Daphna Levin-Kahn – Head of Jewish Studies High School

A Strange Fire – Burning Questions – Nadav and Avihu

Parashat Shemini, Vayikra (Leviticus)
Chapters 9-11,פרשת שמיני

We left off last week at the height of the dedication ceremonies for the new Mishkan, and our Parashah begins with Chapter 9, in the midst of the new regime of sacrifices that constituted much of the holy service by Aaron the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and the Kohanim, over 4,000 years ago.

Suddenly, without warning, in the first two shockingly brief verses of Chapter 10, we learn:

וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ וַיִּתְּנוּ בָהֵן אֵשׁ וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלֶיהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִיבוּ לִפְנֵי יְ-הֹ-וָ-ה אֵשׁ זָרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָם׃

Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before God alien/strange fire, which had not been commanded of them.

וַתֵּצֵא אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהֹוָה וַתֹּאכַל אוֹתָם וַיָּמֻתוּ לִפְנֵי יְ-הֹ-וָ-ה׃

And fire came forth from God and consumed them; and they died before God.

Wait. WHAT? What just happened?!

The Kohanim only just got their instructions on what they were supposed to do, then these young men, sons of the Kohen Gadol and nephews to the great Moshe Rabbeinu, bring their own fire pans and whoosh, gone in a puff of smoke. Where’s the Divine compassion? Where are the “three strikes”, the opportunity to learn from mistakes and get it right next time? The concept of Teshuvah (Repentance)?

A few weeks ago, Rabbi Bergman taught the Year 11 students not to shy away from confronting aspects of Judaism or Torah, but rather to work at finding the meaning, the purpose or the message, even when our first reactions may be to throw it all away. Rabbi Kamins quoted from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, 5:22) this week in assembly,

“הֲפֹךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפֹךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ” …
Turn it (the Torah) over, and turn it over [again], for all is therein…

So, we have to work at it, work it out, find a way to hold this story, to own this story….

We are not alone here – many commentators have tried to work this out. Here are some offerings:

Mekhilta: The brothers brought their fire implements to the holy Tent, not realising that in this celebratory instance, God was going to send a Divine Fire, rather than a manmade fire, to consume the sacrifices, and they simply got in the way of the Divine Flame.

Other commentators are less charitable, accusing the brothers of egotism – by not consulting their father or Moshe before bringing their own fire pans; of entering the Holy Tent drunk – which would explain why the prohibition against priests drinking wine before going into the sanctuary appears in verse 9 of the same chapter; of being casually dressed rather than in the priestly finery and thus showing disrespect. Some suggest that they were impatient to succeed the now-aging Moshe and Aaron and this “strange fire” was the fire of ambition, they saw themselves as the higher authority and disregarded the tradition of their elders (Rabbi S R Hirsch).

The Ohr HaHayyim: offers an intriguing interpretation, one that we see often in the world today – they were motivated by excessive piety or overzealousness. Out of a passionate love for the Divine, they got too close to the Divine Fire, disregarding warnings that their father had received about the dangers of getting too close. They felt that the sacrifices and rituals could not bring them close enough to God, and so only physical proximity would be enough…and then it was too much.

Moshe himself tries to offer an explanation to his beloved brother, Aaron, perhaps as a gesture of comfort:

  וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן הוּא אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר יְ-הֹ-וָ-ה לֵאמֹר בִּקְרֹבַי אֶקָּדֵשׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָעָם אֶכָּבֵד

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what God meant by saying:
Through those near to Me I show Myself holy,
And gain glory before all the people.”

וַיִּדֹּם אַהרֹֽן
And Aaron was silent

Sometimes, especially when we are so close to the most difficult of questions, the only answer we can offer is no answer at all; we cannot fathom why. And here, all Aaron can offer is silence.

I would love to find out what you think and how you would respond to this confronting event in our Parashah this week… please email me your thoughts!

Shabbat Shalom