This week's word of Torah focuses on the challenging story of the death of Aaron's sons. The melody this week is another nigun from the Ukraine; this time a Bratslav nigun from Uman. michael (michaelstrassfeld.com; mjstrassfeld@gmail.com)
A word of Torah:
This week’s Torah portion has the disturbing story of the death of two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu: “Each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before God alien fire/eish zarah, which God had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from God and consumed them; thus, they died at the instance of God, “(Lev. 10:1-2).
The commentators debate what Nadav and Avihu did that was so wrong. One view is that they offered a sacrifice that was not commanded by God. Another view is they were drunk and behaving in an offensive manner. This view is based on the fact that soon after the incident the Torah forbids the priests from drinking wine while serving in the sanctuary. A third view suggests that they acted out of a spontaneous religious enthusiasm, unaware that coming too close to God could lead to death. All these explanations are troubling. Why were they punished so severely? The notion that God would destroy life even when approached in error is particularly disturbing. It undercuts the idea that the God of Israel is a moral God that only punishes those who behave badly.
I believe that this story is meant to tell us something important about human beings, not about God. Right from the beginning, the Torah warns us about the challenges that come from being human. We have a choice in how we behave. The first story we have after entering a world of choice is Cain and Abel, where we see the extreme result of exercising choice—we can take another human being’s life. A central challenge of being God’s partners in creation is to use our power to increase goodness and caring not suffering and death. Yet, we humans are the source of much of the evil in this world.
There is another source of destruction and suffering in our world, which derives from the laws of nature. There are carnivorous animals, hurricanes and disease. There is no evil intent in these circumstances, but the pain is just as real. God created a world where such things exist. God created a world where innocents die. The story of Aaron’s sons reminds us that the world God created is dangerous. We can respond to that suffering in silence, as Aaron does following the tragedy (va-yidom Aharon). Or we can understand that our responsibility is not just to lessen human evil, but to reduce the suffering that comes from the workings of nature. We can cure diseases and create systems to warn us about tornadoes and tsunamis. In our time, we can save nature itself or potentially destroy it all. This is why the second story in the Torah is that of Noah and the flood. If humans don’t act to lessen both destruction by people and by nature then life itself will end.
God has two names Elohim and Yhvh. Elohim is often understood as God in nature. In fact, the gematria (numerical value of the letters) of Elohim and the word hateva (nature) is the same, 86. The human task is to transform the God of nature into yhvh the God who joins with humans to bring mercy and goodness to a suffering world.
With direct seeing, we know that we are not alone in our suffering and that no one need feel alone when in pain. Seeing our oneness is the beginning of our compassion, and it allows us to reach beyond aversion and separation.
-Sharon Salzberg, “A Quiver of the Heart”
Song:
Another nigun from the Ukraine.
This week from Bratslav hasidim from the town of Uman.
