In this class that was recorded live at Pardes for Yom Hashoah 2017, Nechama Goldman Barash looks at the rabbinic responses in Vaykira Rabbah to the tragic and unexpected deaths of Nadav and Avihu. The midrash brings multiple voices to try and understand the circumstances that led to the deaths and use the story to open up questions around the fragility of life and the closeness of death. From the inability to fathom God’s ways, to God questioning His own theodicy, to possible transgressions that led to the deaths to the idea that death achieves atonement, the midrash invites us to engage in a never ending conversation around suffering and righteousness and the mingling of laughter and tears.
Yom Hashoah 2017: Rabbinic Responses to Suffering
Introduction
Nechama Goldman Barash
Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash is Senior Faculty at Pardes, where she teaches contemporary halakha and Talmud and also holds the positions of Education Director of the Pardes Learning Seminar and Sexual Misconduct Officer. Nechama studied in Matan’s Advanced Talmud Institute and Hilkhata. She holds a Masters in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University, and is a certified Yoetzet Halakha from Nishmat.
In addition to her work at Pardes, Nechama is Senior Faculty at Midreshet Torah V’Avodah, Lecturer at Matan Jerusalem, and Director of Kitvuni at Matan. She has published Uncovered: Women’s Roles, Mitzvot and Sexuality in Jewish Law, which explores questions of women and halakha in contemporary Jewish life. Nechama lives in Gush Etzion with her family and enjoys ice cream, meditation and yoga.