This coming Shabbat is my cousin Gus’s bar mitzvah! I have been tutoring him for the past 9 months or so. I have been reading and re-reading this parsha trying to extract the most accessible and most interesting aspects for him to focus on with his d’var Torah. There are so many things to talk about this week… the smiting of Nadav and Avihu, the kohen (priest) sons of Aharon (Aaron)… the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher), or the completion of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). So in my search for the Top Hits of Parshat Shemini, I found this really cool gem about treating our fellow humans kindly. Something Gus and I talked a lot about is that religious practice means very little if you can’t practice being kind, too. Even though Gus is talking about something else in his d’var, I will share *that* idea with you!

After weeks of reading about the construction of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) in the parsha, we are now in the culmination of its building! Again, the significance of the Mishkan is the fulfillment of G-d’s commandment earlier in parsha Terumah - “And build for me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them” - וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם

This isn’t busy work, or time to refine our artisanal skills — G-d wants to dwell among US, not just among the Mishkan in one place. And as of course we know, G-d doesn’t exist in one place alone, but AMONG us.

So the Mishkan is finally complete, and B’nei Yisrael has an opportunity to have the Chet HaEgel (the Sin of the Golden Calf) forgiven. How? We read in the opening of this parsha that, in the sacrificial inauguration of the Mishkan, Aharon (Aaron) is told, “Take for yourself a bull calf as a sin offering, and a he-goat / ram as a burnt offering,” to give as an inaugural sacrifice. Why these specific animals? If we do some quick text analysis, at first glance, the bull can be connected to the golden calf — the sacrifice serves the purpose of closing that event off on a high note. Ok great, but why a ram / he-goat, too? According to the Midrash, the he-goat is absolving something totally separate. What goat comes to mind?

The goat used in the faking of Yosef’s (Joseph) death! As a refresher, back in Shemot (Exodus), Yosef (one of Yaakov’s, Jacob, 12 sons) is the star of his family. Long story short, his brothers plot to kill him and end up selling him as a slave. But in order to throw their father Yaakov off the trail, they put ram / goat blood on Yosef’s coat and say Yosef had been devoured by a wild beast.

The ram sacrifice, then, puts a pin the rift between the brothers. Of course Yosef forgave his brothers many years later when they came to him in Egypt, but this ram sacrifice alongside the calf sacrifice communicates a lesson.

Chet HaEgel, the Sin of the Golden Calf was an affront a sin unto G-d. Yosef’s brothers’ treatment of him was an interpersonal wrongdoing — person to person. Of course absolving ourselves of a sin unto G-d is important, but this offering being immediately followed by the goat sacrifice elevates our interpersonal relations too.

So as the people are getting to break in their new Mishkan, the lesson they are taught is:

How can we dwell in the presence of G-d if we don’t respect the Creations of G-d — our fellow humans?

We simply can’t! They go together!

SNL clip: https://youtu.be/3LSByqoSpsI

The Office clip: https://youtu.be/8o5Cu4X2TeU

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