Nadav and Avihu

[Hart60]

I'd be interested in your opinions on the meaning of the deaths of Nadav and Avihu and why Moshe instructed Aaran not to mourn ?

Thanks.

[rivka]

While a bit on the mystical/Kabbalistic side for my taste, this analysis looks at many of the varying opinions on the topic.

[Hart60]

Thanks rivka, yes I see what you mean but very interesting reading nonetheless, it just seems to to go deeper and deeper doesn't it.

Thanks,
Dan.

[rivka]

That's a good description of Rabbi Kahn's style. His articles on each parsha are really quite good.

[martinbrody]

According to my teacher, to be true to God’s purposes, there must be times and places at which humanity experiences the reality of the divine. Those times and places require absolute obedience. The most fundamental mistake, the mistake of Nadav and Avihu, is to take the powers that belong to man’s encounter with the world, and apply them to man’s encounter with the Divine. Had Nadav and Avihu used their own initiative to fight evil and injustice they would have been heroes. Because they used their own initiative in the arena of the holy, they erred. They asserted their own presence in the absolute presence of God. That is a contradiction in terms. That is why they died.

And my guess as to why it was important for Aaron not to mourn, is that much in Judaism is a polemic against pagan idol worship and and a rejection of the religions and philosophy of Egypt.
In Egypt, thrived the cult of death, Judaism the cult of life.
There are many examples of this, such as their important religious book was the Book of the Dead. our Torah is the Tree of Life. Our High Priest had to be seen not attending the dead. In fact our Priests are not permitted to not only not touch the dead but to even be in the same room as the dead. It is true there is an exception for family, but the Torah was teaching an important lesson.
Later in the Torah Moses offers the Jews a choice,between life and death, and pleads with them to choose life.
Hop all that helps.
Martin B

[Hart60]

Thanks rivka for that link,It will be very helpful to me.

Thanks Martin for that very helpful explanation,it makes a lot of sense.

Dan.