are usually brought as part of the services of the Mishkan.9:29So therefore, the se'ir ha-chatat of Rosh Chodesh, which is the he-goat that was brought for the sake of Rosh Chodesh,9:35was burnt by Aharon and his children and was not eaten.9:39Moshe— Understood or thought that Hashem really commanded to eat all of the animals of that day,9:44and therefore he got angry, and he yelled at Aharon's children,9:49to which Aharon responds, explaining his reason that why he burnt the9:55se'ir chatat. Moshe admits to Aharon's reason. He says, You're correct. I made a mistake in my understanding,10:00and that's the end of that section with the10:03parashah. We move on now to the third part of this week's parashah, where the Torah tells us the kosher animals.10:09There are four types of species the Torah tells us about and their signs of what we could eat or we cannot eat.10:14Torah begins to talk about animals. The kosher signs for the animals are two.10:18Number one is it's ma'aleh gerah, which means it has to chew its cud.10:22Number two is mafris parsa, which means it has to have split hooves.10:25And according to some opinions, like the Unglos, shosa'at shesa means also there should be a nail-like foot,10:32as opposed to a paw like the way we see by cats and10:36dogs. There are four animals that Torah mentions which only have one sign, and they are the camel, the rabbit,10:42the hyrax, according to the way Rav A. Kaplan translates, and the pig.10:47And then if you look in parashat Re'eh, the Torah tells us there that there are only twenty animals that have both kosher signs.10:55The fish that we're allowed to eat, the Torah gives us two signs.10:59Number one is that it has fins, which is what it uses to11:01swim. Number two is that it has scales. But the scales have to be able to be ripped off the fish without pulling from its flesh with it.11:10The rule is that any fish that has scales has fins, even if you don't see it.11:16However, if it has fins, not necessarily does it have scales.11:19For more on this, you can look in Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, siman peh gimel, for these11:24halachot. The kosher birds and not kosher birds are not told to us, the simanim are not told to us over here.11:29The simanim, the signs, are told to us in11:33Masechet Chulin. You look it up over there, the four signs of kosher birds. The Torah only lists twenty types of birds that are not kosher.11:40Every other bird is kosher.11:43Torah tells us also of insects that we're allowed to eat.11:45Yeah, insects. Which insects?11:47Only four species of grasshoppers, and they're called arbeh, sol'am, chargol, and11:54chagav. That's the four types of species,11:57different. Translations translate differently, so therefore I refrain from translating it over here.12:01And they have four signs, as Chazal tell us.12:04They have to have four legs, four wings, and an additional two legs, legs called karsulim, which are used for hopping,12:13and its wings have to cover the majority of its body.12:15We now move on to the fourth part of the parashah, where the Torah tells us about laws of12:20tumah. The first one that the Torah tells us is the laws of12:24tumat sheretz. What is12:25tumat sheretz? There are eight sheratzim. Now listen, in this week's parashah,12:28sheratzim are not to be confused with bugs.12:29They are special creatures called sheratzim, and we are going to list them right now12:34and translate them according to the Living Torah, which is Rabbi Kaplan's translation.12:40The choled, which is a weasel.12:42The second is the achbar, which is a mouse.12:44The tzav, which is a ferret, according to Rashi it's a toad.12:47The fourth is the anakah, which is a hedgehog.12:49The koach, which is a chameleon.12:52Leta'ah, which is a lizard.12:53The chomet, which is a snail.12:55And the tinshemet, which is a mole.12:57These eight animals, when dead, they carry a special law called13:04tumat sheretz, and it's considered an13:07av hatumah. And whoever comes in contact with it makes him tameh for that day until the following evening,13:13and after dipping does he become tahor.13:16The sheretz also makes utensils13:18tameh. It makes all utensils tameh by coming in contact with them,13:21by pottery, which is earthenware.13:24Even if it's in its inside airspace, it makes13:28it tameh, even though they have not touched the walls.13:30All utensils will become tameh with13:33sheretz, could become tahor by dipping them in a mikveh.13:35However, pottery cannot become tahor, cannot become pure.13:38They must be rid of, if you want to get rid of the13:42tumah. Also, the Torah tells us that bodies of water that are still connected to the13:45ground cannot become13:48tameh. In fact, when you have a certain measurement,13:50they could even purify certain things that are13:54tameh. The other type of tumah that's mentioned in this week's parashah is tumat nevelah.13:57What's tumat nevelah?13:58From the kosher animals that were allowed to eat,14:01if they die without shechitah, then they become14:04tameh, and they could transfer tumah to a human being in the following way:14:08if a human being touches them. Or eats the14:12neveilah, then he becomes tamei; only the person's body becomes14:16tamei. However, if he also carries, or just carrying, the dead carcass,14:21the carcass of these animals,14:24then not only does he become14:25tamei, but also his clothing becomes14:28tamei. Finally, the last part of this week's14:29parashah, very short, the Torah comes back14:31and tells us a few other laws about what we can eat,14:34and those are the laws of creepy creatures.14:36Torah says we cannot eat any creepy creatures.14:38Those are all14:40shekatzim, and they include all types of insects, snakes, scorpions, etc.14:45They are all in the category of14:49shekatzim. And finally, Torah concludes this week's14:51parashah with an explanation of why it's so important to keep kosher,14:55and that is to be kadosh, like Hashem.14:59We have to be holy, just as Hashem is also holy,15:02and that is done by keeping kosher.15:05What we look to learn in this week's15:06parashah, what's something that I believe will include everything,15:11is that we find in this week's15:13parashah it's called Shemini.15:15Shemini is the number15:16eight. The Sefarim explain, Maharal and others,15:18that the number eight represents something supernatural.15:21That's why Shemoneh, which is also the number15:24eight, is the same letters as15:26neshamah, which is the supernatural of this world,15:29which is our souls.15:30That is the whole lesson of this week's15:33parashah. Having a Mishkan is living on a higher standard,15:36living with HaKadosh Baruch Hu,15:39and living the supernatural.15:41Also, keeping kosher,15:43we are becoming different from the goyim. True,15:46we don't eat like everybody else eats,15:48because Hashem expects us to be supernatural,15:51above and beyond this world of seven.15:53We have to live the world of Shemini.15:55That is the lesson to be learned from this week's15:59parashah. Eating kosher.16:00And having the Mishkan is all the same. Shemini,16:02it's above the seven natural levels of this world.16:33Shabbat shalom.