Shmuli Gold and Jason Klein

Parsha: Shemini

Shiur Reviewed: Rabbi Yissocher Fran

Reviewed by: Shmuli Gold and Jason Klein

וַאֲחֵיכֶם, כָּל-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל--יִבְכּוּ אֶת-הַשְּׂרֵפָה, אֲשֶׁר שָׂרַף יְהוָה. 

“And your brethren the entire House of Israel shall bewail the conflagration that HASEM ignited”

The most climactic day of the inauguration if the Mishkahn was the 8th day, the chanukat habayit. Bnei Yisroel are extremely excited for this event because when they see that when aharon brings the korban, and it is consumed by a heavenly flame, they know they have been forgiven for the terrible sin of cheit ha’aygel from only a year ago. However the celebration did not last long, because another heavenly flame came down and consumed Nadav and Avihu. After this event, Bnei Yisroel were very heartbroken and they didn’t know how to move forward. The Chazaal teach us that the deaths of Nadav and Avihu was one of the worst tragedies to the nation. The Zohar is quoted by the Magen Avraham saying, “a person sheds tears over the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, the Lord forgives all his sins and he is guaranteed that he will not have to bury his own children.”(meaning they will outlive him)

The question is, we don’t see anywhere else in regards to Jewish tragedies that when one cries they are absolved from sin. Why is it that the deaths of Nadav and Avihu seem so much more significant than other tragedies in Jewish history?

The Ponevezher Rav zt”l explains, that Moshe consoles Aharon by saying, “I knew that the inauguration of the mishkahn was going to be marred by the loss of the holiest members of the klal.” Moseh continued and said that he always thought that it would be either himself or Aharon but he learned that day that Nadav and Avihu were holier. The Rav goes and and says that the Talmud says that they would have led the Jews into Eretz Yisroel instead of Yehoshua,  who only reflected Moshe’s greatness like the sun reflects the moon.

We know that the Jewish people declined in spirituality after they entered Eretz Yisroel, but who knows maybe had the sons of Aharon led them they could have avoided their major sins and the exiles all together. When mourning the loss of these two greats, we are not only mourning their loss but also the ramifications that they may have had on the people and history.

We read this Parsha during sefira as well. Why? Maybe because just as by Nadav and Avihu we mourn the ramifications of their loss, here too we mourn the ramifications of the loss of these 24,000 students of Rebbe Akiva.

Finally, we see this same idea by the Shoah. we see that people are mourning the loss of how different our nations would look without their losses.

All the calamities that our nation faces are painful but we should look back on our history and take the lessons to heart. But if we forget these lessons, unfortunately we may experience them again. Some tragedies have hit home more than others and therefore must be mourned for on a national level.

The lesson is instilled in us through this dvar torah unfortunately apply very much to us today. With the slaughtering of the Fogel family and the bus bombing in Israel, the lesson of mourning for a cause as a people as whole, continues to apply to us as Jews. Hopefully, B”H, we no longer experience such calamities and will never again have to mourn like we did for nadav and avihu. It also points out the important role that Shabbat played in that time, and in the way we lead our lives today and therefore we would give it over to others and recommend others to do the same.