An Extremely Holy Mission

Extreme behavior, is it good or is it bad?  I think it’s safe to say that most people will agree that extremism is not a good thing.  Extremism in politics has divided our country, including creating rifts between friends and family members.  I think that the events in Ukraine can be described as extreme aggression and violence, extreme exercise of control, and perhaps extreme evil.

How about extreme holiness?  Let’s think about that for a minute.  How would you describe extreme holiness?  Perhaps someone who is not concerned about any material pursuits and is completely involved in prayer and study?  Would you say that an extremely holy person would prefer to spend his or her time in meditation and solitude rather than taking care of a family?  Well, is that good or bad?

In the Parsha this week, Shemini, we have an example of extreme behavior.  It may not seem that way when we read the verses, but our Sages, as usual, give us the back story.  Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu offered a sacrifice “that they were not commanded” to bring, and they died before Hashem.  A superficial reading leads us to believe that they were sinners who did something they were not supposed to do and were therefore struck down.  But a closer examination of the words of the Torah show us that this is not the case.  This is a complicated discussion, but let me try to summarize and simplify it.   

This happened on the eighth day of the dedication of the sanctuary in the desert.  For seven days Moshe had shown Aaron and his sons how to offer the sacrifices, burn incense on the Altar, and perform the various other services.  There had been no indication of Divine revelation.  Then on the eighth day, Aaron took over and performed the services, and the moment everyone had been waiting for finally came.  A fire descended from heaven and consumed the sacrifices.  Hashem had shown the people the way to reveal His presence on earth.  The entire nation prostrated themselves and praised Hashem.

Two of the holiest people were Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu.  They had been hand-picked by Hashem to accompany Moshe on his way to go up Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.  They lived the life I described before as “extremely holy.”  They did not marry, because they wanted nothing to do with the world.  They spent their time in spiritual pursuits, in Torah study, prayer and meditation, rising higher and higher on the ladder to spirituality and holiness.  This moment of revelation must have been the epitome of their spiritual quest.  Their spiritual ecstasy led them to throw all caution to the wind and to step forward and burn incense despite the fact that they had not been commanded to do so.  Their physical bodies could not contain the flame of the soul that, like a candle, was bursting to go upward.  Their souls left them and they died.  

So again to the question, is this kind of extreme behavior good or bad?  For them personally it was the most intense spiritual experience a human being could experience – to have the soul literally expire as an expression of their clinging to Hashem.  But this is not why we are here.  It was considered a sin because our purpose is to transform the body and not leave it.  Our mission is to transform the world and make it a better place, not run away from its darkness.

Selfishness in general is not a good thing, but there are many levels of selfishness.  On the lowest level selfishness leads to total disregard for others and perhaps even invading and destroying a country and killing untold numbers of innocent people.  But on the other end of the spectrum, extreme “holy” behavior can also be selfish.  Yes, I may feel very spiritual and uplifted, but how does that benefit the world?  Am I fulfilling the mission for which Hashem sent my soul into this physical world?

The lesson from Nadav and Avihu impacts all of us.  Certainly we cannot attempt to compare ourselves to their level of holiness, and I think most would agree that our struggle is not with staying away from extreme holiness.  But what we can learn is that it is appropriate to examine whether what we are doing is benefiting the world and the people around us.  I want to do good – is that good really good for the world or just for me to feel like I’m doing something good.  I want to do something spiritual and uplifting -  is it something that follows the Torah, is it a Mitzvah, or is it just something that makes me feel holy in my own way?  The former may not seem so spiritually ecstatic, but it is the truly holy way.