page_title: Shemini (parsha)
section_title: Leviticus chapter 9
hierarchical_section_title: Shemini (parsha) / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Leviticus chapter 9
caption_attribution_description: العربية: 30 change me! الكتاب المقدس التوضيح من الكتاب من الفصل Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Біблійная ілюстрацыя да Кнігі Выхаду, разьдзел 30 Deutsch: Biblische Darstellung Buch change me! Kapitel 30 Ελληνικά: Βιβλική εικονογράφηση του βιβλίου της change me! Κεφάλαιο 30 English: Biblical illustration of Book of Exodus Chapter 30 Español: Ilustración bíblica de libro del change me!, capítulo 30 Français&#160;: Illustration biblique du livre de la Exode chapitre 30 עברית: 30 האיור המקראי של change me! פרק हिन्दी: {{{hi}}} अध्याय change me! की पुस्तक की बाइबिल चित्रण Bahasa Indonesia: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Keluaran pasal 30 Italiano: Illustrazione biblica del libro della change me! Capitolo 30 日本語: change me!30章の本の聖書の実例 Jawa: Ilustrasi Alkitab saking Kitab Pangentasan pasal 30 한국어: change me! 30 장 장부의 성경 그림 Bahasa Melayu: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Keluaran pasal 30 Nederlands: Bijbelse illustratie van change me! hoofdstuk 30 Português: Ilustração bíblica do Livro de change me!, capítulo 30 Русский: Библейские иллюстрации Книга Исход Глава 30 中文: 圣经change me!第30章的书籍插图
context_page_description: Shemini, Sh'mini, or Shmini is the 26th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Leviticus. Parashah Shemini tells of the consecration of the Tabernacle, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, and the dietary laws of kashrut. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 9:1–11:47. It is made up of 4,670 Hebrew letters, 1,238 Hebrew words, 91 verses, and 157 lines in a Torah Scroll.
  Jews read it the 25th or 26th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in late March or April. In years when the first day of Passover falls on a Sabbath, Jews in Israel and Reform Jews read the parashah following Passover one week before Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora, in such years, Jews in Israel and Reform Jews celebrate Passover for seven days and thus read the next parashah on the Sabbath one week after the first day of Passover, while Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora celebrate Passover for eight days and read the next parashah one week later, in some such years, the two calendars realign when Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora read Behar together with Bechukotai while Jews in Israel and Reform Jews read them separately.
context_section_description: Rabbi Judah taught that the words of Leviticus 9:1, "And it came to pass on the eighth day," begin the second major topic of the book of Leviticus.
  A Midrash taught that the account that begins with Leviticus 9:1, “And it came to pass on the eighth day,” should have appeared at the beginning of the Book of Leviticus (as it relates the Inauguration of the Tabernacle service), but that it appears where it does illustrates the proposition that the Torah does not follow a chronological order.
  Rabbi Levi (or others say Rabbi Jonathan or Rabbi Tanhuma in the name of Rabbi Hiyya the Elder and Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Eleazar's name) taught that a tradition was handed down from the Men of the Great Assembly that wherever Scripture uses the term "and it was" or "and it came to pass" (וַיְהִי, va-yehi), it indicates the approach of trouble (as וַיְהִי, va-yehi can be read as  וַיי, הִי, vai, hi, "woe, sorrow"). Thus, the first words of Leviticus 9:1, "And it came to pass (וַיְהִי, va-yehi) on the eighth day," presage that Nadab and Abihu died on that day.
  But a Baraita compared the day that the Israelites dedicated the Tabernacle with the day that God created the universe. Reading the words of Leviticus 9:1, "And it came to pass on the eighth day," a Baraita taught that on that day (when the Israelites dedicated the Tabernacle) there was joy before God as on the day when God created heaven and earth. For Leviticus 9:1 says, "And it came to pass (וַיְהִי, va-yehi) on the eighth day," and Genesis 1:5 says, "And there was (וַיְהִי, va-yehi) one day."
  Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the words, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and [the Tabernacle] shall be sanctified by My glory," in Exodus 29:43 to mean that God would in the future meet the Israelites and be sanctified among them. The Midrash reports that this occurred on the eighth day of the consecration of the Tabernacle, as reported in Leviticus 9:1. And as Leviticus 9:24 reports, "when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces."
  Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman taught that Moses first incurred his fate to die in the wilderness from his conduct at the Burning Bush, for there God tried for seven days to persuade Moses to go on his errand to Egypt, as Exodus 4:10 says, “And Moses said to the Lord: ‘Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, neither yesterday, nor the day before, nor since you have spoken to your servant’” (which the Midrash interpreted to indicate seven days of conversation). And in the end, Moses told God in Exodus 4:13, “Send, I pray, by the hand of him whom You will send.” God replied that God would keep this in store for Moses. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name and Rabbi Helbo give different answers on when God repaid Moses. One said that all the seven days of the consecration of the priesthood in Leviticus 8, Moses functioned as High Priest, and he came to think that the office belonged to him. But in the end, God told Moses that the job was not his, but his brother's, as Leviticus 9:1 says, “And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron.” The other taught that all the first seven days of Adar of the fortieth year, Moses beseeched God to enter the Promised Land, but in the end, God told him in Deuteronomy 3:27, “You shall not go over this Jordan.”
  A Baraita taught that in the Inauguration of the Tabernacle, Aaron removed himself for seven days and then officiated for one day. Throughout the seven days, Moses transmitted to Aaron the Torah's guidelines to train Aaron in the service. Following this example, in subsequent generations, the High Priest removed himself for seven days before Yom Kippur to officiate for one day. And two scholars of the disciples of Moses (thus excluding the Sadducees) transmitted the Torah's guidelines to the High Priest throughout the seven days to train him in the service.
  Rabbi Jacob bar Acha taught in the name of Rabbi Zorah that the command to Aaron in Leviticus 8:35, "at the door of the tent of meeting shall you abide day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord," served as a source for t
caption: Priests laying their hands on a sacrifice (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing)
exif: {}