(1) Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.

There still remains one difficulty. How could Moses have been certain that he had interpreted G'd's words correctly? Perhaps the combined merits of Nadav and Avihu equalled that of either Moses or Aaron and that is why both of them had to die to demonstrate the principle of בקרובי אקדש? This latter supposition is quite untenable. The whole purpose of G'd allowing those who were close to Him to become the victims of the principle בקרובי אקדש was to inspire sufficient reverence in the people not to treat the sanctity of the Tabernacle lightly. Once the people had observed that G'd had taken up residence in the Tabernacle, as it were, they would begin to take His presence for granted and not relate to it with the necessary degree of reverence. The more highly placed the individual Israelite, the more likely that he would feel so familiar with his G'd that he would become guilty of a trespass. The people most likely to make such an error were the spiritual elite of the people, among them Nadav and Avihu. As a result these people would enter the Sanctuary at will whereas the lesser individuals would keep their distance as required. The result of such considerations would be that the spiritual leaders would be less respectul towards the sanctity of the Tabernacle than their counterparts the ordinary Israelite. In order to prevent such a situation from developing, G'd had to demonstrate by what happened to Nadav and Avihu that He was especially mindful of His honour when it came to the elite in order for the common people not to ever lack in reverence for the Tabernacle. If we were to accept that Moses or Aaron individually were more outstanding than either Nadav or Avihu, G'd would have failed to demonstrate His principle seeing He had excluded both Moses and Aaron from the restriction the principle of ונקדש בכבודי was to teach the people. G'd demonstrated the principle of בקרובי אקדש by literally applying it to the people who represented the elite of the elite. The death of Nadav and Avihu demonstrated that nobody, Aaron and Moses included, could treat the Tabernacle as such familiar ground that they were allowed to enter it at will. The suggestion that only Nadav and Avihu combined represented greater stature than either Aaron or Moses is rejected by the author who explains that if you have a single diamond of ten carats, such a diamond does not become relatively inferior because someone else has two diamonds the combined weight of which is eleven carats.

36) (Vayikra 10:3): "And Moses said to Aaron: This is what the L–rd spoke, saying: With My near ones will I be sanctified, and before all the people will I be slaughtered. And Aaron kept his peace." This (in essence) was spoken to Moses on Sinai, and he did not know it (i.e., its intent) until what it spoke of (the deaths of Nadav and Avihu) materialized before him. And when it came to pass Moses said to Aaron: Aaron, my brother, your sons died only to sanctify the Name of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Shemoth 29:43): "And I shall be appointed there (in the tent of meeting), and it will be sanctified with My glory," (the death of Aaron's sons there, intensifying its awe in the eyes of the people). When Aaron saw how exalted were his sons in the eyes of the L–rd, he kept his peace and was rewarded for doing so, (by G d's addressing to him exclusively the following section [viz. Shemoth 10:8-11]). From here it was derived: All who accept (G d's decrees) upon themselves and remain silent — it is an auspicious sign for them. As expressed by David (Tehillim 37:7): "Be silent in the L–rd, and hope to Him." And, as expressed by Solomon (Koheleth 3:7): "a time to be silent and a time to speak." There are times for all (things). There are times when a man remains silent, and there are times when a man speaks.

23) What was their death like? Two strands of fire came forth from the holy of holies and parted into four. Two entered the nostrils of one, and two, the nostrils of the other, burning their bodies and leaving their garments intact, viz. (Tehillim 33:25): "And a fire came forth from before the L–rd (i.e., from the holy of holies) etc." Aaron stood in astonishment, saying: Woe unto me! There must be transgression in me and in my sons that such has befallen me! Thereupon Moses entered and comforted him, saying: Aaron, my brother, from Sinai it was revealed to me: I (the L–rd) am destined to consecrate this house (the mishkan) — I will do so with a great man. I thought to myself that the house will be consecrated either through me or through you. We find now that your two sons are greater than both of us, the house having been consecrated through them. When Aaron heard this, he vindicated G d's judgment upon him and he was silent, as it is written (Vayikra 10:3): "And Aaron kept his peace." And the righteous are wont to vindicate G d's judgment upon them. Abraham did so, viz. (Bereshith 18:27): "… and I am dust and ashes." Jacob did so, viz. (Bereshith 32:11): "I am too small for all of the lovingkindness and for all of the truth that You have conferred upon Your servant."

When Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai’s son died, his students came in to comfort him. Rabbi Eliezer came in and sat before him and said: My master, if you please, may I say something? He said: Speak. So he said: Adam the first person had a son who died and he accepted comfort. And how do we know that he accepted comfort? For it says (Genesis 4:25), “And Adam knew his wife again.” So you, too, should accept comfort. He replied: Is it not enough that I have my own pain but that you need to remind me of Adam’s pain as well?
Rabbi Yehoshua came in and said to him: If you please, may I say something before you? He said: Speak. So he said: Job had sons and daughters, and they all died on the same day, and he accepted comfort. So you, too, should accept comfort. And how do we know that Job accepted comfort? For it says (Job 1:21), “The Eternal has given, and the Eternal has taken away. Blessed is the name of the Eternal.” He replied: Is it not enough that I have my own pain but that you have to remind me of Job’s pain as well?
Rabbi Yosei came in and sat before him and said: My master, if you please, may I say something? He said: Speak. So he said: Aaron had two older sons and they both died on the same day, and he accepted comfort, as it says (Leviticus 10:3), “And Aaron was silent,” and silence always indicates comfort. He replied: Is it not enough that I have my own pain but that you have to remind me of Aaron’s pain as well?
Rabbi Shimon came in and said: My master, if you please, may I say something? He said: Speak. So he said: King David had a son who died, and he accepted comfort. So you, too, should accept comfort. And how do we know that David accepted comfort? For it says (II Samuel 12:24), “David comforted his wife Bath Sheba, and he came to her and lay with her, and she gave birth to another son, and called him Solomon.” So you, too, should accept comfort. He replied: Is it not enough that I have my own pain but that you have to remind me of King David’s pain as well?
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah came in. When [Rabbi Yohanan] saw him, he said to his steward: Take this vessel, and follow me to the bathhouse, because this is a great man, and I will not be able to withstand him. So [Rabbi Elazar] came in and sat before [Rabbi Yohanan] and said: Let me give you a parable. To what can this be compared? [It can be compared] to a person to whom the king gave a deposit to hold. Every day he would cry and scream and say, Oy, when will I be free of this deposit? So it is with you, Rabbi. You had a son who read from the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings; the Mishnah; Halakhah; and Aggadah; and then was taken from the world free of sin. [Must you, then, accept consolation when you have returned a deposit whole?] He said: Rabbi Elazar, my son, you have comforted me as people are supposed to.
When they all left, Elazar said: I am going to Damasit, a beautiful place with good, sweet water. They said: We will go to Yavneh, a place where there is an abundance of scholars who love the Torah. So he went to Damasit, the beautiful place with good, sweet water, and his reputation in Torah study diminished. And they went to Yavneh, the place where there was an abundance of scholars who all loved the Torah, and their reputations in Torah study grew.

Moses immediately conceded to Aaron, as the verse states: “And Moses heard, and it was good in his eyes” (Leviticus 10:20). And Moses was not embarrassed and did not attempt to justify himself by saying: I did not hear of this halakha until now. Rather, he said: I heard it, and I forgot it, as the verse indicates by stating: “Moses heard.”