Rabbi Breit's Blog

Fire and brimstone sermons exhort the community to avoid immoral behavior lest they face divine wrath and its consequences. Such sermons often come into popular culture as an example of hyperbolic fear mongering, a torrent of judgment and blame without a lot of realistic guidance. They can feel more like anger looking for a target than compassion looking for a lost soul.

As fires in Israel ravaged Jerusalem forests on the eve of Yom ha’Atzma’ut, some seemingly lit by cruel arsonists and some by careless hikers, there was no shortage of internet armchair antisemitic gloating — people praying for wind and heat and volunteering to add gasoline themselves. Now we already know that you can’t take the morality of someone who rejoices in devastation seriously. And we know tragedies strike even the noblest and kindest people among us with no seeming logic or purport. But what can fire teach us? Can its threat teach us wisdom?

This is no fire and brimstone sermon. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

Our parsha this week is between the death of Aaron’s sons, by strange fire, in Shemini and God’s acknowledgment of it, in Acharei Mot. When we read of Nadav and Avihu’s deaths, God’s only input there in the text is to tell Aaron not to drink intoxicants. But the start of next week’s parsha reads “God spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of God”. Here the text reminds us of their death. What happened in between?

We had a full interlude about leprosy. There is a complete diagnostic of what it looks like, what it isn’t, how the priests must deal with it, and how to isolate and treat anyone afflicted with the plague. Leprosy is considered by the rabbis to be the plague of wicked speech. Those who talk cruelly about others, who spread lies and gossip, become lepers. Between a deadly fire, and God’s instruction to Aaron on what to do after it, comes a lengthy discourse on leprosy.

Maybe what it comes to teach us, is that there is no more dangerously tempting gossip, no more easy self satisfied lashon hara, than the cruelty some feel empowered to embrace when watching the suffering of others. It might be most tempting to gossip about them when they are hurting, weak, down, in retreat. We might feel a compulsion to talk about why they had it coming — what they did wrong or how. But that is precisely when we need to be reminded of the pain of the evil tongue in learning about leprosy.

We must look for the compassion and the good people bring. Watch the Israelis who stopped to rescue stranded hikers, who rushed to put out fires, the neighboring countries that sent firefighting planes, and all of us whose hearts prayed for rain and safety. May the fire and brimstone remind you to be kind when others face fires — not to shame and not to gossip — but to avoid a wicked tongue for a generous heart.

Shabbat shalom

(WZO elections are almost over and they will determine how much of the money being spent to rebuild will be spent - https://www.mercazusa.org/votemercaz2025/)