Doing Good in the Eyes of God and Man: a Dvar Torah for Parashat Shmini

Following the dramatic death of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, after they brought “strange fire” in the tabernacle, we are privy in Leviticus 10:16-20 to an unusual exchange between Moses and Aaron.

After observing that a sin offering was being burnt up entirely, rather than being eaten by the priests, Moses is angry with the remaining sons of Aaron. Moses asks Aaron, “Why aren’t you eating the sin-offering in the holy place? It is the holiest of holies, and it is given to you, to carry the iniquity of the congregation, to atone for them before God. Here, the blood was not brought into the Sanctuary. You should have eaten [the sacrifice], like I commanded!”

Aaron responded to Moses, “On this day that they brought their sin offering and their elevation offering before God, and these things have happened to me- would it be good in God’s eyes if I were to eat the sin offering?”

Moses does not seem concerned with his brother and nephew’s grieving at this point in the narrative. He seems to be fully engaged in the ritual aspects of the sacrificial service. Perhaps he is worried that he will lose more Priests/ nephews if they continue to act outside of his (and by extension, God’s) instructions as to how and when sacrifices are to be brought. The language that the text used when Nadav and Avihu brought their fire was, “against God’s command,” and Moses here evokes that language—“you should have eaten it like I commanded!” The story Moses is telling about the service is that the Priests need to be more careful with the technical details, because mistakes in the service are serious, and cost people their lives.

Aaron, on the other hand, appears to take a more holistic view of the temple worship, and specifically, of this service before God, and his role in it in his current state. Aaron is the High Priest - the holiest of holies. Here, the task at hand is to eat the sin-offering, which Moses calls the holiest of holies. Aaron’s response to Moses’ rebuke is, in effect, that the priestly service is not purely formalistic, but rather that being the person who is meant to embody and consume so much sacredness requires a certain presence of mind and body that Aaron cannot manage in the immediate aftermath of the shocking death of his two sons.

    

As is often noted, Aaron was silent immediately following the death of his sons.  (Leviticus 10:3)  In Aaron’s subsequent exchange with Moses, we begin to imagine the inner suffering behind that silence. Aaron does not think he can perform his priestly functions -- to carry the iniquity of the congregation and to atone for their sins -- in his current state.  Nor does he think that God would look favorably upon any action he took while in this distressed state. 

In other words, his understanding of the priestly service and his role within it is not focused solely on ritual.  Rather, he understands that he must be emotionally present in order to function effectively as a vessel and a facilitator of change and divine forgiveness.

Although it was not Moses’ initial understanding,, upon hearing Aaron’s  position, Moses immediately relents:  “Moses heard this, and it was good in his eyes.” In fact, Aaron’s statement is codified into Jewish law by Maimonides as the source for mourning in the Torah. (Laws of Mourning 1:1)

Thus, in mourning, we consider what God would think of our service in our current state (whether he would find our performance of various mitzvot “good in his eyes”). There is an element of subjectivity, perhaps, in this form of worship. It does not have the convenience of a one-size-fits-all ritual. But its authenticity rings true.

May we all aspire to filling our lives with real, true worship, in which we are fully present, and may all our service to God be good in His eyes, and in the eyes of those around us.