VOLUME 115 NUMBER 5
Iyar 11, 5785
May 9, 2025
Parshas Acharei Mos-Kedoshim
Candlelighting Time 7:44
The inauguration of the Mishkan was marred with the death of Aron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu. Rabbinic literature is replete describing their oversight. One of the better known reasons is that they rendered their opinion on a halachic matter despite the fact that their mentor Moshe was present. Although seemingly a minor error, it carries a sentence of death. What specifically was the case is not mentioned but it is not of relevance. Nonetheless they overstepped their authoritative position within the camp and were severely punished. Why indeed does this apparent misdemeanor obligate one’s execution in this situation where two destructive beams entered into them and killed them? We must keep in mind that Moshe declared that they were greater than either himself or their father Aron. Nonetheless their transgression was grievous and therefore they died within the confines of the Mishkan! Furthermore, this reason does not seem to be apparent from the language of the Torah. It states that they “drew near” to Hashem and therefore they died. How does that allude to this sin of which they are accused?
The Berditchiver, Reb Lavi Yitzchok, the Kedushas Levi, has a fascinating explanation of this entire episode. Esoterically speaking, although we exist in the world of the material, all that is apparent here emanates from a spiritual origin in the celestial regions of the world. Each dimension of spirituality is sustained and supported by its very own fount which supersedes it and maintains it due to its ascendency of energy supplied and provided by the manifold levels that supersede it as well. This is the format within which Hashem created the world and its innermost underpinnings.
Based upon this we may understand that if an angel from within its level of actuality attempted to elevate itself to the plane of existence preceding it, it would cease to exist. Bereft of its support from its ‘mother ship’ it can’t exist and therefore ceased to be its reality.
This concept that Hashem’s conveys His luminosity and brilliance through a multi-layered system that possesses an interlocking chain of layers of spirituality also is present in the transmission of Torah from the highest level to the most ‘ordinary’ Jew. Moshe at the helm imbibed from Hashem the entirety of Torah and imparted it to Aron. Then the sequence of the legacy of Torah was communicated to the sons of Aron. This was not simply a legitimate process from the eldest to the next generation, rather it was from the highest order of greatness to the subsequent orders that were subject to the hierarchy of transference from where they garnered their proximity. And, of course, that contiguity was imperative to the stage and intransience of each and every plane. As was previously explained each level is subject to the maintenance supplied by the plane that supersedes it and when that is corrupted and an attempt is made to bypass the layers of actuality ordained by Hashem, then the allocation of energy and sustenance required to provide for that echelon of reality is inadequate. Hence, the sons of Aron, vaulting beyond their range essentially deprived them of their ability to exist and therefore they ‘died’ in trying to come class to Hashem.
A BYTE FOR SHABBOS
Shabbos is referred to as the bride and we are called the groom. When the groom accommodates and treats the bride appropriately, he receives gifts from her father. When we receive and conduct ourselves on Shabbos correctly, Hashem rewards us. CHOFETZ CHAIM
GOOD SHABB0S
