A Zero Tolerance Policy and Nadav and Avihu

 There is really no way to describe the tragedy that befell the Jewish people on the day of the inauguration of the mishkan. The culmination of their forgiveness, return to the fold of God's grace, was met by a heavenly fire that consumed Nadav and Avihu. Their earthly fire was met by a heavenly one, Aharon's two eldest sons punished by the Heavens for the "strange" fire that they had offered on the altar. 

More questions have been left open, than answered, regarding Nadav and Avihu. From Talmudic times to the early scholars, there seems to be more debate than consensus about what actually happened. To internalize the extent of the tragedy imagine a disastrous multi-casualty attack at a military parade celebrating a country's victory after a long, draining war, or September 11th, happening on a country's bi-centennial. It was a falling from grace, God's presence momentarily resting on the people, and then evaporating as it never were. The "fire that God had wrought" are the words of the verses, a deadly fire that left all speechless, their mouths agape, seeking direction. 

Moshe's words to Aharon were then met by utter silence, and shortly thereafter, Aharon was embraced by Hashem speaking to him directly for the first time, again being brought into God's loving confidence. 

The question can be asked, "Why did God engage in a zero-tolerance policy?" There seems to a motif that pertains to any wayward comportment with the divine. What would seem to be trivial in our eyes, took on the greatest import when it pertained to the holy realms. A cohen who failed to wash his hands, was liable of death in the hands of heaven; the high priest not wearing his sacred pomegranate-shaped bells upon entering the holy domain was met by the same. Furthermore, those who erred in the conceptualization of holy entities, likewise fared no better. When Uzzah (Shmuel II 6:5) grasped for the ark when it seemed to fall - in fact, the Haftorah for Parshat Shemini - he met his immediate death. 

This leads us to ask ever-important questions. We seem to have few means of comparison - the only thing I can recall is the vague recollection that a rabbi was once placed in jail for failing to shake the Queen's hand (only to be released shortly thereafter after the matter was cleared up). 

Do we want to have a return to a society where things are once again hallowed, sacrosanct? Is society hollow without these remembrances? The Ramban, the greatest of early commentators, seems to take that approach; Nadav and Avihu disturbed a very fragile balance, a demarcation that left no room for any other response. What they had done was in of itself profane, leaving no room for any other heavenly response.   

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