ACHAREI MOT - KEDOSHIM LEVITICUS 16:1–20:27, YOM HAZICHARON & YOM HA'ATZMAUT

 ACHAREI MOT - KEDOSHIM LEVITICUS 16:1–20:27

Starting at 16:1,  Achrei Mot God warns against unauthorized entry into the Holy of Holies.  Only the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur may enter this innermost chamber in the Sanctuary to offer incense to God.  This brings to mind the fatal error of Nadav and Abihu.

 The casting of lots over two goats to determine which should be offered to G‑d and which should be dispatched to the wilderness is described.

Acharei Mot is also read on Yom Kippur.  It warns against bringing sacrificial offerings anywhere but in the Holy Temple. The consumption of blood is forbidden, and laws prohibiting incest and other forbidden sexual relations are set out.

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In the Torah portion at 16:8, among other things, we learn about fate and destiny:

וְנָתַן אַהֲרֹן עַל-שְׁנֵי הַשְּׂעִירִם, גֹּרָלוֹת--גּוֹרָל אֶחָד לַיהוָה, וְגוֹרָל אֶחָד לַעֲזָאזֵל.

“And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for Azazel.“

The casting of lots as a method to determine which goat will be sacrificed and which goat will be led into the dessert implies that no human hand is involved in the selection of outcomes for either of the two goats.  It is entirely left to Hashem to make that choice.  

Some people would say that in this circumstance: “Let the fates decide the outcome” or maybe “it was destined to happen that way”. This is reminiscent of Doris Day in the 50’s singing: “Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see, Que Sera, Sera…”.  We call this cheerful fatalism.

https://youtu.be/xZbKHDPPrrc

Rabbi Soloveitchik has a different approach.  He differentiates between fate and destiny:

Soloveitchik considers fate to be a preordained course of one’s life, a course that  occurs in spite of your actions.  In this instance you are considered as an object.  You have no say; you are passive.

Destiny, on the other hand regards the shaping of events that occur within your life as the result of you taking an active course of action.  You are a player and not an object.

For us Jews, particularly Israeli Jews, we are players who have made Israel our destiny.

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Is the Earth and/or the Land of Israel alive and do they exhibit self-regulatory functions?

Consider the Torah reading at 18:25 and18:27-28:

וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ, וָאֶפְקֹד עֲוֺנָהּ עָלֶיהָ; וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ, אֶת-יֹשְׁבֶיהָ.

“And the land became defiled, and I visited its sin upon it, and the land vomited out its inhabitants”

 כִּי אֶת-כָּל-הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵל, עָשׂוּ אַנְשֵׁי-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם; וַתִּטְמָא, הָאָרֶץ

וְלֹא-תָקִיא הָאָרֶץ אֶתְכֶם, בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם אֹתָהּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר קָאָה אֶת-הַגּוֹי, אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם.

“For the people of the land who preceded you, did all of these abominations, and the land became defiled.  And let the land not vomit you out for having defiled it, as it vomited out the nation that preceded you”.

In this instance the Land of Israel is held to be a special place within the world, within the planet Earth.  The Land of Israel may be viewed as being part of an organism (the Earth) with self-regulatory functions.  This view seems similar to those who adhere to the Gaia - Mother Earth theory where the Earth itself is deemed to be organic and alive.  Consider the Earth opening up and swallowing Korach and his followers or the Earth crying out regarding the blood of the murdered Abel.

A rhetorical question, an answer is not expected:

If the Earth is an entity that embodies the properties of life, where then would you place Israel? Zionist that I am, without missing a beat, I would exclaim: the heart!

For a better answer, at least to me, consider Israel to be part of a cell, one of the trillions of cells that you and I have and which together comprise our body, our universe so to speak.  If Israel is a distinct part of a cell, I would place it within the cell’s nucleus where it has its own special DNA as does us Jews. 

 For me, Israel is the equivalent of a cell’s mitochondria. That is the place where energy needed for the cell’s function is produced.  Without energy the cell will whither and die.

What do you think?

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Kedoshim begins with the statement (19:2):

דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ:  כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם. 

"Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy".

This is followed by dozens of mitzvot through which we Jews are able to relate to the holiness of Hashem.  Among these laws are commandments about loving your neighbor, Shabbat, charity, honesty in business, sexual morality, respect and honor of parents, idolatry, equality before the law and the sacredness of life.

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 When the Haftarah portion for Kedoshim stands on its own, in Sephardic communities, the Prophet Ezekiel is read.  At 20:19-20 the Prophet says:

 אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, בְּחֻקּוֹתַי לֵכוּ; וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי שִׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשׂוּ אוֹתָם

וְאֶת-שַׁבְּתוֹתַי, קַדֵּשׁוּ; וְהָיוּ לְאוֹת, בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם--לָדַעַת, כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם

“I am the Lord your God: walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and fulfill them. And keep My Sabbaths holy so that they be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God”.

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In the Torah portion at Vayikra 19:18, HaShem says:

וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ: אֲנִי, יְהוָה

 “…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord.”

In order to understand how to do this it is very important for us to know what the word “love” means.  After all, every day at least twice a day we say “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart….” (Devarim 6:5).

“Love” in the context of Vayikra 19:18 and Devarim 6:5 is not romantic love.  It is not a Hallmark greeting card message for Valentine’s Day.  The subtext of “Love” in the Chumash of 3400 years ago is loyalty in the extreme and nothing more.  

The proclamation, “I am the Lord,” underscores that loving one’s neighbor is tantamount of our duty to love God.

Hashem’s demand for loyalty is a reflection of His fiercely protective right to Israel, His possession.  In Exodus 20:5 and 34:14 we see: 

“You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…”

“For you shall bow down to no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.

People: You have been warned. Best watch your step.

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At 19:4 Hashem says: 

“You shall not turn to the worthless idols, nor shall you make molten deities for yourselves. I am the Lord, your God”.

This is one of many times when we are prohibited from worshiping idols.

 

I don’t know if anyone caught it, but at 17:7 we were warned against sacrificing to daemons:

 וְלֹא-יִזְבְּחוּ עוֹד, אֶת-זִבְחֵיהֶם, לַשְּׂעִירִם, אֲשֶׁר הֵם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם:  חֻקַּת עוֹלָם תִּהְיֶה-זֹּאת לָהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם.

“And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the daemons, after whom they stray. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations”.

Who are these demons, שְּׂעִירִם?

שְּׂעִירִם  are hairy goats maybe a satyr.  And there must be a connection to the casting of lots over two goats at 16:8.

What do you think the connection is?

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When Acharei Mot and Kedoshim are read together as a double parashah, most congregations read the haftarah selection from Amos, 9:7-15.

14 - "And I will return the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild desolate cities and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce.

15 - And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no longer be uprooted from upon their land, that I have given them, said the Lord your God".

Unless you are in a state of complete denial, it is very difficult not to believe that we are living in miraculous times, a time of redemption.

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This week we observe Yom HaZicharon.  We remember Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilian victims of terrorism. We light a Memorial candle. The siren will sound at 8 PM. Next morning at 11 AM the siren will sound again, and a memorial service will be held at the Nahariya military cemetery. At home we read Psalms 9 and 144. It is a sad day.

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 Independence Day,  יום העצמאות

This week we celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, יום העצמאות

There is a prayer for the State of Israel that begins:

(א) אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם,

(ב) צוּר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְגוֹאֲלוֹ,

(ג) בָּרֵךְ אֶת מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל,

(ד) רֵאשִׁית צְמִיחַת גְּאֻלָּתֵנוּ

Our Father in Heaven, Rock of Israel and Redemption, Bless the State of Israel, the First flowering of Our Redemption.

                                                                                                                        According to Rabbi Sacks excerpted from the Koren Siddur, the phrase "the first flowering of our redemption" means that the restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation in its own land was not merely an event in secular history.

                                                                                                                                  It was the fulfillment of a prophetic vision--first stated by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:4 --that Israel would one day will be gathered from "the furthermost lands under the heavens". 

Astonishingly, this precise prediction has actually happened

TAZRIA - METZORAH, Leviticus 12:1-15:33, Rosh Chodesh Iyar, Yom Hazichoron, Yom Ha'atzmaut

 

 TAZRIA - METZORAH, Leviticus 12:1-15:33

Rosh Chodesh Iyar, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha'atzmaut

This week we have a double Torah Portion: Tazria and Metzora.  In addition we are celebrating the arrival of the month of Iyar, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut.  And let's not forget the counting of the Omer, Friday night being the 20th day of the Omer count.  It is a busy week.

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Parshat Tazria begins by setting out the rules which govern a woman upon giving birth. In order to regain a status of ritual purity. She must undergo a time-related sanctification process. This process varies in length depending on whether she has given birth to a boy or a girl. It is 41 days for a male child and 81 days for a baby girl.

This raises a question: Why is additional time required when a mother has given birth to a girl?

The beginning of the ritual purification is set out at 12:2 (in part) -

אִשָּׁה כִּי תַזְרִיעַ, וְיָלְדָה זָכָר--וְטָמְאָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים

"If a woman be delivered, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days".

And continues at 12:5 -

וְאִם-נְקֵבָה תֵלֵד, וְטָמְאָה שְׁבֻעַיִם כְּנִדָּתָהּ; וְשִׁשִּׁים יוֹם וְשֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים, תֵּשֵׁב עַל-דְּמֵי טָהֳרָה

"And if she gives birth to a female, she shall be unclean for two weeks, like her menstruation. And for sixty six days, she shall remain in the blood of purity".

I think the reason for the additional time goes like this: 

During the period of gestation there is a presumption that the mother knows or thinks she knows that she is carrying a girl. At that point the mother realizes that it is incumbent upon her to pass on the superior wisdom and understanding, spirituality, sensitivity and teaching skills inherent in a woman to her unborn daughter.

She does this having in mind that one day the unborn daughter will have children of her own and likewise have the responsibility to educate them. Passing on this bounty to her unborn daughter depletes the mother of her natural gifts, and she needs more time to spiritually recover and resume her maternal responsibilities.

What do you think?

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Tazaria,  תַזְרִיעַ means sow a seed or inseminated.  מְּצֹרָע means "one who is diseased", literally “a leper”. .

The Parshah Tazaria and Metzora concern a person punished with a spiritual disorder called צָּרַעַת, tzara'at.  It manifests itself on a person’s skin, something akin to psoriasis.  A Kohen is called upon to diagnose the disease.  

The only treatment offered for a person with tzara’at is quarantine for a period of time outside of the camp and shaving of the body.  After a period of time, if the treatment is effective as determined by the Kohen, the person undergoes a purification process.  Firstly the person immerses in a Mikveh, a sort of spiritual repair and cleansing.  The person must wait until the end of the day, for nightfall, and the beginning of a new day before entering back into the camp.  He is now permitted to partake in, to eat sacred food, the Korban, a part of the holy offering.  By consuming some of the Korban, the person has been fully restored to spiritual health

Tzara'at may also affect one’s clothing and even one’s home.  We don't have this type of disease currently and we do not understand how all the details are relevant to our practical lives.  But we do know that there are times when our spiritual being has been diseased and requires repair and purification.

The Tazria-Metzora and one of the haftarah for Metzora when read alone deal with people stricken with skin disease.  In Parashah Tazria at 13:46 provides that the person with skin disease "shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his dwelling be,".  

It is not difficult to connect the Torah readings with the situation that we have been facing today with the Covid 19 virus.  I’ll leave it to you to make your own conclusions.

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YOM HAZIKARON -THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

  

As of last year:

The number of Israel's casualties of war stand at 23,816 as of April 2020. Since last Memorial Day, 75 new names were added to the roster of those who died defending the country. Of these, 42 deaths were members of the Defense Forces, with another 33 disabled persons dying as a result of injury in defense services.

That is the cost to keep us Israelis safe and free.

On Tuesday at 8 PM a siren will go off. and another one on Wednesday at 11 AM, during which the country stands still for a moment of silence and remembrance for the fallen soldiers of the IDF.

May their memory be for a blessing...Only simchas.

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OMER COUNT FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

Let's not forget the counting of the Omer, Friday night being the 20th day of the Omer count.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson provides spiritual insight into the counting of the Omer for each and every day. For the 20th Day of the Omer, which is day six of the third week we are directed to correct the flaw in the Sefirat known as Yesod of Tiferet. Here Tiferet is considered as compassion, and Yesod having within it the ability to bond.  Rabbi Jacobson explains how  the compassion of the day can be rectified:

 

"For compassion to be fully realized, it needs bonding. It requires creating a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. A bond that continues to live on. That is the most gratifying result of true compassion. Do you bond with the one you have compassion for, or do you remain apart? Does your interaction achieve anything beyond a single act of sympathy?"

 

The 20th Day of the Omer coincides with Yom Ha'atzmaut.  Consider Rabbi Jacobson’s words in the context of a relationship between Jews outside of Israel and our Land of Israel.  

To correct the flaw in this Sefriat, Rabbi Jacobson proposes the following exercise: Ensure that something eternal is built (the Land of Israel) as a result of your (Jews living outside of Israel) compassion.

 

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IN NAHARIYA, REMEMBERANCE DAY, יום זיכרו

 

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IN NAHARIYA,

REMEMBERANCE DAY, יום זיכרו

On this Tuesday evening we will begin observing Remembrance Day, יום זיכרו.  At 8 PM a siren will go off. and another one on Wednesday at 11 AM, during which the country stands still for a moment of silence and remembrance for the fallen soldiers of the IDF and the victims of terror attacks.  May their memory be for a blessing.

There is an on-going cost to keep us Israelis safe and free... And the people of Nahariya have not gone unscathed.

In 2016 there was a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv. Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on patrons at the Max Brenner Cafe in the Sarona Market, killing four people and injuring seven others.

The attack was horrific, but the paradigm is not a new one.  While the slaughter was going on at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market, I was with a group of English speaking Olim in Nahariya.  We had gathered by an apartment building located at 19 Balfour Street.  In 1974 this building was also the site of a terrorist attack in which a mother and her two children aged 5 and 12 were murdered.

There were about two dozen of us Olim.  We walked around the building led by Motti Zarenkin who lost his wife, son and daughter that tearful night in 1974.  Motti began his story.  He took us to the rear of the building and showed us the first floor apartment where he and his family had lived some 42 years ago.  Motti pointed out two windows: a bedroom window through which his wife and children tried to make their escape and a bathroom window where he had started to climb through before being shot and severely wounded.

In 1974 there had been a series of terrorist raids in the Galilee.  It made sense for Israelis to have a plan in place in the event that their home became under attack.  The same is true today. The Zarenkin family had such a plan.  If under attack, Motti would lock the front door and then the family would escape through a bedroom window.   

The Zarenkins lived on the first floor of the building.  Late on the night of June 23, the concussion of a grenade and the sound of small arms fire quickly brought Motti to the terrifying truth that the building was under attack. He feared that the terrorists would break into his apartment, but he and his wife had planned for this frightening reality and so he ran to secure the front door. 

While Motti was locking the front door, his wife, son and daughter were exiting the apartment as planned on a rope previously woven from sheets.  They reached the ground and began running toward the street.  But they were spotted and a grenade killed all three of them.  Motti did not know this; he thought that he had saved his family.  When he tried to escape the apartment as well, through a bathroom window, he was shot.  Wounded, Motti climbed back into his apartment, where he hid until found by soldiers.

Motti was taken to the hospital and was being prepared for surgery.  This was the first of nine surgeries over a three month period.  Just before he went under the anesthesia, his brother-in-law told him that his wife and children had been killed.  “What will you do”, his brother-in-law asked?  “I will get through this and make a new life”, Motti responded. 

And although it is impossible to put yourself in his shoes, that’s what Motti did.  There is another piece to Motti’s story.  In 1979, Nahariya once again was under attack.  This time a mother lost her only infant child.  It was a terrible thing.  The mother was beyond reconciliation.  She would not able to speak or be with anyone.  Her grief was unimaginable.  Motti was asked to approach her which he did.  She knew who he was and what unspeakable agony he had gone through.  The mother and Motti spoke.  Like Motti, despite her tragedy she persevered.  Today she has a growing family.  Motti had saved her.

Motti lives in Haifa.  He has a new family, even grandchildren.  This was the first time that Motti chose to tell his story. It was beyond riveting. We were honored to have been selected to hear his story.  Motti is truly a man; he is resolute, a role model for all us Jews, and he makes me proud to be an Israeli. 

The terrorists who attacked the market in Tel Aviv were members of Hamas. They did not come from the sea as they did in 1974 and 1979.  They came from a town near Beersheba.  They are evil.  Hamas and Fatah are evil.  And as we have learned, sad but true; evil will not cure itself.

To the families of the slain Israelis in Tel Aviv: May the Almighty comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

For Motti’s deceased wife and children: Peace be upon them; May the memory of the Holy ones be for a blessing, and May Hashem avenge their blood.

PARSHAT SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1–11:47, PART II, LAST DAYS OF PASSOVER AND YOM HASHOAH

 PARSHAT SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1–11:47, PART II,

 LAST DAYS OF PASSOVER AND YOM HASHOAH

 PARSHAT SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1–11:47

At 10:8-9 

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹר

יַיִן וְשֵׁכָר אַל-תֵּשְׁתְּ אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ אִתָּךְ, בְּבֹאֲכֶם אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד--וְלֹא תָמֻתוּ:  חֻקַּת עוֹלָם, לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם

“And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication, neither you nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, so that you shall not die. [This is] an eternal statute for your generations”

The prohibition against drinking wine is directed at the priests officiating in the Sanctuary. However this prohibition is true and good for any person who is required to discern and distinguish between things. A Judge is such a person.  A Judge is also forbidden to give a ruling or render a verdict when intoxicated.

However, get this from the 13 century Sefer HaChinuch 152:

“…And the prohibition of coming to the Temple in drunkenness is practiced at the time of the (Temple) by males and females. And the prevention of giving a ruling is in every place and at all times by males and so by a sage woman that is fitting to give a ruling.”

Does this mean that it is O.K. for a qualified woman  such as Deborah to interpret the Law and give Halachic rulings? 

Oy Vey… What are things coming to?

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At 11:6 we are commanded not to eat rabbits:

וְאֶת-הָאַרְנֶבֶת, כִּי-מַעֲלַת גֵּרָה הִוא, וּפַרְסָה, לֹא הִפְרִיסָה; טְמֵאָה הִוא, לָכֶם

“And the hare, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a cloven hoof; it is unclean for you”

An animal that chews its cud is called a ruminant. The hare or rabbit or אַרְנֶבֶת is not a ruminant although the scientist Carl Linnaeus, who formalized modern biologic nomenclature, at one time included the hare with other ruminants.  

What’s going on here? How can the Torah say that the rabbit chews its cud when science knows that it does not?

In terms of eating and digesting of its food, the hare does something close to ruminant behavior, but not exactly so. Rabbits eat a large amount of greens each morning. These are only partially digested and the remnants are excreted.  After some time the hare returns to have another go, this time on its half digested droppings…ugh.  It has the appearance of animal chewing its cud. Thus the Torah has come up with a warning not to eat hares because they do not have split hooves.

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YOM HASHOAH

Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2021 will be begin at sunset on Wednesday, April 7th. 

Yom Hashoah is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan and ending the following evening,  Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country.

There will be a sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. 

Throughout the day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the Holocaust.

To their shame, some Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox rabbis have never endorsed this memorial day.  

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LAST DAYS OF PASSOVER 

7th Day

On the 7th day of Passover at Exodus15:20-21 we find Miriam, leading all the Jewish women:

וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף--בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת. 

"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbral in her hand; and all the women went out flocked to her with timbrals and with dances."

Is there some significance to the verse “and all the women went out flocked to her…” in the sense of emphasizing that all the Jewish women were valiant in going out from Egypt...that is leaving idolatry behind, but maybe not all the men doing so? 

Indulge me a little bit, take a hard look at “with dances”, בִמְחֹלֹת.

חֹלֹ has a military connection as in army or force or maybe bastion.  These Jewish women were a mighty force to contend with, and it is still so today.

Not that the men were are are chopped liver.

Witness David's warriors:

 8th Day

On the 8th of Passover the Haphtarah portion is from the Book of Isaiah

(From Dan Brosgol Director of Prozdor at Hebrew College)

The text focuses on the prophet’s vision of Assyria’s defeat and the return of the Jewish exiles to the Land of Israel, which will usher in an era of peace and harmony. Perhaps the most famous verses from this messianic reading come from chapter 11, verses 6-9:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid/
The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, with a little boy to herd them/
The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together/
And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw/
A babe shall play Over a viper’s hole/
And an infant pass his hand over an adder’s den/
In all of My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done/
For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD/
As water covers the sea.

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SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1–11:47, PART I, THE KILLING OF NADAV AND ABIHU

SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1–11:47, PART I

THE KILLING OF NADAV AND ABIHU

In Parshat Shemini, Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Abihu, die at the hand of heaven when they bring “strange fire” before HaShem (Leviticus 10:1-2).  The Sages and commentators offer many reasons for their death.  For example: their behavior was inappropriate because they were drunk or they did not seek permission from Moses or that they were in the Holy of Holies, and only the Kohen Gadol was authorized to enter the Holy of Holies.

I think however that the responsibility for their death lies in part with their father or perhaps with their uncle Moses, himself.  It all begins in the previous year, eight months before, in the month of Tammuz with the Sin of the Golden Calf:  Moses is away on Mt. Sinai, learning Torah from HaShem, and Aaron is in charge.  The Israelites become restive; Aaron calms them down; he makes a golden calf and proclaims the next day as a festival day (Exodus 32:1-6). 

Then early the next day, a festival day, the people bring Olah and Shlamim offerings to an altar that Aaron has erected. The Olah is the standard voluntary offering where the entire animal, except for its skin goes up to HaShem. It is a form of a gift, a thank you and by doing so, the offeror comes closer to HaShem.  The Shlamim is also voluntary, and also has a thank you connotation, but in this instance it is shared between HaShem, the priesthood and the offeror.  In both of these offerings there is a prescribed ritual  which Aaron’s sons are required to carry out which means that although Aaron may have made the golden calf, his sons assisted the populace in giving thanks to it.

HaShem becomes incensed; he vows to annihilate the entire population except for Moses, but Moses pleads on behalf of the people and calms HaShem down.  However, in the aftermath, the Sons of Levi by name, and not Aaron and his sons by name, slay three thousand of the evil-doers.  Additionally as a punishment, HaShem brings a plague against the Israelites. But in no instance does it appear that Aaron and his sons are held accountable, at least not at this juncture.

Fast forward one year later to the 1^st of Nissan, the Mishkan has been completed and ready to be activated as a resting place for HaShem.  Aaron and his sons, including Nadav and Abihu the eldest of them, have been personally trained by Moses as to how to carry out their duties.  Nadav and Abihu are consumed by a heavenly fire. And the question is…Who is responsible for their deaths?

The Sages and commentators place the responsibility on the two brothers themselves.  Support for this position can be found in the narrative of the death of Uzzah (2Samuel 6:3-7).  At King David’s direction, Uzzah was helping to transport the Ark by wagon from his father AviNadav’s (interesting name) house to Jerusalem, and inadvertently grasped the Ark when it became dislodged.  Although Uzzah intended no disrespect, HaShem struck him and he died.  If this could happen to Uzzah because of an accident, then how much more so Nadav and Abihu because of their deliberate actions.  Although King David, very much like Moses, was ultimately responsible for the care of the Ark, he like Moses was not punished.  However, King David was frightened enough not to move the Ark again for another three months.

Notwithstanding that the Torah does not explicitly hold Aaron, Nadav and Abihu or any of Aaron’s children responsible for the sin of the golden calf; a case may be made for doing so.  Again, returning by example to King David in 2 Samuel 12:13-18: David sinned with Batsheva.  HaShem through the prophet Nathan called him to account.  David admitted his guilt; HaShem did not kill him, but the son born to David died seven days after having been born.  It could be that Aaron paid a similar price.

 

I think one of the lessons here is that leadership is an awful responsibility, one not to be taken lightly, not only for purposes of potential culpability, but because of possible dire consequences from inadvertent or deliberate errors in judgment.

 

I’ll leave it you as to who should take responsibility for the death of Nadav and Abihu. I myself like happy endings.  It could be as some say: their physical bodies were not up to being in such close proximity to the Divine Presence, and their spiritual souls just exited their physical bodies, only to be united with HaShem.

I realize that calling this essay “THE KILLING OF NADAV AND ABIHU” and not “THE DEATH OF NADAV AND ABIHU” I am making a statement that their death was a deliberate act and not an accidental occurrence.