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Nadav & Avihu - Why Not Here?

By: SFW Students & Alumna

Compiled by Adena Muskin ('08)

Special thanks to those who contributed to this week’s Dvar Torah: Sarah Schwartz

In Parshat Shmini we read of the tragic deaths of Nadav and Avihu after they bring their ketoret in the Mishkan. The Torah next describes the various and complicated laws of tumah and tahara. Only three parshiot later in Parshat Acharei Mot, before Moshe and Aharon are commanded regarding the avodah of Yom HaKippurim, do we read:

 “And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aharon, when they drew near before the Lord, and died. (Vayikra 16:1)

It seems that the logical placement of this section would be in Parshat Shmini following the Torah’s description of Nadav’s and Avihu’s sin. Why does the Torah find it necessary to interrupt the narrative in order to instruct us of the laws of tumah and tahara as described in the rest of Parshat Shmini and Parshiot Tazria and Metzora?

Rashi on the words "V’lo yamutu b’tumatam" “That they not die in their uncleanness” (Vayikra 15:31) states that someone who is tamei from illicit relations may not enter the Mishkan due to his/her impurity. Should this person enter the Mikdash, s/he is worthy of death. Perhaps, this can be related to Nadav and Avihu. Rashi there, quoting the Tanna Rabbi Yishmael, states that Aharon’s sons were forbidden from the Mishkan because they were drunk. Once they entered the Mishkan and were worthy of death. The Torah does not wish to have any more such cases of death, so it breaks off on a tangent to warn us who else may not enter the Mikdash.

Rav Menachem Leibtag points out that the pasuk which concludes this entire section of tumah and tahara connects these laws directly to the Mishkan.

 “Thus you shall warn the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, should they defile My tabernacle that is in the midst of them.” (Vayikra 15:31)

This pasuk warns Bnei Yisrael to be careful not to enter the Mishkan if they become tamei. In fact, this is the only consequence to becoming tamei. There is no prohibition against tumah itself. The only prohibition is against entering the Mikdash while in a state of tumah. Thus, tumah merely means that one cannot enter the Mikdash. One may even go so far as to say that the entire tahara process is only necessary to a person who wishes to enter the Mikdash. With no Mikdash, one can remain tamei his/her entire life with no other consequences.

Rav Leibtag uses this as a basis to offer a thematic explanation of the entire Sefer. He suggests that the common theme for the first 16 perakim of Sefer Vayikra is in essence a description of the ability of Bnei Yisrael to enter the Mishkan, thereby coming closer to Hashem.

The first section of Sefer Vayikra, perakim 1 through 7, explains how and when an individual can bring a korban and how that korban is to be offered by the kohen. This section is followed by the Chanukat Hamishkan, as described in perakim 8 through 10. The Chanukat Hamishkan prepared Bnei Yisrael and the kohanim for use and work in the Mishkan. Since this joyous ceremony concluded with the tragic deaths of Nadav and Avihu due to their improper entry into the Mishkan when offering their ketoret with am “eish zara”, a foreign fire, Parshat Shmini continues with the physical state that a kohen must maintain in order to perform the avodah. But the physical state of spirituality is not limited to the kohanim. Thus, the Torah uses the next two parshiot, Tazria and Metzora to describe an entire set of halachot concerning tumah and tahara, the purification process. Perakim 11 through 15 regulate who may or may not enter into the Mishkan, and later the Mikdash.  This unit ends with the opposite extreme. After discussing who may not enter the Mishkan at all, the Torah next describes in Parshat Acharei Mot who may penetrate furthest into the most sacred part of the Mikdash – the kohen gadol in the Kodesh HaKodoshim on Yom Kippur.

Although it is very probable that the halachot of tumah and tahara were told to Moshe at a different time, the Torah chooses to record them at this juncture in Sefer Vayikra, for this Sefer is not a chronological tale. Rather, the narrative surrounds the theme. Sefer Vayikra as a whole details how Bnei Yisrael are to maintain their kedusha as a "mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh”, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Thus, the Sefer must first discuss who cannot enter the Mishkan, before it can explain who may enter into the holiest sanctum of the Mikdash.

Another possibility may be that the Torah wished to teach us of the principle to never be over al mitzva, to never miss an opportunity to perform a mitzva. The Torah began discussing Nadav and Avihu and their sin. Since their sin was intricately connected to who may or may not enter the Mishkan, the Torah paused to discuss who else may not enter the Mishkan (i.e. someone who is tamei).  Had the Torah waited to teach these halachot, it would be skipping over the opportunity of teaching a mitzvah. Only once the mitzvah and its intricate laws have been explained can the Torah return to the narrative of Nadav and Avihu.