Fire With Fire

On the eighth day of the celebration of the installation of Aaron and his sons as priests, tragedy struck with the deaths of two of Aaron’s sons.  God killed Nadav and Avihu because they “brought a strange fire”. [Leviticus 10:1]

Our Sages tell us: even though the fire descended from heaven, there is a mitzva for the Kohanim to bring their own fire. 

Two basic questions arise from our Sages’ teaching. Firstly, if there is a heavenly fire, why must we bring our own? Secondly, given that there is a mitzva to add to the heavenly fire, why were Aaron’s sons punished by death?

My father answered that Torah teaches us that there is a partnership between God and man in all our endeavors. We need God’s help to succeed, and without His help, all our efforts will be to no avail. Since it is a partnership, we cannot leave everything to God, we must do our best and then God will help. Although holiness comes from God, man must still contribute to realizing this holiness, thus creating a holy fire requires the participation of both God and man.    

The sin of Nadav and Avihu was not so much in bringing their own fire, but in believing that their fire sufficed. They did not depend upon God’s fire, but thought they could accomplish things on their own. In essence, Nadav and Avihu denied their partnership with God.

Nadav and Avihu’s punishment was srefat haneshama, their souls were burned but their bodies remained intact. This was a fitting punishment, because they had divorced the spiritual from the physical.