In this episode of The Voices of Emanu El, Rabbi Josh Fixler dives into one of Tanakh’s strangest stories: the death of Uzza as he reaches out to steady the ark of the covenant. Framed like a Benoit Blanc-style mystery, moving from Parashat Sh’mini to the haftarah in Second Samuel, he asks not “whodunnit” but “whydunnit”—and ultimately admitting that some suffering defies explanation.
Rabbi Fixler then turns to David’s ecstatic dancing, Michal’s rebuke, the denied dream of building the Temple, and modern echoes in the aftermath of October 7th. Along the way, he draws on Saul Bellow, Yehuda Amichai, and survivors who insist “od nirkod shuv – we will dance again,” painting a picture of a Judaism that refuses to give up its dancing shoes even in the shadow of tragedy.
