A quick reminder that this Monday, April 7th Student Rabbi Miriam Ginsberg will lead a class from her monthly learning series that explores the stories and themes of creation from Jewish tradition. All classes are Zoom only from 7:00 pm to 8:30 p.m. The final class will be on May 5.
Fire is an important symbol in many (possibly all) cultures and nations, including the Jewish people. In biblical times, before prayer became what it is today, the Israelites communicated to God through sacrifices. Sacrificial worship at the Temple in Jerusalem was central to an Israelite’s daily life and the rhythm of their year. In this week’s Torah portion, Vayirka, sacrificial worship takes center stage and this Torah portion becomes an instruction manual for how to do it.
Let’s take a closer look at one particular line of Vayikra (Leviticus 1:7) which states, “The sons of Aaron The Priest shall put fire on the altar and lay out wood upon the fire.” Rashi, the great 11th century Torah commentator, notices that the wording of this pasuk is a bit strange. One would instead expect it to read, “The sons of Aaron shall lay wood on the altar and ignite a fire.” But Torah seems to say that Aaron’s sons posess a different fire separate from the holy fire burning on the altar.
In the rabbinic imagination the fire on the altar of the Temple was unlike any other fire in the world; it descended from heaven as a Divine gift. It possessed magical qualities. Anyone familiar with ancient mythology would find this unsurprising. There are many ancient cultures whose stories include Divine gifts. What may be surprising, however, is that in the Jewish story, this holy fire was magical and Gd given, but it was not self-sufficient. The sons of Aaron were commanded to tend to the fire and lay wood out for it. Gd may have given us a magical fire, but humans were commanded to keep it lit.
After the destruction of the Second Temple and the forced exile of the Israelities from the Land of Israel, the ancient rabbis replaced daily sacrifice with prayer. Even though prayer is our common spiritual language, prayer can still feel sometimes as foreign and complicated as sacrifices. The Book of Proverbs says that the human soul is the lamp of Gd. All too often, when we try to use prayer to light our souls, our lamp of Gd, it can feel like striking a wet match. We strike and strike, and it feels like nothing sparks.
But what if, like the fire on the altar, the fire of our soul is already burning? What if we treated our prayer practice as though we already have a roaring fire within us? What if we only need to add more wood to the fire?
We read in Exodus 19:6, “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Each of us has a role in this kingdom of priests, as the people of Israel.
May we be like Aaron’s sons, taking special pride and care in keeping our fire burning bright.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Janine Jankovitz
Kehilat HaNahar 85 West Mechanic St. New Hope, PA 18938
