וידבר ה' אל משה אחרי מות שני בני אהרן בקרבתם לפני ה' וימתו
“Hashem spoke to Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they approached before Hashem, and they died.” (Vayikra 16:1)
The tremendous joy of the inauguration of the Mishkan was marred by the tragic deaths of Aharon’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu. A number of explanations are given by Chazal regarding the nature of the sin for which they were killed. Citing the Torah’s emphasis (Bamidbar 3:4) on Nadav and Avihu dying without children, one opinion in the Gemara (Yevamos 64a) says that they were killed for the sin of not marrying and procreating. The Daas Z’keinim adds that this understanding sheds light on the apparent redundancy in the Torah’s statement that “Hashem spoke to Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they approached before Hashem, and they died.” Why are their deaths mentioned twice?
The Daas Z’keinim postulates that the first expression refers to their own passing, while the second phrase connotes that they had no children to carry on their names and legacies. While this is a fascinating interpretation, how can it be reconciled with the fact that the Torah (Vayikra 10:1-2) gives a different reason for their punishment, namely that they offered a foreign fire that they weren’t commanded to bring?
The Kesav Sofer posits that the reason Nadav and Avihu did not marry and sire children was religiously motivated, as they worried that family life would distract from their spiritual pursuits (see Kiddushin 29b). This misguided piety was itself the foreign fire for which they were punished, for Hashem does not desire a nation of celibate ascetics. He wants us to be holy but also normal, healthy parents and spouses who must balance our performance of mitzvos with the inevitable needs of our loved ones.
We are towards the end of a long Nissan bein hazmanim, and I am sure many people have spent lots of time learning. On the other hand, I am sure there are a few people who haven’t quite managed to accomplish all they had liked to, and had planned on learning a lot more than they did. For many people, the reason for this was, that they were busy spending time with their wives, children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews and various other friend and family members. As we said above, it’s important to balance our performance of mitzvos with the inevitable needs of our loved ones, therefore, if this is the real reason one wasn’t able to learn as much as he had planned, he shouldn’t feel so bad.