By Rabbi Marc D. Israel

This week’s Torah portion is Va’etchanan: Deuteronomy 3:23 — 7:11

The release of the film “The Odyssey” last weekend was a reminder that great works of literature often share common themes and symbols. Comparing the use of those themes and symbols helps define the unique aspects of each culture. In classical literature, fire is considered a basic element, often a symbol of the divine.

In the ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus is thought to have stolen fire from the workshop of the goddess Athena. In “The Odyssey” (at least in its book form), when Odysseus is trying to return home in Chapter 16, his son Telemachus sees a “beautiful light … as if in the light of a blazing fire.” He then tells Odysseus, “One of the gods who rules the wide sky must surely be here.”

Similarly, when Moshe reminds the Israelites of God’s revelation at Sinai, he tells them, “The mountain was ablaze with flames to the very skies, dark with densest clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire; you heard the sound of words but perceived no shape — nothing but a voice.” (Deuteronomy 4:11b-12) He then distinguishes the Israelites’ experience with the rest of the nations, telling them not to bow down to the sun moon or stars, for “These the Eternal your God allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven …” After repeating the command not to make idols, Moshe repeats “the Eternal your God is a consuming fire, an impassioned God.”

The Torah distinguishes between two types of fire — the natural fire of the sun and stars and the “consuming” fire associated with God. In explaining that the sun, moon and stars are “allotted to other peoples” by our God, Rashi first explains that the Torah is saying that God made the light of the sun, moon and stars to be of universal benefit and we have no special claim to them. As Chizkuni notes, “the luminaries shine for all of mankind, regardless of their religious orientation. They shine equally for the dumb and the intelligent, the righteous or the evil doers.”

Rashi offers an alternative explanation: “God assigned [the celestial lights] to them as deities.” Supporting this view, Ibn Ezra notes “It has been empirically established that each and every nation has a specific star and constellation.” He contrasts this with the people of Israel, for whom “God, and not any star, is Israel’s guide.”

According to both interpretations, everyone in the world has access to the fire that comes from the natural world that God created — the celestial fires. The people of Israel uniquely experience God through an unnatural fire, referred to as a “consuming” fire, in three major encounters: Moses by himself at the burning bush and then the entire people, both at Mount Sinai blazing in fire, and as they travel the desert led by a pillar of fire.

The different uses of the symbol of fire are telling: For the Greeks, unexplainable events in the natural world are the work of the gods. Telemachus sees an unexpected light in the room and attributes it to be the presence of a god.

For the ancient Israelites, and the Jewish people, God, as creator of the physical universe, exists separate from it. We are prohibited from making graven images or any likeness of God because God has no physicality. God is unique, as our parasha explains “the Eternal alone is God; there is none else.” Therefore, when we experience God, it is through a fire that is unique, as it continues “from amidst that fire you heard God’s words.”

One review of “The Odyssey” movie called it “the definition of epic,” and I hope people will enjoy it. As we do, I hope we will also take time to appreciate our own epic tale, whose concluding book describes an amazing tale of a 40-year journey back home.

Marc D. Israel is the rabbi of Tikvat Israel Congregation in Rockville, Maryland.