Torah Study Blog

In the Book of Exodus, God directs Moses to, “bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Itamar, the sons of Aaron.” (Exodus 28:1) As the appointed priests, Aaron and his sons had a monopoly on the priesthood, which included the responsibility of making offerings at the altar.

In Leviticus 6 through 9 Aaron and his sons are given the specific rules of ritual and offering to God. Then they are clothed in the vestments appropriate to priests of the Temple and anointed with oil. “Thus he consecrated Aaron and his vestments, and also his sons and their vestments.” (Leviticus 8:30) God tells Aaron and his sons to ritually prepare an abundant sacrifice, “For today the Lord will appear to you.” (Leviticus 9) Then, “Moses and Aaron went inside the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people. 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.” (Leviticus 9:23-24)

According to these passages, the Israelites see the fire for themselves, which is just a glimpse of the power of their God. The Israelites honor and worship God, but they also understand the dangerousness of the sacred.

Next, the story takes a bad turn: In Leviticus 10, “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 the fire came forth from the Lord and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord meant when He said: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, And gain glory before all the people.’ And Aaron was silent.”

Using language we can better understand today, Rabbi Jaech likened being in the presence of God to being near electricity. Electricity is really

good when used properly, but electricity can have devastating consequences in the wrong hands. Although Nadab and Abihu were priests of the Temple and, thereby, members of the elite group, they took their own initiative and did something they were not specifically told to do. Nadab and Abihu did not follow the rules and, to our dangerous deity, this matters. Nadab and Abihu died due to their “alien” action.

The story is horrible enough but, maybe, just as shocking is the lack of response from their father, Aaron. Aaron just saw two of his sons consumed by fire and he had absolutely nothing to say?! In fact, the next action in the story is Aaron’s cousins carrying the bodies of Nadab and Abihu out of the sanctuary by their tunics, so that they do not have to touch the bodies. Then Moses instructed Aaron and his two remaining sons, “Do not bare your heads and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community. But your kinsmen, all the house of Israel, shall bewail the burning that the Lord has wrought. And so do not go outside the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” (Leviticus 10:4-7)

Aaron is the High Priest of the Temple. This passage shows that Aaron’s first commitment was to his community, as opposed to his own family. Rabbi Jaech shared with us her experience when the mother of Rabbi Jeach’s daughter-in-law passed away. Rabbi Jaech wanted to be there and offer support to her daughter-in-law, but Rabbi Jaech paused to be sure she did not have an obligation to our community first. If Rabbi Jaech had a commitment to a b’nai mitzvah family she would not have left to provide comfort to her daughter-in-law. Instead, Rabbi Jaech would have put her community, us, ahead of her family. Is that the right thing to do? Rabbi Jaech believes, for her, it would have been. Fortunately, she did not have a conflict, and she did not have to make that decision.

This week’s Torah portion is Achrei Mot, which translates to “After the Death.” The portion refers to what happens after the death of Aaron’s son, Nadab and Abihu. Surprisingly, after God has immolated the two sons of Aaron, just what the people are supposed to do is put on hold for the next 5 chapters. Instead, Leviticus 11-15 focuses on how to make restitution to God because of individual abominations, defilings, or contaminations – such as eating non-kosher food or having nocturnal emissions. After those

instructions we get back to the situation at hand. The focus is not on the misdeeds of Nadab and Abihu. Instead the focus follows the same line of thinking about how to make restitution after defilement. The sanctuary had been defiled and needs to be made right. Maybe this heartbreaking scenario did not really happen but, maybe, this is an origin story that illustrates what steps need to be taken to purify the sanctuary.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter