Pity the Fool

Parashat Shemini, Leviticus 9:1–11:47

Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, Ahavat Zion Synagogue, Los Angeles

 In the 1980s adventure series, “The A-Team,” we were given excellent advice by the heavily muscled and menacing B. A. Baracus (Mr. T). That advice?  “Pity the fool.” It was a warning not to get out of one’s depth, and not to presume to battle against someone whose victory would mean your vaporization.  

This week’s parasha presents an excellent argument for taking that advice. Better yet, examining this account yields excellent advice for leadership, advice that’s fantastic and not foolish.

Let’s look at what’s fantastic first, and then at what’s foolish.  

This is the day the people of Israel, from the commoners to the Levites and priests, have completed the complexities of building the Mishkan and together with Aharon have obeyed the detailed instructions given them from the mouth of God through Moshe. Now the graduation ceremony has arrived: the investiture of the priests and what we might term the ribbon-cutting for the Tabernacle.

Aharon raised his hands toward the people, blessed them and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings. Moshe and Aharon entered the tent of meeting, came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of Adonai appeared to all the people! Fire came forth from the presence of Adonai, consuming the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Lev 9:22–24)

The God of Israel is the commencement speaker at this event, and with his fire from heaven he speaks his approval of the entire project, and of Moshe and Aharon who have modeled obedience to his directives, diligence in their work, and an orientation toward being agents of blessing for the people of God. This is leadership excellence. This is fantastic. And it deserves God’s dramatic, fiery Amen! 

Then we have the fools, who indeed are to be pitied.  

Nadav and Avihu are Aharon’s sons, therefore, nephews of Moshe. They have been ordained and invested as priests, by the command of God and through the agency of Moshe and Aharon. It is as if they have graduated summa cum laude from the best school possible, Mishkan University. They have it made. And they throw it all away.

But Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon, each took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before Adonai, something he had not ordered them to do. At this, fire came forth from the presence of Adonai and consumed them, so that they died in the presence of Adonai. 

Moshe said to Aharon, “This is what Adonai said:

‘Through those who are near me I will be consecrated,
and before all the people I will be glorified.’” (Lev 10:1–3a)

The holy fire that falls here is not a validation but a vaporization. It is God’s judgment, not his Amen. But why?

The rabbis of our people supply multiple interpretations: Nadav and Avihu were drunk when they entered the sanctuary; they were improperly clothed; they had not washed their hands and feet; they were unmarried; they had entered the holy place without authorization; or they had expounded the Torah in the presence of Moshe, their teacher. 

Torah supplies us with clues as to the “why” of this tragedy. First, Moshe, speaking for God, says, “Through those who are near me I will be consecrated, and before all the people I will be glorified.” Nadav and Avihu were not involved in consecrating God, in treating him as holy. They were up to something else. If they had been involved in treating Adonai as holy, they would have been doing as Moshe and Aharon had done: obeying his directives, doing their work diligently, and seeking to serve as agents of blessing for the people of God. But that is not what they are doing.

I suggest they are trying to manipulate the manifestation of the glory of God, the fire from heaven. That’s a crazy idea, but Torah provides a clue as to how they got so stupid.

In the aftermath of the death of Aharon’s two sons, Hashem tells him:

Don’t drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, neither you nor your sons with you, when you enter the tent of meeting, so that you will not die. This is to be a permanent regulation through all your generations, so that you will distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; and so that you will teach the people of Isra’el all the laws Adonai has told them through Moshe. (Lev 10:9–10)

Apparently, in celebrating their big day, Nadav and Avihu had gotten tipsy, or worse, drunk. Then then came into the Mishkan, perhaps hoping to get Adonai to do a repeat performance of his amazing send-the-fire-trick. What they were doing had nothing to do with obedience to God, with diligent service, or with blessing the people. And it had nothing to do with bringing glory to God.

The contrast between these fools, Nadav and Avihu, and Moshe and Aharon could not be more stark. Throughout the account, Moshe and Aharon are strictly obedient to the commands of Adonai. When Moshe relays Adonai’s verdict to Aharon, “Through those who are near me I will be consecrated, and before all the people I will be glorified,” the text says Aharon kept silent. Not a word of complaint.  

Before this, Moshe had given directives to Aharon and his remaining sons: 

Don’t unbind your hair or tear your clothes in mourning, so that you won’t die and so that Adonai won’t be angry with the entire community. Rather, let your kinsmen — the whole house of Isra’el — mourn, because of the destruction Adonai brought about with his fire. Moreover, don’t leave the entrance to the tent of meeting, or you will die, because Adonai’s anointing oil is on you. (Lev 10:6– 7)

Again, not a word of complaint. Instead, obedience and diligence for the sake of God’s blessing on his people.  

The lesson for us and for our day is clear. A fantastic leader will be one who models obedience to God’s word, diligence in his service, and an orientation toward being a blessing to his people. A foolish leader will be impressed by his own station and will even seek to manipulate the presence of God for his own purposes and satisfaction. Instead of being sober in his service, he will be drunk, if not with wine, then at least intoxicated with his own juices.  

He forgets Adonai’s admonition: “Through those who are near me I will be consecrated, and before all the people I will be glorified.” 

Pity the fool.