Parshas Shemini begins with what should
have been a day of celebration for Bnei Yisrael, but instead ended in tragedy.
After seven days of training the Kohanim in the duties of the Mishkan, Moshe was
ready to hand over the reins to Aharon and his sons. On the eighth day, they
brought a series of korbanos in order to officially sanctify the Mishkan. They
blessed the nation and celebrated when their offerings were accepted by Hashem.
However, in the middle of the celebration, tragedy struck.
Aharon’s two older sons, Nadav and Avihu, decided to bring an additional
korban. The pasuk says, “וַיַּקְרִבוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֵשׁ
זָרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּה אֹתָם. וַתֵּצֵא אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַתֹּאכַל אוֹתָם
וַיָּמֻתוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה” “And they brought
before Hashem an alien fire that He had not commanded them. A fire came forth
from before Hashem and consumed them, and they died before Hashem” (Vayikra
10:1-2). Moshe consoled Aharon by proving that their deaths signified that they
were greater than even he and Aharon (See Rashi Pasuk 3); still, their deaths
marred the celebratory day, as the entire nation mourned the loss of these
great men.
Chazal give a litany of explanations as
to why they deserved to die. One opinion is that they decided a Halacha in
front of their rebbi, Moshe, while another says they had drunk wine. Another
explains that they had actually sinned by the giving of the Torah by partying
instead of preparing to receive the Torah, but in order not to mar that
celebration, they were killed now. One says because they never attempted to
have children, while another says because they had not properly washed before
entering the Mishkan. Another says because they didn’t discuss the matter
together before deciding to bring the korban, and the last opinion is because
they disrespected Moshe and Aharon by planning out how they would lead the
nation after Moshe and Aharon had passed on.
It is one thing to have this many
different opinions about one event, but why do we even need so many ideas in
the first place? The Torah clearly tells us why they were killed, “They
brought before Hashem an alien fire that He had not commanded them!”
Furthermore, we know that Nadav and Avihu were two of the greatest men of the
generation, rivaling even Moshe and Aharon; how is it possible that they could
be guilty of any of the crimes Chazal accuse them of?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky explains that the
actual sin of Nadav and Avihu was like the pasuk says, they brought an
unauthorized korban. In order to understand how these two great men could come
to do such an aveirah, Chazal presented all these suggestions to us. The
process went like this: First, how could they make such a mistake if Moshe and
Aharon were around? It must have been that they decided the halachah without
consulting them. How could they have the audacity to make such a decision? It
must be that they felt they had a better process of teaching Torah, hence their
discussions of how they would lead the nation after Moshe’s death.
And while only being completely
drunk was not allowed in the Mishkan (and the Beis Hamikdash), they should have
been more careful and not had any wine at all since they could have been called
upon at any time to bring a korban. This step showed a degree of Ga’avah, arrogance,
towards Hashem as well, making it quite possible that they may have acted
similarly by Matan Torah. Ga’avah was also the reason why they never married.
Originally, they wanted to follow the path of Moshe, who separated from his
wife in order to maintain a constant state of kedushah in order to speak with Hashem
at any moment. However, there was another reason as well, buried deep down in
their consciousness. As the children of the Kohen Gadol and the nephews of Moshe
they felt that no one was worthy of marrying into their family.
At this point we could question that
perhaps they weren’t really good men at all! But that would not be true. Not
only was each of these sins done unintentionally, each one of these sins was not
intentionally done as a sin! They were all done with nothing but the best
intentions. They felt that Torah was not being taught to the nation in the best
way possible and wanted to fix that. They had drunk wine in order to celebrate
the giving of the Torah and the consecration of the Mishkan; wine is one of the
items the Torah tells us to use to celebrate! They hadn’t married in order that
they could be constantly available to Hashem. They truly were great men.
At the same time, everything they did
turned out to be a disaster. Because even though they couldn’t see it, it all
came from a ga’avah source. Everything they did was determined by their ga’avah.
This is a danger that can happen to anyone, even to the greatest men of the
generation. Everyone has a trait in the root of their character which has both
an element of good and evil. We must be careful and train ourselves that we act
on the good part and not the bad. The potential for an altruistic act being
based on a bad trait is real, and the line is sometimes very fine. We must work
on ourselves to insure that it does not happen to us.
Shabbat Shalom!
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