Nadav and avihu. Nadav is volunteer as in levi as in comes forward out of himself. Avihu is cohen as in he is my father, bitul. But they each took, they were separate from the other they did not bring them together as only the tzaddik hador, moshe could, who is the aspect of stikah, quiet, cohen, who knows the nigun song, which is levi of the highest emunah. That's why moshe is both cohen and levi.
"The sons of Aharon took strange fire" (VaYikra 10:1) But how could such holy ones, about whom Moshe said to Aharon "they are holier than us," have done this? It's written that joy can include opposites and the proof of this is that a person in a time of his joy embraces even his enemy or opposition. And so it will be at the time of the future redemption when Hashem will be joyous in everything that He created and from this great joy all will be brought close, even those that are farthest away. And when we taste the sweetness of that closeness we will throw away our idols of silver and gold and we'll return in complete teshuvah till we will become desirable to Hashem in our own right.
And we can say that this was the understanding of Nadav and Avihu that they thought the day of all-encompassing joy was here. As it says in Tractate Megillah 10b: "The day of inauguration was like the day that Hashem made heaven and earth." And they thought that the time of the complete fixing of the world had arrived as it will be in the future when there won't be any longer such a thing as strangeness to the holy - there will no longer be those that are included and those that are kept away because of their "strange" fire (Shem MiShemuel on the parashah).
Shemini
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])
Silent From - Quiet With
"And Aharon remained quiet" (VaYikra 10:4). One who has silenced himself - reining in his emotions in order to do the right thing - needs to drink wine to let out the secret good that lies hidden inside. This is represented among the tribes of Yisrael by the Levi'im who are connected to din (see Yaakov's blessing in parashat VaYechi) and who are both isolated (to prevent an outburst of anger) and raised above the klal (because of their heightened sense of the holy). To protect the nation from their anger they must be isolated in their separate cities but there is a powerful spark of holiness that lies hidden within the Levi'im. This is expressed in the psalms sung by the Levi'im in the Temple - a potent emotionality that reaches like a raging flame to the highest Heavens from the depths below.
This kind of release is associated with drinking wine which, like Levi, is associated primarily with the left side (din, in the Kabbalah). But like Levi, wine has a complex nature, being a compound of water (chesed) and wine (din). First because it has water, chesed, or lovingkindness, it brings to joy. But then, when the redness of the grape takes over one falls into sadness. That's why the Kohen, by contrast, drinks only water and uses oil in the Temple service for these bring only joy. (See Zohar on parashah)
The Kohen is not as emotionally expansive in his Temple service. He does not express himself in song. His joy is in the quiet zealousness of fulfilling Hashem's will in action. We can see this as well in the laws of mourning related to the Kohanim. They are extremely limited in their expressions of sadness and the Kohen Gadol is even more so, not engaging in mourning at all, even for close relatives. Because he is so close to Hashem's will he is able to remain constantly in touch with that deep point that all of us eventually come to when we lose someone close to us.
Being quiet means standing in the place of connection, symbolized by the altar in the Temple, the place where Hashem's presence is most strongly revealed in this world. Aharon stands in that place even with the death of his children. It is a place that most of us only get to after months or years of dealing with loss - till we have been able to deal with all that was important to us, sorting through the events of a lifetime, the things that were unresolved between us. But Aharon, who attached himself to Hashem, touched that point which is beyond the vagaries of life; he touched the point that is constant through life and death to the point that his "I" was identified with the will of Hashem for Klal Yisrael. Thus, even in the face of tragedy he stood quietly at the center of the Jewish people.
Rashi On Nadav And Avihu
After the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, Moshe said to Aharon, "This is what Hashem was referring to when He said, 'I will be sanctified in them that approach Me and before all the people I will be glorified.'" (VaYikra 10:3)
Moshe saw in the deaths of Nadav and Avihu a fulfillment of what Hashem had said, "There I will by met by the B'nei Yisrael and (the Tabernacle) will be sanctified in My glory." Don't read "kavodi," "in My honor," but "m'kubadai," through My honored ones (Tractate Zevachim 115b). Moshe said to Aharon, "I thought this House would be sanctified by those beloved of Hashem, and I thought it would be you or me. Now I see that (your sons) are greater than both of us." (Rashi on the pasuk.)
Fire Above, Fire Below
Moshe, it seems, celebrated what Nadav and Avihu did. Yet the midrash says that the joy in Heaven was dampened by the death of the two sons of Aharon. How can both be true? Nadav and Avihu bridged a gap that was meant to be overcome but their deed was somehow lacking.
The Sefat Emet says that on the eighth day of the Mishkan's inauguration events were stalled. The korbanot (offerings) lay on the altar, unconsumed, Hashem had not yet shown that the offering was desirable. The people were overcome with shame that the sin of the calf was keeping Hashem distant and they were aroused to great teshuvah, wanting more than anything that the distance should be erased. When they were so stirred to return to Hashem the great blast of fire came down from Heaven consuming the offering of Klal Yisrael and the people fell on their faces in awe.
This unification of Heaven and earth was crowned with the taking up of tzaddikim, Nadav and Avihu, who spontaneously offered their incense in the Holy of Holies. Moshe thought that it would be he and Aharon who would somehow make the final unification but instead it was Aharon's sons who had impetuously leaped over the authority of the elders. While it was their youthful spontaneity that enabled this, their na'arut also caused a painful lack of perfection in the service, leaving a troubled completion, a unification that was scarred with sadness.
I think we can see in what Nadav and Avihu did, an attempt to unite the emotionality of Levi together with the bitul (self-negation) of Kehunah. There was something in this that was true - there is some bridge that needs to be crossed, uniting the two, and this is why their act was sanctified. But from the smichah of the parshiyot (the juxtaposition of subjects), placing the events of Nadav and Avihu next to the prohibition of drinking wine before entering the sanctuary, the midrash learns that the action of the brothers was off in some way. They were "intoxicated," under the influence of some externality, when they brought the incense. The Sefat Emet says that "intoxication" refers here to their involvement with "ta'ameh hamitzvot," the deepest secrets of Torah understanding. While delving these hidden depths brought them closer and closer to unity with Hashem and while they wanted to surrender themselves totally, they remained connected to Hashem on the level of their own comprehension. While they leapt over the gap between bitul and emotionality they were judged to have acted impetuously, filling in with their will where revelation was absent.
Moshe says of Nadav and Avihu that they were holier than he and Aharon. Nevertheless, it is a holiness which required sanctification from above when the moment could have been fulfilled with a coming close that was complete from below. Thus their act, while striving on the highest level was still a chet - it missed the mark.
Their sin is hinted at in the word "yikachu," they took. This is the same verb that is used in the parashah of Korach. Like Korach, who acted ostensibly for the sake of the klal but was judged on a deeper level as acting from his own interests, Nadav and Avihu each took according to themselves, individually. Aharon's sons acted separately rather than together in unity. Had they achieved the level of holiness which their action bespoke they would not have acted as individuals in this way. They would have been completely given over to the unity of their act.
Had their spontaneity come together with yishuv hadaat, the deepest clarity of spiritual reality that comes only in a state of calm, perhaps they would have succeeded utterly. But while their motivation came from deep within the soul, there remained in it something external - too great an emotionality that clouded the bitul. This is consistent with another teaching of the midrash that their mistake sprang from their not being married. They lacked the female side that is completed symbolically and literally when one is married. Without that balance they lacked patience and receptivity, and from this sprang the difference between their intention and the reality that caused the sadness of the day.
Mitzvot
Sefer HaChinuch lists twenty mitzvot in parashat Shemini. These are basically divisible into two groups. Those regarding the Kohen in the Mishkan and dietary laws (Kashrut):
REGARDING THE KOHEN
REGARDING KASHRUT
At A Glance