I hope you had a really lovely Passover! My older two kids were off school for a solid 2+ weeks, we spent part of our time in South Florida visiting family, and then closed out their break with a Cardinals game last night (Boston beat them). Everyone goes back to school tomorrow morning, and I’m looking forward to getting back to my routine.
Last we left off, Aaron and his sons were to wait in the Tent of Meeting for seven days (that magical, sacred number seven, we will continue to see over and over), and on the eighth day, they newly ordained priests step forward, they are ready to carry out the service themselves. The elders assemble once more to bear witness. Once all has been complete, a fire comes forth from God and consumes the burnt offerings and the fat parts on the alter (Leviticus 9:24). It’s a moment of divine approval, of closeness, of everything working exactly as it should.
The “Unauthorized Fire”
Chapter 10 opens and closes with a BANG. Two of Aarons sons, Nadab and Abihu take it upon themselves to take their fire pans, place incense in them, and and offer what the Torah calls an “unauthorized fire”—something God had not commanded. And in that same space where divine fire had just signaled acceptance, another fire emerges. And this time, it consumes the men, they die at Gods will.
I keep thinking about a line that repeats throughout the Torah: follow the command, do not deviate to the right or to the left. Later, when Moses realizes that an offering meant to be eaten by the priests was instead burned, he confronts Aaron. It seems like another failure to follow simple instructions. But Aaron’s reply stops him. Given what just happened, the loss of his sons, how could be possibly eat from the offering? How could he participate a though everything were normal? Aaron isn’t rejecting the system, nor disregarding God’s command. He’s naming a truth: there are moments when a persons inner state cannot be separated from their outward actions. Service without presence, without emotional reality, may not be what God is asking for. And Moses accepts this. An acknowledgment that faithfulness needs honest presence.
I think about all the times that my heart wasn’t into a Shabbat dinner or cooking for another chag, because something personal was buzzing too loudly in the background. I couldn’t focus, my heart wasn’t there. And yet, the table gets set. The candles are lit. The food is served. From the outside, everything looks as it should, but inside, something is misaligned. Aaron gives language to that space. Sometimes the most honest offering isn’t in the doing, but the recognition that you are not fully there. And maybe that, in its own way, is a form of faithfulness.
Chapter 11 = Rules of Kashrut
I asked ChatGPT to draft up a list + the rules + emojis to keep everything nice and organized for our viewing pleasure, in regards to Chapter 11, which instructs Israel with kosher vs. non kosher consumption. Here’s what we’ve got!
🐄 Land Animals
✅ Kosher (you need BOTH):
- 🦶 Split hooves
- 🔁 Chew cud
Examples:
- 🐄 cow
- 🐑 sheep
- 🐐 goat
- 🦌 deer
❌ Not Kosher (missing one of the signs):
- 🐪 camel → chews cud, no split hooves
- 🐇 hare → appears to chew cud, no split hooves
- 🪨 rock hyrax → same issue
- 🐖 pig → split hooves, doesn’t chew cud
And anything else without both signs:
- 🐎 horse
- 🐶 dog
- 🐱 cat
🐟 Water Creatures
✅ Kosher:
- Must have:
- fins
- scales
Examples:
- salmon
- tuna
- carp
❌ Not Kosher:
- 🦐 shrimp
- 🦞 lobster
- 🦀 crab
- 🐙 octopus
- 🦈 shark
(No fins + scales = no)
🐦 Birds
The Torah does NOT give signs—it gives a list of forbidden birds.
❌ Not Kosher (examples listed):
- 🦅 eagle
- 🦉 owl
- 🦅 vulture
- 🐦⬛ raven
- 🐧 ostrich (yes, surprisingly)
- 🦇 bat
👉 Pattern: mostly predatory or scavenger birds
✅ Kosher:
Not listed explicitly, but traditionally:
- 🐔 chicken
- 🦃 turkey
- 🦆 duck
- 🕊️ dove
🦗 “Winged Swarming Things” (Flying Insects)
❌ Mostly Not Kosher:
- 🪰 flies
- 🦟 mosquitoes
- 🪲 beetles
✅ Exception:
- 🦗 locust-type insects (with jumping legs)
🐭 Creeping / Ground Creatures
❌ Not Kosher:
- 🐭 rodents
- 🦎 lizards
- 🐍 snakes
- 🐸 amphibians
- basically anything that “creeps” along the ground
☠️ Contact with Dead Animals
- Touching carcasses → ritual impurity until evening
- Not about sin—just a temporary state