Watch That Hair-Breadth

By Rabbi Joshua (discerningly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In parshas Shemini, at the dedication of the mishkan, two of Aharon's sons, Nadav and Avihu, bring a strange fire to the altar, and, in punishment, are consumed by a heavenly fire. Depite his great loss, Aharon reacts with silent acceptance, and, as Rav Moshe Sternbuch points out, even an inner sense of joy. This must be so, he says, because, otherwise, Aharon could not have received the heavenly revelation that he did after his sons deaths, since the Divine Presence, the rabbis tell us, can only rest upon someone in a state of joy. The joy came from the knowledge that his sons deaths constituted sanctification of God's name, demonstrating that one cannot take the service of God into one's own hands.

The revelation that Aharon received in reward for his reaction of silence was the prohibition for a kohein to enter the mishkan after having ingested a certain amount of wine or intoxicating drink, as he must, in his service, distinguish between the pure and the impure. Rav Mordechai Rogov, zt"l, explains, in his Ateres Mordechai, that just as intoxicating drink impairs one's ability to make fine distinctions, so, too, do extreme emotions left uncontrolled. Aharon, by demonstrating that he was able to curb any element of emotional drunkenness, merited to be given the prohibition related to curbing a loss of discernment as a result of substance abuse.

This approach can also help us understand why, later in the parsha, we are given the laws of kosher food. At the very end of the parsha, we are given a mitzvoh to distinguish between kosher and non-kosher animals, fowl, etc. (see Sefer Ha-Chinuch 153, for the details of this mitzvoh). As Rashi points out, the difference between an act of slaughtering that renders an animal kosher and one which renders it neveilah, or unfit to eat, can be a mere hair-breadth. The Talmud (Beitzah 4A) relates that a certain rabbi would not render any halachic decision after imbibing a minimal amount of intoxicating liquid. The lesson of Aharon's reaction to his sons deaths and the reward he received for it, is to always keep our eye on that hair-breadth, and make sure that if we are involved in any kind of important decision-making, we should be in the proper emotional and intellectual state to do so correctly.