d’var torah
When Was Executive Burnout
Truly Burnout?
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner
W Parshat Shemini
hen confronted by the
unexpected and even tragic,
one of our fi rst responses is to ask
“why?” Our weekly Torah portion,
Shemini, provokes such a question.

For seven days, Israel participated
in the building of the desert sanctuary,
the Mishkan, and witnessed its dedica-
tion and the installation of the Kohanim
to serve in that hallowed structure.

Now, on the eighth day, at the pinna-
cle of their joy and celebration, as the
Torah describes it, “Aaron’s sons Nadab
and Abihu each took his fi re pan, put
coals and then incense on it, which they
off ered before the Lord; alien fi re [“esh
zara”], which He had not required of
them. And fi re came forth from the Lord
and incinerated them.” (Lev. 10:1-2)
Their deaths have perplexed Jewish
commentary for several thousand
years with the “why” question. And
for several thousand years we have
off ered a wide range of opinions.

The most frequent explanations try
to justify the divine fi re that incinerated
both brothers with a close reading of
the text for hints of their off ense. After
all, could a just God incinerate innocent
boys just admitted to their holy vocation?
Our Sages of the Talmud struggled
to identify their sin, their violation of
the Mishkan’s sanctity, its holiness, its
kedushah. In Midrash (Sifra, Shemini)
Akiva proposed that they took coals
from an unsanctifi ed source, while
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Yishmael held them responsible for
bringing the incense of their own
volition. In another source, Yishmael
suggested that they entered the
Mishkan drunk (Sifrei, Acharei Mot).

Others focused on their sin of ignor-
ing the authority of their elders, not
asking of each other whether this was
a wise choice to enter the Mishkan.

They are described by other teachers
as being impatient and unable to wait
for their turn for leadership.

And so it goes for centuries — rarely
agreement but always looking for
“why” these young men were killed by
sacred fi re.

But the question is reinforced by our
Haftarah (2 Sam. 6) retelling of another
strange death apparently at the hand
of God. Uzzah was escorting the Ark
of God to Jerusalem when the oxen
stumbled. He reached out with his
hand to steady the Ark. As the TaNaKh
describes, “The Lord’s anger burned
against Uzzah because of his irrev-
erent act; therefore God struck him
down, and he died there beside the
ark of God.” ( 2 Sam. 6:7)
Again, “Why?” Where was Uzzah’s
failure? He reacted as we might expect
for someone sensing danger to the Ark.

In both cases, of Nadav and Avihu
and also Uzza, they violated clear and
repeated protocols. Everyone, from the
least important Jew to the highest rank
of Jewish stewardship, came too close
to the central shrine and contacted
God’s holiness/kedushah.

However, are violations of those
Torah instructions so grave that death
is the appropriate punishment?
Firstly, the rule is that there are rules.

We are reminded graphically that not
even the Kohen Gadol and his family are
exempt from punishment. As the Torah
teaches, “One law for everyone in the
community.” (Num. 15:16) This means for
all of Israel that no one is above the law.

A modern suggestion compared both
occasions to the regulations of the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which
proscribes detailed guidelines and
redundant rules for transporting radio-
active materials through our states and
cities. The NRC is much more OCD
when we compare it to apparent popular
nonchalance about laws, rules or sharing
misinformation about, e.g., pandemics or
politics. I, for one, am grateful for the
more pedantic handling codes for pluto-
nium in our neighborhoods than the
Torah laid out for Israel concerning the
Ark and the Mishkan.

In fact, don’t we concern ourselves
about our leaders today? Don’t we
worry about their too-frequent burnout?
Each generation understands the inher-
ent danger to the soul of our leaders
and subsequently to the community in
their own time and history.

A second general principle derived
from these two Biblical tragedies is the
importance of balancing creativity and
tradition in all things — and especially
in religion. We know of the danger of
religious fanaticism and the pitfalls of
religious stagnation. Similarly, we can
suff er if there is either willful blind obedi-
ence or even stagnation of our faith.

There is as much potential for self-im-
posed harm in an impetuous revision of
Judaism as well as it would be a failure
to apply our evolving religious values in a
rapidly changing world and technologies.

Judaism is a faith of tradition
and change — a balance of the
Maimonidean “golden mean.” ■
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner is retired
and provides kosher supervision for
Traditional Kosher Supervision in the
Greater Philadelphia area, while teaching
hands-on craft skills to make and use
properly holiday ritual objects. The Board
of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud
to provide diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish Exponent.

The opinions expressed in this column are
the author’s own and do not necessarily
refl ect the view of the Board of Rabbis.