(א) וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אַ֠הֲרֹן נָדָ֨ב וַאֲבִיה֜וּא אִ֣ישׁ מַחְתָּת֗וֹ וַיִּתְּנ֤וּ בָהֵן֙ אֵ֔שׁ וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ עָלֶ֖יהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִ֜בוּ לִפְנֵ֤י ה' אֵ֣שׁ זָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹ֦א צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃ (ב) וַתֵּ֥צֵא אֵ֛שׁ מִלִּפְנֵ֥י ה' וַתֹּ֣אכַל אוֹתָ֑ם וַיָּמֻ֖תוּ לִפְנֵ֥י ה' (ג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן הוּא֩ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר ה' ׀ לֵאמֹר֙ בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָעָ֖ם אֶכָּבֵ֑ד וַיִּדֹּ֖ם אַהֲרֹֽן׃
(1) And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. (2) And there came forth fire from before the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. (3) Then Moses said unto Aaron: ‘This is it that the LORD spoke, saying: Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.
Question: Why are Nadab and Abihu taken up in flames?
Do you automatically assume it is negative? Why?
The tradition has often sought to justify their actions by saying that it was only a small sin that they committed but because they are the sons of Aaron, they are held to a higher standard, thus " through those near to me I am sanctified."
(ו) ר' ברכיה פתח: (משלי יז): גם ענוש לצדיק לא טוב. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: אף על פי שענשתי את אהרן ולקחתי שני בניו ממנו לא טוב, אלא (שם): להכות נדיבים על יושר, הדא הוא דכתיב: אחרי מות. תני, ר' אליעזר: לא מתו בניו של אהרן, אלא על ידי שהורו הלכה בפני משה רבן. ומעשה בתלמיד אחד שהורה לפני רבו ר' אליעזר אמר לאימא שלום: אי לאשתו של זה אינו מוציא שבתו! לא באת שבתו עד שמת. נכנסו חכמים אצלו. א"ל: נביא אתה?! אמר להם: (עמוס ז): לא נביא אנכי ולא בן נביא, אלא כך מקובלני כל המורה הלכה לפני רבו חייב מיתה:
R. Berachia opened, "To punish the righteous also is not good..." (Proverbs 17:26) Said the Holy Blessed is He: Even though I punished Aaron and took two sons from him, it is not good. "nor to strike the noble for their uprightness." As it is written there: "After the death of (the sons of Aaron (later in Leviticus 16:1." R. Eleazar taught: the sons of Aaron did not die but for that they taught Jewish law (halachah) in front of Moses their Rabbi/Teacher. And it happened once that a certain student was teaching in front of his teacher, Rabbi Eleazar said to Ima Shalom, his wife, he won't live to the end of the Sabbath!" He didn't make it to the end of the Sabbath and died. The Sages entered his presence and said, "You must be a prophet!" He said to them (Amos 7): I am not a prophet, nor a son of a prophet, but rather this is my understanding (of the tradition) the one who teaches in front of his rabbi is deserving of the death penalty.
Other commentators suggest different ways that they were arrogant, or drunk, or power-hungry. And yet other commentators understand the consequence to be a reward--they were so rewarded for their zeal to be close to God.
Philo (c. 44 CE, Alexandria) "they died before the Lord"
[Nadab and Abihu] were not seized by a wild beast, but were taken up by a rush of fire unquenchable, by an undying splendor, since in sincerity they cast aside sloth and delay and consecrated their zeal, hot and fiery, flesh-consuming and swiftly moving, to piety. [This fire] was "strange" (lev 10:1) to earthly existence, since it belonged to the realm of God...Wafted by a favorable breeze and carried the heights of heaven, they were passed away, like a wholly burnt offering [from the Tabernacle] into celestial splendor.--Philo, On Dreams
It is thus that the priests Nadab and Abihu die in order that
they may live, receiving an incorruptible life in exchange for mortal existence, and being translated from the created to the uncreated. Over them a proclamation is uttered betokening immortality, "They died before the Lord" (Lev. 10:2), that is, "They came to life," for a corpse may not come into God's presence.--Philo, On Fight and Finding
Explain dichotomy between body and soul in Greek lit/philosophy at this time.
Sifra Col. 92, no. 32
Upon beholding the fire of divine approval immediately preceding their action (Lev. 9:23-24), they joyfully arose "to add love to love," and "each took his censor" and "took" refers to joy...
David Flusser, Second Temple Judaism...
They brought the fire before God as an act of joy, in order to add love to the existing love. The motif or religious death appears here without the persecution that normally attends martyrdom. They loved God "to the death," the most important justification for death for God's sake beginning with the thought of Rabbi Aqiva. The idea of loving God "to the death" preceded that of martyrdom and would remain a key element in the Jewish understanding of dying for God for generations to come.
Writing in his Epistle on Martyrdom (Iggeret Hashmad), Maimonides ruled that one should not give his life in forced conversion to Islam but rather should say the words of conversion (Sahada) and practice Judaism in secret. Maimonides distinguishes between three types of Kiddush ha-shem: a) martyrdom-the giving of life itself. b) A person performs mitzvoth out of pure love for God and not motivated by reward or punishment. (see example below) c) someone who acts and his concerned not for reciprocity. Someone who goes "beyond the law."
(Taken in part from Epistles of Maimonides: Crisis and Leadership By Moses Maimonides, Abraham S. Halkin, David Hartman, p.70) And Satlow, Creating Judaism, Ch. 8.
(ג) וכיצד היא האהבה הראויה הוא שיאהב את ה' אהבה גדולה יתירה עזה מאוד עד שתהא נפשו קשורה באהבת ה' ונמצא שוגה בה תמיד כאלו חולה חולי האהבה שאין דעתו פנויה מאהבת אותה אשה והוא שוגה בה תמיד בין בשבתו בין בקומו בין בשעה שהוא אוכל ושותה יתר מזה תהיה אהבת ה' בלב אוהביו שוגים בה תמיד כמו שצונו בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך והוא ששלמה אמר דרך משל כי חולת אהבה אני וכל שיר השירים משל הוא לענין זה.
(3) What is the appropriate Love? It is that a person should love God with a great and very excessive love, until his souls is bound up in love of God and he focuses on it constantly as if he were lovesick and could not take his mind off of some woman, whether sitting, standing, even when he eats and drinks. Beyond this, love of God should be in their hearts constantly, as we were commanded: with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 6:5). Thus [King] Solomon said, as a metaphor, for I am lovesick (Song of Songs 2:5), for all of Song of Songs is a metaphor for this matter.
Chatimah: Two very different pictures of Nadab and Abihu. In speaking with one of my congregants in Moscow, ID about this incident, she likened Nadab and Abihu to her brother who she describes as a religious fundamentalist, but by which she meant that he was certain of his belief to the exclusion of all other beliefs. The fire in this story, she said, should be read as a warning against faith groups who promote their own rightness over and against any other system faith. If you get too close to your own understanding of God and what God wants, one is likely to burn up in self aggrandizement. I thought her reading was insightful, and yet a third way to understand the meaning of this story. We might come away from this Torah portion with a deeper understanding of our love for God, a more meaningful understanding of the the pull to be close to God, and also the dangers of over-promoting our own path as the only right way.
Shabbat Shalom.