They offered before Hashem foreign fire that He had not commanded them.[2]
Chazal sense that the offering of the fire per se was not the whole story. In fact, the gemara[3] sides with Nadav and Avihu halachically, ruling that even when fire descends from Heaven, there is a mitzvah to add man-made fire to the pyre. A midrash[4] also places blame on Aharon’s two sons for having approached the avodah while under the effect of wine – which explains why the Torah abruptly moves after the Nadav and Avihu narrative to a proscription against serving in the mikdash while intoxicated.
R. Yitzchok Avohav (the latter one[5]) observes[6] that the difference between the believer in Hashem and the heretic is the refusal of the latter to accept anything that cannot be directly sensed. The heretic might be quite capable of intellectually understanding something that is not palpable, but he cannot accept it. He will not commit to anything that is not tangible or directly experienced.
Nadav and Avihu were certainly believers. Yet, they became infected with the smallest amount of the skeptic’s perspective. They thought that adding some ordinary, conventional fire to the Altar would enhance the effectiveness of the miracle-flame, which was not as comprehended or approachable. A small error, perhaps, but Hashem judges great people with great exactitude.
Their intoxication was a symptom of the same underlying illness. Our meforshim observe the difference between the first Purim and subsequent ones.[7] At the time that their deliverance was first celebrated, the Megilah speaks of mishteh v’simcha – in other words, if was a day of deeply felt joy, accompanied by a mishteh that reflected it. The wine came along for the ride; the day was essentially one of simcha even without it. By the next year, the order changed to simcha v’mishteh. The simcha needed the wine to arrive at a state of joy and sustain it. The first year required no artificial device to create a mood; the mood was already there. Afterwards, as the memory of their deliverance began fading, the simcha had to be created artificially.
This, too, was part of the failing of Nadav and Avihu. The complete eved Hashem enters into the arena of avodas Hashem beaming with joy. The mitzvah – an abstraction – provides the simcha. The less-than-perfect eved Hashem requires the lubricant of wine to bring on the feeling of joy. Properly, there should have been no place for wine on that important Eighth Day. The inherent simcha in the occasion should have left no room for it. Here again, Nadav and Avihu promoted the concrete and practical alcoholic aid to simcha to a position that detracted from the genuine joy of the day.
The Torah therefore quickly instructs the kohanim that they are forbidden to amplify their simcha through wine and strong drink. [8] The simcha must arise naturally, without an external crutch.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson zt”l, the Shoel U-Meishiv ↑
- Vayikra 10:1 ↑
- Eiruvin 63a ↑
- Vayikra Rabbah 20:9 ↑
- i.e. not the author of Menoras HaMaor ↑
- Nahar Pishon 2b ↑
- Esther 9:17,19 ↑
- Vayikra 10:9 ↑