There's no way around it, sometimes our Torah is troubling. When dealing with problematic passages from the Torah, we sometimes engage in a kind of intellectual and theological sanitization of the text so that the verses seem more palatable and understandable. This week's portion, Sh'mini, is one of those portions.
This is what the Torah tells us: Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and they offered before the Lord.
The Torah adds a detail: The offering that Aaron's sons presented was what the Torah calls eish zarah, or strange fire. The translation says: God had not commanded them to do so.
This curious detail of the strange fire is important in hindsight, because immediately after presenting their sacrifice, Fire came forth from God and consumed them. They died at the command of God.
As you can see, a troubling story indeed.
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Imagine if you surprised your spouse or your friend with a sudden and generous gift. They didn't ask you to do it, but you took the iniatitive to do something to make them happy. Not only is there nothing wrong with that - it's a wonderful gesture of thoughtfulness and generosity! But this is similar to what Nadav and Abihu do, and their gift is met with the most tragic punishment.
Our religion, with its emphasis on interpretation and midrash, suggests that Nadav and Abihu's sacrifice was meant to usurp the leadership of their father, Aaron and their uncle, Moses. In this scenario, they are wicked and evil, using religion for their own power.
In another interpretation, Nadav and Abihu show up to the altar drunk, suggesting that they are mocking their priestly duties.
I've mentioned this before, but it's worth noting that both of these midrashim are examples of what our tradition calls Tziduk HaDin, the justification of God's actions. In both of these examples, Aarons sons are not blameless, and possibly even deserving of punishment.
Of course, these are midrashim - the Torah doesn't say any of this. It simply tells us that they offered strange fire, and that God had not commanded them to do so.
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For us, there is still a lesson to be learned here.
In our liberal Reform synagogue, some might think that you can believe anything you can want, or that you can do anything you want. We're often seen as a relativistic denomination. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, great.
But the truth is that there are standards and there are rules.
God teaches this lesson tragically in God's killing of Aaron's sons. And God's action seems wrong and perhaps even unforgivable. But that doesn't negate the lesson here. There is such a thing as esh zarah, strange fire.
In another setting, we could talk about what some of these might be. I think you'll agree with me that we do have standards. And whereas personal choice is a valued and important foundation for our community, it's possible that one's choice can be beyond the pale.
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This portion reminds us that our Torah is as diverse as our tradition. Some stories inspire us, some make us proud, some make us think, some, like this portion of Sh'mini, make us question. But all make us learn and grow. Shabbat Shalom.
