Achre Mos opens with a tikun for the death of the sons of Aharon who died during the inauguration of the Mishkan in the desert because they offered a strange incense that was not requested (ויקחו בני אהרן נדב ואביהוא איש מחתתו ויתנו בהן אש וישימו עליה קטרת ויקרבו לפני ה’ אש זרה אשר לא צוה אתם), (Leviticus10:1). This is a difficult episode because people die by the hand of G-d for for what seems to be minor infractions if they are in fact infractions at all.
After that Moshe says "This is what the Hashem meant when He said, 'I will be sanctified through those near to Me”. Rashi explains that Nadav and Avihu were great men who were major leaders of Israel. If one analyzes the text of the Chumash one sees that the people leading Israel are Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam. Nadav and Avihu were in the second tier along with the sons Aharon, Eleazar and Ithamar, plus Joshua and Pinchas.
The intent of the pasuk is that the bringing of this incense was their own initiative and was a departure from a carefully prescribed pageant. Some see it as a spontaneous outpouring of religious enthusiasm, and explain that just like one should not become excessively intoxicated by wine likewise one should not excessively intoxicated by Torah. The Sifra on VaYikra (Chapter 10) emphasizes that Nadav and Avihu had their own reasoning and did not discuss their ideas with others. The gist of the commentaries is critical basically saying that this decision was not theirs to make and that they overstepped their authority. The pasuk can also be understood as them being very impetuous.
“Not requested” (לֹא צִוָּה אֹתָם) can be a tactful hyperbole for the word undesirable. In the Sifra the Holy One blessed be He is scripted as saying, “You brought before me a defiled (impure) fire”, (אתם הכנסתם לפני אש טמאה). In other words what Nadav and Avihu did was wrong both in form and substance. They were wrong to bring the incense they way they did and they were wrong to bring it period.
The difficulty still remains. Yes there was a glitch in the ceremony and say they did stink up the place. Still death by the hands of heaven seems to be an excessive penalty. The answer is that the errors of a leader can result in greatly damaging consequences for others. There is an aspect of this in Pirkei Avos 1:3 in the saying of Antignos the man of Socho to, “not be as slaves, who serve their master for the sake of reward. Rather, be as slaves who serve their master not for the sake of reward”. Maimonides explains that the Sadducees distorted this statement by claiming that Judaism rejects the idea of reward and punishment for mitzvahs. It is in fact saying that a person should be doing the mitzvos because they are intrinsically good and that it is inappropriate to do them for a base motive.
The Sadducees were rejecting the Torah because they were clinging to base motives not because of difficulties with religious doctrines. They felt a need for a rationale to justify their decision and this maxim was easy to misuse. Later on Pirkei Avos (1:11) analyzes the need for scholars to weigh their words carefully. It fears that a lack of caution will result in misguided students, who will be destroyed in exile, because they have accepted bad ideas, and in the end there will be a desecration of G-d’s name.
The Torah is telling us that if a dirty smell takes root among the nation of Israel, the consequences can be a tragedy. Also impetuousness and presumptuous can be disastrous and should be uprooted. If the leaders of Israel strengthen them the consequences חו”ש can be disastrous. This shows the great responsibility that is assumed by the rabbis and educators of the Jewish people and how important it is to properly guide the nation in the ways of Torah.
לע"נ האמה מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
Blogger English http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2017/05/achre-mos-kedoshim-pirke-avot.html
No comments:
Post a Comment