Nadab and Abihu, Death of

The "strange fire" brought in to the sanctuary by Aaron's two sons can be easily identified in many of today's sanctuaries too.

The tragic death of Aaron’s two elder sons, Nadav and Avihu; the soul as a striving and as a settling, life as a cycle and as a spiral.

Do you prefer some parts of Judaism over others? What do you do about the unexciting parts?

In this week’s parshah, Shemini, we read that a Kohen is not permitted to do the Temple service while intoxicated. G‑d said this mitzvah directly to Aaron, instead of the usual, where He would say it to Moses, or to both Moses and Aaron together. Why was ...

The holy Zohar states, “Weeping is lodged in one side of my heart, and joy is lodged in the other.”

It should have been a day of joy. But tragedy struck.

Religion is not what the European Enlightenment thought it would become: mute, marginal and mild.

Self-recrimination and senseless regret only compound the inevitable pain.

Why were the sons of Aaron punished? What exactly was their sin? Rashi, as recorded in the Manuscrips, sheds light on this curious episode.

Our natural human desire to get close to G-d sometimes leads us to pursue methods of religious ecstasy. Yet our human desire to be close to G-d may well be at odds with G-d’s divine desire to be close to us.