Shmini
We do not know what we do not know. Sometimes we even do not know what we do know. Man was endowed with sechel . It is our gift of understanding. From the time when God took the golem-form from the earth and breathed into it the Breath of Life to the moment of overwhelming desire to have open eyes and peer the universe we became people in search of ourselves. We fervently desire to understand what life means. We want to know why we live. What is our purpose? That is why stories such as the one told here in parshat Shmini are so vexing. Here, Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aaron, die. Near the holy altar of God they are enveloped by a conflagration that excoriated their inner being while leaving their body/husk intact. The father has watched horrified to see his sons die. What does this passage mean? Some scholars tell that Nadav and Abihu were drunk. Int...