The deaths of Nadav and Avihu, which we read about on Yom Kippur, is to remind us that just as death of the righteous is an atonement, so is Yom Kippur an atonement. The holy Ohr HaChaim explained, at length, of a penetrating interpretation of the matter of the deaths of these two great tzaddikim. The Ohr HaChaim explained that Nadav and Avihu died a very blissful kind of death that resembled the “kiss of death” of Hashem, which only certain tzaddikim merit. They knew that in drawing close to Hashem in the Kodesh Kodashim that they would die in the process, but they were willing to die for this, because they wanted this high level of closeness with Hashem, out of their great love for Him.
This is really the depth of Yom Kippur. It is the time where the purity of our soul can come forth.
During the rest of the year, although our soul is always pure, for we state every day in the morning “My G-d, a pure soul You gave to me”, we do not always feel the purity of the soul. But on Yom Kippur, if one truly repents, he can reveal himself as a pure soul.
On Yom Kippur, we resemble the angels, by foregoing the needs of our physical body, and instead living a soul kind of life, on this day. That is the purity of Yom Kippur – to reveal the purity of our own soul. This is our own personal avodah of Yom Kippur. Once we reveal the purity of our soul, our soul will naturally be pulled after Hashem, and it will feels a pleasurable bliss in this newfound closeness with Hashem.
The desire to get closer to Hashem on Yom Kippur is the depth behind the matter of the four categories of atonement (teshuvah, suffering, Yom Kippur, and death). The sin of chilul Hashem can only be atoned through all four levels of atonement: teshuvah, suffering, Yom Kippur, and death. What, essentially, is the “atonement” achieved by death? On a general level, the death of tzaddikim atones, but on an individual level, the death of any person can atone for himself – and it can resemble the death of tzaddikim, such as the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, when they died amidst their desire to achieve greater closeness with Hashem. Their deaths became a means for them to reach the greater closeness with Hashem, and this is the depth of how “death atones”.
During the rest of the year, when we recite Shema, upon saying the word “Echad”, there is a [pious, non-obligatory] intention that one can have in mind of being willing to die al kiddush Hashem (in sanctification of Hashem’s Name). While most people today are not on the level of being consciously willing to die al kiddush Hashem, one can still contemplate it as he says Shema. It is not on our actual level, though, during the rest of the year, to be willing to die for Hashem. But there is one day of the year - Yom Kippur - where each of us can be on this level, of being willing to die for Hashem.
