Shabbat Parashat Shemini - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Shemini - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

A fire went forth from before God and consumed upon the Altar the

olah offering and the fats. The people saw and they praised and fell

upon their faces. [Vayikra 9:24]

In this chapter, Aharon repeatedly brings various offerings. For each one, the

Torah tells us that Aharon "caused it to go up in smoke" on the Altar as God

commanded Moshe. In 9:10 it was Aharon's chatat offering, in 9:14 Aharon's

olah, in 9:16 the people's olah, in 9:17 the minchah, and in 9:20 the people's

shelamim. Why does our verse describe yet another fire coming to consume

what has apparently just been burned up? Did Aharon make a mistake and

God came through to fix it?

On 9:16, Rashi explicitly rejects the Kohanic mistake theory, noting the verse

says, "in accordance with the law". He refers back to Vayikra 1:7 and verses

around it describing the causing of the fats, etc., going up in smoke.

Where did this new fire come from? Sifra says, "from heaven". Rashbam writes,

"from the Holy of Holies". He continues that the fire went from there to the inner

Altar to burn the incense, then moved to the outer altar as in our verse. Does

this give us a hint as to why it came at all?

The Mishnah in Tamid [6:5] explains that the Kohen puts the incense into the

already-existing fire on the Altar. This is equivalent to what our chapter 9

verses tell about the fats, etc. It wouldn't seem that the incense needed an

additional fire any more than the current offerings, so it isn't a matter of a

heavenly fire being necessary for one, and "while I'm here" getting the other.

The verses immediately following ours, 10:1-2, describe the death of Aharon's

two older sons. 10:2 reads, "A fire came forth from before God and consumed

them, and they died before God." This wording is extremely similar to ours, and

in fact Rashbam mentions that the outer Altar is where Nadav and Avihu were

struck down. Thus we have a heavenly fire, coming through the inner Altar,

through the outer Altar, to Nadav and Avihu. What is the tie between them?

Perhaps Moshe's answer in 10:3 to Aharon's unasked question will explain

our verse as well. 10:3 in its entirety, reads, "Moshe said to Aharon, of this did

God speak, saying, 'I will be sanctified through those who are nearest Me, thus

will I be honored before the people', and Aharon was silent." Nearly all who

comment on this explain that God took the two sons for their holiness, not for

their mistake. There was something special about them that brought God's

presence to the nation.

Something analogous occurred just before our verse. In 9:22, Aharon made the

Kohanic blessing over the people after performing the offerings, and in 9:23

God appeared to the entire people at that point. Aharon's unbidden blessing of

the entire people brought God's presence upon them, and in response to Aharon,

God showed His favor by adding to the burnings in a Divine way.