Parashat Shmini

Shemini 5768/2008

Physicists now confirm that there can be ‘time’ outside the dimension of time. This week’s parsha refers to such a time – the eighth day.

According to Jewish tradition, the world was created in seven days. The eighth day is beyond time. A boy is circumcised on the eighth day precisely because he has completed a full cycle of time and is able to enter the covenant in a moment beyond time. Eliyahu (Elijah) is able to be at the Brit because he, too, exists beyond the dimension of time.

The cohanim (priests, descendents of Aharon) prepared for their induction into their roles for a full week – and on the eighth day they entered the sanctuary ready to fulfil their sacred duties. Just as the mishkan, the sanctuary, was a place on earth that resisted physical limitations of space – it contained the non-physical and boundless presence of G’d – the cohanim were elevated beyond time for the moment of their induction.

There is an important story in our tradition about Moshe wanting to see what happened in the future. He was transported through time to the yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva (2nd Century CE) and was seated in the eighth row. There he learnt how his original teachings had been transformed and reinterpreted through the ages – yet they remained the same Law of Moses. His presence beyond time (the 8th row) is a literary tool to teach us that although only we are bound by time, there are moments where we are free from it. Time does not govern everything; it only governs our physical lives.

When we try to imagine how the infinite Divine meets the finite world, our normal understandings of the limitations of the physical world must be suspended.

Shemini 5767/2007

One of the most intriguing aspects of Jewish law is the idea of 'kashrut', defining what we are permitted to eat and what is forbidden.

The concept of 'kosher' food was radically different from dietary restrictions in earlier religions, including many pagan faiths, where certain foods were recommended because they were believed to have benefits to either the body or the soul, or where certain animals could not be consumed because they were holy.

In this week's parsha we are told that only animals with a cloven hoof and that chew their cud are permissible, that only fish with scales and fins are acceptable and that certain birds of prey are prohibited. No reason is given except that this is the Divine will and is connected with the idea of 'holiness'. The forbidden animals are not sacred; the permitted foods are not proclaimed to have any particular benefits.

The absence of a stated reason for kashrut has led commentators from the earliest Jewish generations to speculate as to why these laws were promulgated and why they are given a central place in Jewish practice. This week's parsha merely says, "For you are to sanctify yourselves, for I am holy