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Nadav & Aviyhu: What Did They Do Wrong? - Compiled by Adena Muskin (SFW 08)

By: SFW Students & Alumna

Special thanks to those who contributed to this week’s dvar torah, including: Sima Horowitz, Sarah Jacob, Naamah Jacobs, Adena Muskin, Chava Rubin, and Becky Weiss.

In this week’s parsha we witness another side of the Chanukat Hamishkan, this time from the perspective of the kohanim. The Torah tells us of the sheva yemei hamiluim, and then proceeds to describe the events of the eighth day, where Aharon and his sons take over as kohanim in place of Moshe. This momentous occasion is marred, however, by the tragic deaths of two of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu.

“And Nadav and Avihu, 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. And there came forth fire from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” (Vayikra 10:1-2)

Needless to say, this description of Nadav’s and Avihu’s sin is very ambiguous. What exactly did they do wrong? Most meforshim explain that that Nadav and Avihu were wrong for bringing a foreign fire into the Mishkan. But can bringing foreign fire really be punishable by death? What is the essence of their sin?

One answer can be found in the midrash in Vayikra Rabba, where it quotes Bar Kapara in the name of Rav Yirmiya ben Elazar. He claims that Nadav and Avihu didn’t die from bringing foreign fire into the Mishkan while bringing a korban that Hashem didn’t command them to bring. Aharon's sons also sinned because they entered sections of the Mishkan which were forbidden to them. Textual proof of this claim is found in Vayikra 16:1 where their deaths are again mentioned: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aharon, when they drew near before God, and died.” Here there is no mention of an unwanted korban or foreign fire. The pasuk clearly states that the reason Nadav and Avihu died was because they entered too far into the Mishkan, too close to the seat of the Shchina.

Rashi offers an interesting answer, based upon the concept of smichut parshiyot. The next topic the Torah discusses is the prohibition of a kohen to enter the Mikdash while inebriated. Based upon this, Rashi concludes that Nadav and Avihu entered the Mishkan while drunk. It is for this reason that the very next topic the Torah chooses to discuss is the prohibitions of a kohen to do the avodah in certain conditions.

The Rashbam asserts that the fire was actually taken from the mizbeach. It was not in of itself an foreign fire. However, it became foreign fire because of the time that it was used. The day that Hashem was to appear through a heavenly fire before the entire nation was not the day to offer man-made fire in the Mishkan. It would detract from Hashem’s miraculous appearance before the people. Nadav and Avihu's sin was not defiling the Mishkan, but causing a detrimental intervention in the miraculous events of the day. This answer, is based upon the Rashbam’s assumption that the fire that came down and consumed Aharon’s korban before the eyes the nation, as described in the previous perek, is the same fire that consumed Nadav and Avihu, as described just a few pesukim later.

Chizkuni and the Bechor Shor define the words “asher lo tziva otam” (“which He did not command them”) as a prohibition, not only that Hashem didn’t command them to offer it. Hashem explicitly forbade them to offer this korban. By undermining authority by bringing the korban, regardless of their intentions, Nadav and Avihu demonstrated an audacity punishable by death.

Rav Shimshon Rephael Hirsch states that Nadav and Avihu desecrated the Mishkan by using their own private utensils. The utensils used in the Mishkan are national vessels, belonging to the entire Jewish People. When a kohen brings a korban in a national vessel he becomes a representative of the people, no longer an individual sacrificing to God. The day of Hashem’s appearance to the nation was not a day for the individualistic aspect of the kohen’s job. When Nadav and Avihu brought their OWN firepans, with their OWN fire, and placed their OWN ketoret (a national korban to be given only by the kohen gadol) inside, they completely undermined the nation’s part in the miraculous events of the day.

The Malbim offers two answers. Firstly, Nadav and Avihu brought the foreign fire because they didn’t believe that fire would actually come and consume their ketoret. They needed fire in order to bring the korban, so they brought their own. Another answer the Malbim suggests is that Nadav and Avihu wanted to be first. They didn’t like feeling inferior to Moshe and Aharon, to the extent that they preferred them dead so that they themselves could be at the head. However, the Malbim adds that this feeling of superiority stemmed from a great level of Ahavat HaKavod.

It is also possible that Nadav and Avihu’s sin was their tremendous pride. They were the only sons of Aharon ever to be singled out until now, and they were singled out many times. According to Rashi quoting Chazal, Moshe even attests to their greatness when he says to Aharon that the Mishkan was to be dedicated through someone. He had thought it would be himself and Aharon, but now he sees that since it occurred through Nadav and Avihu, they must be greater than he and Aharon.

This statement begs the question: How could such great and important people commit such a sin? The answer is simple: pride. Nadav and Avihu got caught up in their importance and in their role as the representative of Bnei Yisrael. This problem was so prevalent that some say that Nadav and Avihu brought the ketoret because they thought Aharon had forgotten about it, since it is normally brought by the kohen gadol before other korbanot. This opinion also states that generally the fire used in the Mikdash is taken from the mizbeach, not from Hashem. Nadav and Avihu didn’t stop to consider that this day was not an ordinary day. That Hashem had a specific agenda for the day he was to appear in all His glory to the Jewish People, and they weren’t privy to it. Moshe and Aharon were.

Moshe is described as the most humble person. One may question how he could say that the kedusha of the Mishkan would be brought about through himself and Aharon with his great humility. However, it depends on the definition of anava, humility. It is not that one believes he is ungifted and has nothing to offer the world, but that he realizes that it all comes from God, not himself. And therein lies the difference between Moshe and Nadav and Avihu.