A New Midrash for Sh'mini
Leviticus 10:1-3
Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before יהוה alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them.
And fire came forth from יהוה and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of יהוה.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what יהוה meant by saying:
Through those near to Me I show Myself holy,
And gain glory before all the people.”
And Aaron was silent.
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The story of Nadav and Abihu is so shocking, abrupt, and brutal that Jewish people have struggled to understand it probably since the very first time it was shared in whispered tones around our ancestors’ campfires. Over the course of three verses, two men, two people who were worthy of being named as God’s attendants were wiped out by a burst of terrible fire for what could- at worst- be considered a mistake.
Generations of rabbis have attempted to offer explanations for these terrible events by writing midrashim blaming Nadav and Abihu’s execution on the men’s imagined bad behavior.
Rabbi Menahama claimed that the two brothers would walk behind Moses and Aaron, their uncle and their father, and whisper things like, “When will these two old men die, so that you and I may lead this generation?”
Rabbi Tanhuma argued that they must have uncovered their heads, acted in arrogance, and feasted their eyes on the Divine Presence.
Rabbi Manei, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Yohanan argued that their deaths were the results of four imagined factors: 1- They were drunk 2- They were not wearing appropriate vestments 3- They entered the tent of meeting without washing their hands and feet and 4- They did not have wives or children. (1)
I hope some future collection of rabbinic opinions about this story will include this new addition, “Rabbi Bearman attests that these young men should not have died simply because they refused to be bound by the rules of those who had been granted power over their people.”
And to meet that goal, I add my own midrash to this millenia-long conversation.
A Case for Strange Fire
We believe in a God who created, who is always creating
We follow a leader whose footsteps have taken him on unprecedented roads, over and over again
The Divine Creator is in our camp, in our tents, and in our lives
Unchecked power flows through the people, winding around the hearts and strengthening the backs of those who are reflections of God
We are a people of hope, of future, of movement, of change
And yet the descendents of our nephews and cousins condemn us for wishing, for trying, for imagining
We left our tent that morning with excitement thrumming in our bellies and curiosity sparking in our eyes
We had thought of something new, something that recalled what our father and uncle often did, but also something more, something that was just our own, something that we hoped God would like
We followed in the footsteps of our elders, and in our haste we stepped on the heels of Moses and Abbah.
“Come on old men,” we joked. “You walk too slowly! We’re always waiting on you!”
Moses slapped Abbah (dad) on the shoulder and rolled his eyes to the heavens.
Abbah laughed and called behind him, “Slow down, young bucks. There will be plenty of time for you yet.”
But there wasn’t. There wasn’t time for us.
And, instead of mourning the tragedy of potential cut short, of creativity extinguished…
Instead of turning their questions and challenges to the Fire that descended
Or to the God who rejected
Or to the ones who promised us a future chance to lead
Instead of remembering that we were human too
The descendents of the people we served turned hateful eyes and judgemental souls towards us and shouted that our bodies were wrong, our actions were wrong, our words were wrong, our spirits were wrong
Generation after generation pointing and judging and mocking
Generations of telling us that the fire that lit up our minds and hearts was alien and strange and unacceptable and problematic and ahead of its time
No one asked why a God who could create light, split seas, cover kingdoms in darkness, speak through a bush that burned but was not consumed would not appreciate a new creation
No one wondered if their own inability to see our perspectives was a reflection of their own limitations rather than our failures
Maybe we believed too much that we were made in the image of a God who created, who is always creating.
Or maybe it was them… those narrow hearted descendents of our nephews’ grandchildren who failed to understand that our God does not destroy just because Their creations chose to create
What does it mean if our religion is controlled by powerful figures who refuse to change, to try, to imagine?
Is that the religion of Miriam, of Jacob, of Abraham, of Rachel?
Is that the God that our father served every day of his life?
Will the future of our people be controlled by those with hardened hearts and eyes too dim to see farther than the steps they’ve already taken?
If we had another chance, we would do it again
Because we know that through strange fire, people are emboldened and transformed
If we had another chance, we would do it again
Because we would rather our people’s fire burn brightly than be extinguished by those who prefer embers over flames
(1)- Leviticus Rabbah 20:9-10