I have a very clear childhood memory of riding in my big sister’s Jetta, hand-crank windows rolled down, singing the words, “I come to you with strange fiiiiiiiiire…” as the Indigo Girls blared from the speakers and the wind jostled our hair. The words of that song imprinted themselves upon my brain long before the meaning, or even the reference, did. Emily Salers (one of the two Indigo Girls) had a deep knowledge of the Bible, her father having been a Methodist Minister, and while the band was far from religious, many of their songs referenced biblical stories. “Strange Fire,” especially.
I always understood “Strange Fire,” as a protest song. The verse, “mercenaries of the shrine, now who are you to speak for God?” and “when you learn to love yourself you will resolve all the stones that are cast,” stirred me from a young age. The song is a reference to this week’s Torah portion, parshat Sh’mini, where Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Abihu, offer “strange fire,” in the mishkan (the portable sanctuary of the Israelites) and are struck down by God for it. It is a challenging story, and one of the many instances in the Hebrew bible where we see an “angry God.” Yet, it is one of my favorites. Generations of rabbis have tried to reason why God would strike down these two young priests. One interpretation says that Nadav and Abihu were in fact engaging in avodah zarah, idolatry, and thus breaking the first and second commandments. Another suggests that it was precisely because God did not ask for this offering that they were killed; teaching us that, where God is concerned, it is best not to make assumptions. Still another interpretation is that Nadav and Abihu weren’t killed; rather, they were transported by the Divine to join God in the heavens! God was in fact extremely pleased with their offerings; so much as to warrant their immediate entry into Gan Eden, paradise. Emily Salers’ lyrics suggest this last interpretation: that there are many paths to God and none should be used as a means of power. Turned on its head in this way, Sh’mini reminds us that there is more than one way to please God and that sometimes it is exactly our strangeness that does the trick.