A thought on פרשת שמיני
"...aish zara asher lo tziva osam...""...a unauthorized fire about which they had not been commanded..." (10:1)
Many commentaries have illuminated the sin of the strange fire, which two sons of Aharon offered to HaShem, and for which their lives were taken in a dramatic incident. Some of those interpretations examine the characters of that pair of kohanim, others look into their motives and others write about the impropriety of their act.
The Ralbag takes a more philosophical approach. Many of us assume, in our speculations about spirituality, that the depth of our understanding the ways of HaShem will promote greater heights in our service of Him. The more informed we are of the scope and nature of a mitzva, for example, the fuller our sense of avoda is as we perform that sacred act. That is probably true.
What the sons of Aharon contemplated went further, yet ironically, fell short of the above postulate. In an attempt to increase their sense of ascendancy, they brought a voluntary offering, unauthorized. They accompanied their ritual with great and profound intentionality and spiritual focus. They conjectured that they had divined the deep meaning of the avoda of bringing forth offerings to HaShem, for they had a handle on some of the actual theology, as well as the structure and format of bringing such offerings. This made sense, too, for in general, the better informed we are about the nature and structure of a ritual in advance of performing it, the fuller and richer is our sense of completeness and fulfillment upon doing that act.
Their error, however, was that in HaShem's system, the sequence is really the reverse. There are levels of understanding, kavan'os, within a mitzva, which only emerge after one has performed the act. Understanding may initiate in our learning about a mitzva prior to performing it but there is a further level of understanding which can only occur to a person once they have completed that act.
Had these two kohanim first followed instructions, had they performed the mitzva exactly as it had been commanded, they would have discovered a fuller and more authentic grasp of its profundity and sanctity (and of course, a fringe benefit would have been that they would have realized that all of the mind's speculation cannot attain the full scope of knowing the will and designs of HaShem, and they would have never thought of trying to intuit His ways and innovate any unauthorized "religious" act.)
Knowledge which precedes action can facilitate a fuller appreciation of the act, for our mind will then be very present during our behavioral experience. This holds true, however, only when the act is done according to the Divine plan. When we innovate, we can hardly pretend that our actions are being accompanied by spiritual focus, for our guide to attaining a spiritual focus, kavanna, begins with complying with the mitvzos which have been given us. We discover the cognitive and spiritual avoda only upon performing within the framework of the given mitzvos. Anything more is less, and is strange fire.
Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox
Many commentaries have illuminated the sin of the strange fire, which two sons of Aharon offered to HaShem, and for which their lives were taken in a dramatic incident. Some of those interpretations examine the characters of that pair of kohanim, others look into their motives and others write about the impropriety of their act.
The Ralbag takes a more philosophical approach. Many of us assume, in our speculations about spirituality, that the depth of our understanding the ways of HaShem will promote greater heights in our service of Him. The more informed we are of the scope and nature of a mitzva, for example, the fuller our sense of avoda is as we perform that sacred act. That is probably true.
What the sons of Aharon contemplated went further, yet ironically, fell short of the above postulate. In an attempt to increase their sense of ascendancy, they brought a voluntary offering, unauthorized. They accompanied their ritual with great and profound intentionality and spiritual focus. They conjectured that they had divined the deep meaning of the avoda of bringing forth offerings to HaShem, for they had a handle on some of the actual theology, as well as the structure and format of bringing such offerings. This made sense, too, for in general, the better informed we are about the nature and structure of a ritual in advance of performing it, the fuller and richer is our sense of completeness and fulfillment upon doing that act.
Their error, however, was that in HaShem's system, the sequence is really the reverse. There are levels of understanding, kavan'os, within a mitzva, which only emerge after one has performed the act. Understanding may initiate in our learning about a mitzva prior to performing it but there is a further level of understanding which can only occur to a person once they have completed that act.
Had these two kohanim first followed instructions, had they performed the mitzva exactly as it had been commanded, they would have discovered a fuller and more authentic grasp of its profundity and sanctity (and of course, a fringe benefit would have been that they would have realized that all of the mind's speculation cannot attain the full scope of knowing the will and designs of HaShem, and they would have never thought of trying to intuit His ways and innovate any unauthorized "religious" act.)
Knowledge which precedes action can facilitate a fuller appreciation of the act, for our mind will then be very present during our behavioral experience. This holds true, however, only when the act is done according to the Divine plan. When we innovate, we can hardly pretend that our actions are being accompanied by spiritual focus, for our guide to attaining a spiritual focus, kavanna, begins with complying with the mitvzos which have been given us. We discover the cognitive and spiritual avoda only upon performing within the framework of the given mitzvos. Anything more is less, and is strange fire.
Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 4:49 PM
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