Bar-Ilan University
Parashat Hashavua Study Center
Parashat Shmini/ Parah 5771/ March 26, 2011
Lectures on the weekly Torah reading by the faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan,
Israel. A project of the Faculty of Jewish Studies, Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish
Studies Center, and the Office of the Campus Rabbi. Published on the Internet under
the sponsorship of Bar-Ilan University's International Center for Jewish Identity.
Prepared for Internet Publication by the Computer Center Staff at Bar-Ilan University.
Inquiries
and
comments
to:
Dr.
Isaac
Gottlieb,
Department
of
Bible,
gottlii@mail.biu.ac.il
Dr. Yirmiyahu Malhi
Department of Talmud
Intellect and Emotion in Worshipping the Lord
Any person who honestly and truly wishes to worship the Lord often faces a difficult
dilemma: on the one hand, worship of the Lord must be done according to fixed and precise
rules, at set and suitable places and times, leaving no room for improvisation and personal
decisions. This principle follows from the Torah being divinely given, its laws, ordinances
and commandments having the force of absolute truth. Who are we, creatures of flesh and
blood, to come and establish our own criteria as to how this worship ought to be done?
After all, the Torah states explicitly: "You shall not add anything to what I command you or
take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your G-d that I enjoin
upon you" (Deut. 4:2), and indeed that is how it is. On the other hand, we are faced with the
opposite principle, for if a person becomes totally immersed in details of measurements and
quantity, of time and place, all one's thoughts revolving around when, where, and in what
measure the laws of Scripture are to be fulfilled, that person is likely to lose sight of the most
important of all, namely that the Lord should be worshiped and His commandments are to
be carried out with love and awe coming from the heart, doing our Maker's will joyfully.
This theme is also stressed many times in Scripture; just to cite one example: "Because that
people has approached [Me] with its mouth and honored Me with its lips, but has kept its
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heart far from Me, and its worship of Me has been a commandment of men, learned by
rote…" (Isa. 29:13). It would be no exaggeration to say that this presents us with one of the
most difficult questions: finding the proper balance between intellect and emotion,
between affinity for performing the laws and commandments according to their finest
detail, and between expressing emotion – awe, love, and joy – without which performance
of the commandment would be pointless and devoid of meaning.
This week's reading provides a gateway to this weighty subject, although we could hardly say
it provides us an exact recipe for the necessary balance. The reading tells us of the events
on the first of Nisan, the eighth day of inaugurating the Tabernacle. After many months of
work by Bezalel and Oholiab, along with the active participation of all the people, skilled
workmen and plain men and women, at long last came the day on which the work was
completed. The Sages were extravagant in their praise of this day, teaching us that it had
been set aside since the six days of Creation to celebrate the momentous event of the Divine
Presence descending to dwell among the Israelites:
… a Tanna taught: That day took ten crowns. It was the first of the Creation, the first
for the princes, the first for the priesthood, the first for [public] sacrifice, the first for
the fall of fire [from Heaven], the first for the eating of sacred food, the first for the
dwelling of the Shechinah in Israel, the first for the [priestly] blessing of Israel, the first
for the interdict of the high places, [and] the first of months.1
They said further, "On the eight day: we are taught: that was a day of rejoicing before the
Holy One, blessed be He, like the day Heaven and Earth were created."2 The entire nation
stood expectant, waiting for fire to come down from Heaven as a sign that G-d had found
their work pleasing and that the Divine Presence would indeed descend and dwell among
them. And lo, in the midst of this sublime moment a terrible tragedy struck, described in the
Torah as follows (Lev. 9:24-10:2):
Fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat
parts on the altar. And all the people saw, and shouted, and fell on their faces. Now
Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on
it; and they offered before the Lord alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them.
And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed them; thus they died at the instance
of the Lord.
The exact nature of their sin is not spelled out in these verses. Consequently, a wide variety
of opinions exist among the rabbis of the tannaitic midrash Torat Kohanim (Sifra) and the
Talmud as to the sin which brought on such severe punishment, cutting short the rejoicing
on that great day. From among the many views we shall present one that directly concerns
the question set forth above. One of the baraithot in Torat Kohanim says:
"Now Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan" – they too, in their
rejoicing, having seen a new [fire] come down from Heaven and consume the offering
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2
Shabbat 87b (http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_87.html).
Megillah 10b.
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and the fat parts on the altar, were about to compound love with love, for it says they
"took" [Heb. lakkehu] and the verb l-k-h is used for none other than actions done in
rejoicing.3
Thus the sin here was not one of lack of faith, of despairing that they would see fire come
from Heaven and descend on the altar. Quite the contrary, after the fire descended they
were filled with joy, so much so that they exceeded all bounds and brought additional fire,
offering incense which they had not been commanded to do. According to this view (and it
must be emphasized that utterly different views exist, as well), their sin lay in being overinclined toward rejoicing, to the extent that they exceeded acceptable bounds, and for this
they were punished. This teaches us that even great people, of whom it is written, "Through
those near to Me I show Myself holy" (Lev. 10:3), who surely were acting with the purest of
intentions, even they are struck down by the law when they exceed the limits of the law.
Rabbi Hayyim ben Atar followed this approach, taking it even farther. He writes in his
commentary Or ha-Hayyim:4
"The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when
they drew too close to the presence of the Lord" (Lev. 16:1). Even though they were
the sons of Aaron, etc., and were close to the Lord, nevertheless He did not have
mercy on them, so they died. From this we learn that being close to the Lord is of no
avail if one violates the boundaries, seeking to enter the most sacred precinct.
(Beginning of the commentary on Parashat Aharei Mot.)
In the continuation, he was even more extreme:
It says, "who died," meaning to inform us that we should not think they actually
managed to do what they had thought of doing and enter within[meaning, achieving a
mystical communion with G-d]; rather, they had the urge but they died. The intention
in telling us this is to rule out the possibility of a person thinking he can cross the
boundary and come closer, even though he will die. This pertains when a person has
the desire and does not care for his own life, knowing that he will die. Therefore we
are told, "who died," … indicating that they did not achieve their objective of coming
close; understand this well.
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4
Torat Kohanim, according to Vatican manuscript Assemani 66, p. 194.
Rabbi Hayyim ben Atar, Or ha-Hayyim al ha-Torah, Jerusalem 1994, pp. 72-74.
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