The Strange Fire of Unintended Consequence
There are unintended consequences that occur despite our best efforts, and those that could have been foreseen, save for the obscuring veil of ego or arrogance. In this week’s portion, Parshat Shmini, we encounter two PITs (Priests in Training), the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu. In a frustratingly clipped and terse account, amidst their ostensible training for the Tabernacle sacrifices, they bring “eish zara”/alien fire as an offering. For this apparent transgression, God incinerates them immediately, and the Torah affirms Aaron’s silent acceptance of their fate, one that is characterized as demonstrating God’s holiness.
It is a disturbing, confusing, and inscrutable episode, as are the lessons we are supposed to draw from it. The rabbis also struggled to determine the nature of this alien fire and the reason the two young priests were so unceremoniously destroyed. Some say it was because of their arrogance in thinking they were ready to be priests, an impatience that the rabbis imagine to emerge from expressions of disrespect toward Moses and Aaron.
Or perhaps there is a more basic, though less dramatic insight to glean. As I share with wedding couples in preparing for their lives together, one of the most common roadblocks to good communication and pitfalls in sustaining relationships come from misunderstood intentions. Sometimes, our words and actions do not clearly convey our message, despite how obvious our intent seems to us. Important matters require a precision and repetition of speech, and critical actions, to be truly impactful and genuine, sometimes need to be explained, clarified or recast.
Let us strive to bring the fires of our care, love and desire into greater alignment with our will and aspirations, so that they are neither strange to others nor unrepresentative of our true intent.
Rabbi Daniel Weiner