Mei HaShiloach · Volume I, Leviticus, Shmini, Chapter 1
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ויהי ביום השמיני וכו'. ויקחו בני אהרן נדב ואביהוא וכו'. ענין מיתת נדב ואביהוא הוא ע"פ מה דאיתא (באבות) (תמיד ל"ב.) איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד. הענין בזה אף שנאמר (דברים י"ח,י"ג) תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך ונתפרש שם שלא ירבה להתחכם, אך רואה את הנולד הוא, בזה המעשה עצמה שהוא עושה יחקור ויתבונן אם המעשה והרצון הזה הוא מבורר שיהיה קיים כן לעולמי עד אפילו לעוה"ב. וענין קטורת הוא כדאיתא בזוה"ק (במדבר קנ"א:) מאי קטורת קטירא דכולא, היינו שהש"י הוא תוך כל המעשים שנעשו מבריאת העולם ועד סופו, ובלתי רצונו לא יעשה שום דבר, וע"ז מורה ענין קטורת כמו שנתבאר בפ' תצוה [ד"ה ועשית]. ובאמת כפי מה שהאדם מקרב עצמו לה', כן זוכה להתגלות אור ה' מבלי לבושים שהם גדרים וסייגים, כי באור הברור, שם לא נמצא שום סייג ואיסור, ושם כל מעשה האדם מבוררים שהם לה'. וזהו ענין קטורת שהיה סוד ואסור להתחכם בזה, כי רק ר' עקיבא ירד בשלום (חגיגה י"ד:) וזה שנאמר (ויקרא ט"ז,א') בקרבתם לפני ה' וימותו, שהיו מקרבים עצמם לה' והסתכלו בעומק הצפון ורצו לעמוד על בירר התנהגות הש"י, ולזה הטעם על לא צוה אותם הוא מרכא כפולא, היינו שכל כך בער בלבם אהבת ה' עד שמסרו נפשם, כי מרכא היא לשון רך שלבם נתרכך, וכפולא היינו כפול ברוב טובה אשר לא צוה הש"י. ולפי שהיו צעירים לימים ולא אנסיבי ולא אתכללו במשה ואהרן כדאיתא בזוה"ק (שמות ל"ז:), ולא נטלו עצה, ולזה הפלוגתא (בגמ') חד אמר שתויי יין היו היינו שיש לטעון על קרבותם שהיתה ח"ו מקלות ראש, או שהיתה כוונתם שיוסר מהם עול הגדרים כמו שנתבאר, וגם מאמר המדרש שהיו מחוסרי בגדים ומה היו חסרים המעיל (ויקרא רבה פרשה כ',ו') אף שהמעיל אינו רק לכהן גדול רק הם הכניסו עצמם למקום שהיו צריכים למעיל, והבן.
“And it was, on the eighth day … and Nadav and Avihu, Aharon’s sons, each took a censer ….” (Vayikra, 9:1, 10:1) The death of Nadav and Avihu is related to what is said in the Pirkei Avot (and Masechet Tamid, 32b), “who is wise? He who sees what will be born in the future.” On the one hand, we are told (Devarim, 18:13), “be honest [simple] with Hashem your God,” which means not to be overly clever (becoming involved in predictions of the future). Yet still, we are to fulfill the advice of “seeing what is born in the future.” One does this by looking into the very action he is doing, deeply investigating and contemplating whether this action is refined to the extent that it will endure for all time, even in the world to come. The matter of the incense offering7The sons of Aharon each offered a censer full of incense but lit it from “outside fire,” and as R. Shlomo Carlebach once explained, they were trying to bring the Messiah, by making the outside fire like the inside fire. is as is said in the holy Zohar (Bamidbar, 151b), “what is incense [ketoret]? It is the connection [ketira] of everything.”8Perhaps because the smoke from the incense rises up to connect heaven and earth, or because the ten sefirot and the surrounding light out of which all is formed are hinted at in the eleven spices in the incense. Furthermore, as mentioned elsewhere, Rabbi Yitzhak of Acco writes in his explanation Meirat Eineihem, that smoke, ashan, is an acronym for: olam, shana, nefesh, meaning place, time, and soul, the three main components of existence, as discussed in the Sefer Yetsirah. This means that God is involved in all the actions that are done from the creation of the world until its end, and without His will nothing could be done. The incense teaches of this, as it taught in the Mei HaShiloach in Parshat Tetsave (v. “and he made”). For truly, the closer a man brings himself to God, the more he merits the light of God without its garments, which are the borders and fences that protect the Divine Law. The light itself is completely refined, with no fences or prohibitions, and there it is made totally clear that all the actions of man are wholly given over to God. This is the matter of the incense, which is a secret of the Torah and forbidden to delve into with guile. With the four sages who entered the garden (Chagiga, 14b, the mystic plane of Divine secrets uncovered) only Rabbi Akiva left in peace (one died, one stricken with madness, one abandoned the Torah). This is why it says of Nadav and Avihu (Vayikra, 16:1), “who came close before God and died,” for they would bring themselves close to God, looking into the hidden depths, and wanted to stand on the refined, undressed truth of God’s conduct. This is why the cantillation marking on the word “not” [lo] in the verse, “which He commanded them not” (Vayikra, 10:1) is a mercha c’foola. This shows how their hearts burned with such an intense love of God that they gave over their very lives, for mercha is related to rach, or soft, that their hearts became weak; and cfoola, or cfool, meaning double, or an increase of good that God did not command. Since they were young, they were not included together with Moshe and Aharon, as it is said in the holy Zohar (Shemot, 37b), “they did not take their [Moshe and Aharon’s] advice.” What advice did they disregard? One opinion in the Gemara tells us that “they were drunk from wine,” claiming that they came to this state of intense closeness and became, God forbid, irreverent. Thus their intention was to remove all borders, as is explained, and here we have (the other advice that they disregarded in) the Midrash, which says that they entered missing some of the priestly garments. The missing garment was the me’il, the coat (made entirely of t’chellet, sky-blue wool, teaching of the intense fear of God, see Mei HaShiloach Parshat Tetsave) (Vayikra Rabba, 20:6). Even though the me’il is only for the high priest, they brought themselves to a place where they needed to wear the me’il,9Meaning that anyone who merits to enter into a height of the secrets of the Torah as they did, must be as the Cohen Gadol, the high priest, and be enwrapped in the intense fear of God. and understand.
ויהי ביום השמיני וכו'. ויקחו בני אהרן נדב ואביהוא וכו'. ענין מיתת נדב ואביהוא הוא ע"פ מה דאיתא (באבות) (תמיד ל"ב.) איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד. הענין בזה אף שנאמר (דברים י"ח,י"ג) תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך ונתפרש שם שלא ירבה להתחכם, אך רואה את הנולד הוא, בזה המעשה עצמה שהוא עושה יחקור ויתבונן אם המעשה והרצון הזה הוא מבורר שיהיה קיים כן לעולמי עד אפילו לעוה"ב. וענין קטורת הוא כדאיתא בזוה"ק (במדבר קנ"א:) מאי קטורת קטירא דכולא, היינו שהש"י הוא תוך כל המעשים שנעשו מבריאת העולם ועד סופו, ובלתי רצונו לא יעשה שום דבר, וע"ז מורה ענין קטורת כמו שנתבאר בפ' תצוה [ד"ה ועשית]. ובאמת כפי מה שהאדם מקרב עצמו לה', כן זוכה להתגלות אור ה' מבלי לבושים שהם גדרים וסייגים, כי באור הברור, שם לא נמצא שום סייג ואיסור, ושם כל מעשה האדם מבוררים שהם לה'. וזהו ענין קטורת שהיה סוד ואסור להתחכם בזה, כי רק ר' עקיבא ירד בשלום (חגיגה י"ד:) וזה שנאמר (ויקרא ט"ז,א') בקרבתם לפני ה' וימותו, שהיו מקרבים עצמם לה' והסתכלו בעומק הצפון ורצו לעמוד על בירר התנהגות הש"י, ולזה הטעם על לא צוה אותם הוא מרכא כפולא, היינו שכל כך בער בלבם אהבת ה' עד שמסרו נפשם, כי מרכא היא לשון רך שלבם נתרכך, וכפולא היינו כפול ברוב טובה אשר לא צוה הש"י. ולפי שהיו צעירים לימים ולא אנסיבי ולא אתכללו במשה ואהרן כדאיתא בזוה"ק (שמות ל"ז:), ולא נטלו עצה, ולזה הפלוגתא (בגמ') חד אמר שתויי יין היו היינו שיש לטעון על קרבותם שהיתה ח"ו מקלות ראש, או שהיתה כוונתם שיוסר מהם עול הגדרים כמו שנתבאר, וגם מאמר המדרש שהיו מחוסרי בגדים ומה היו חסרים המעיל (ויקרא רבה פרשה כ',ו') אף שהמעיל אינו רק לכהן גדול רק הם הכניסו עצמם למקום שהיו צריכים למעיל, והבן.
“And it was, on the eighth day … and Nadav and Avihu, Aharon’s sons, each took a censer ….” (Vayikra, 9:1, 10:1)
The death of Nadav and Avihu is related to what is said in the Pirkei Avot (and Masechet Tamid, 32b), “who is wise? He who sees what will be born in the future.” On the one hand, we are told (Devarim, 18:13), “be honest [simple] with Hashem your God,” which means not to be overly clever (becoming involved in predictions of the future). Yet still, we are to fulfill the advice of “seeing what is born in the future.” One does this by looking into the very action he is doing, deeply investigating and contemplating whether this action is refined to the extent that it will endure for all time, even in the world to come. The matter of the incense offering7The sons of Aharon each offered a censer full of incense but lit it from “outside fire,” and as R. Shlomo Carlebach once explained, they were trying to bring the Messiah, by making the outside fire like the inside fire. is as is said in the holy Zohar (Bamidbar, 151b), “what is incense [ketoret]? It is the connection [ketira] of everything.”8Perhaps because the smoke from the incense rises up to connect heaven and earth, or because the ten sefirot and the surrounding light out of which all is formed are hinted at in the eleven spices in the incense. Furthermore, as mentioned elsewhere, Rabbi Yitzhak of Acco writes in his explanation Meirat Eineihem, that smoke, ashan, is an acronym for: olam, shana, nefesh, meaning place, time, and soul, the three main components of existence, as discussed in the Sefer Yetsirah.
This means that God is involved in all the actions that are done from the creation of the world until its end, and without His will nothing could be done. The incense teaches of this, as it taught in the Mei HaShiloach in Parshat Tetsave (v. “and he made”). For truly, the closer a man brings himself to God, the more he merits the light of God without its garments, which are the borders and fences that protect the Divine Law. The light itself is completely refined, with no fences or prohibitions, and there it is made totally clear that all the actions of man are wholly given over to God. This is the matter of the incense, which is a secret of the Torah and forbidden to delve into with guile. With the four sages who entered the garden (Chagiga, 14b, the mystic plane of Divine secrets uncovered) only Rabbi Akiva left in peace (one died, one stricken with madness, one abandoned the Torah).
This is why it says of Nadav and Avihu (Vayikra, 16:1), “who came close before God and died,” for they would bring themselves close to God, looking into the hidden depths, and wanted to stand on the refined, undressed truth of God’s conduct. This is why the cantillation marking on the word “not” [lo] in the verse, “which He commanded them not” (Vayikra, 10:1) is a mercha c’foola.
This shows how their hearts burned with such an intense love of God that they gave over their very lives, for mercha is related to rach, or soft, that their hearts became weak; and cfoola, or cfool, meaning double, or an increase of good that God did not command. Since they were young, they were not included together with Moshe and Aharon, as it is said in the holy Zohar (Shemot, 37b), “they did not take their [Moshe and Aharon’s] advice.”
What advice did they disregard? One opinion in the Gemara tells us that “they were drunk from wine,” claiming that they came to this state of intense closeness and became, God forbid, irreverent. Thus their intention was to remove all borders, as is explained, and here we have (the other advice that they disregarded in) the Midrash, which says that they entered missing some of the priestly garments. The missing garment was the me’il, the coat (made entirely of t’chellet, sky-blue wool, teaching of the intense fear of God, see Mei HaShiloach Parshat Tetsave) (Vayikra Rabba, 20:6). Even though the me’il is only for the high priest, they brought themselves to a place where they needed to wear the me’il,9Meaning that anyone who merits to enter into a height of the secrets of the Torah as they did, must be as the Cohen Gadol, the high priest, and be enwrapped in the intense fear of God. and understand.