Most human beings know that they eat to survive, but there are many, especially in Western society today, that survive to be able to eat. It becomes almost logical that the Torah, would suggest and ordain for us a list of foods that somehow would prove harmful to our spiritual health.
The “8th day” was the day when the Mishkan was permanently erected, the day that the Kohanim started their service of bringing the offerings, the 1st of Nisan. With so many amazing events happening all at once, why does the Torah cryptically choose to refer to this day as “the 8th day?”
It should have been a day of joy. The Israelites had completed the Mishkan, the Sanctuary. But tragedy struck. The two elder sons of Aaron “offered a strange fire" and they died. Aaron’s joy turned to mourning.
“I work as a leather tanner. Should I train for a different parnasah, so that I can make a living after Moshiach comes?” “What is the difference between a toad and a frog?” What does either of the previous two questions have to do with this week’s parshah?
One of the more distinguishing life values which Judaism advocates is the type of food that a Jew eats. Perhaps no other area of Jewish life has evoked so much scholarship and divergence of opinions.
In the aftermath of the death of two of Aharon’s sons, who brought “a foreign fire” (Vayikra 10:1), the Torah commands kohanim not to drink wine or other intoxicating drinks before entering or serving in the holy sanctum (ibid. 9). The Torah goes on: “… and to make rulings for Bnei Yisrael on all of the statutes that Hashem spoke to them by Moshe’s hand” (ibid. 11).
We begin the reading of two special maftirs that remind Bnei Yisrael of the preparations for the upcoming central mitzva of the Korban Pesach (see Rashi, Megilla 29a). Parashat Para discusses the step of those who came in contact with the high level of tumah coming from a human corpse, who needed to purify themselves in order to bring the Korban Pesach. Next week’s Parashat Hachodesh reminds people generally about the need to prepare for the Korban Pesach with a variety of halachot to keep in mind.