Shemini - The generation gap
Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Summary: Parshat Shmini tells of Nadav and Avihu, two brothers who crossed a line through bringing an unbidden offering in the new Mishkan. The rabbis of old provide a long list of possible motives for their act. And this list of motives looks surprisingly familiar.
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The first day of the month of Nissan, about 3300 years ago, started as a celebration and turned into tragedy. It must have been incomprehensible that the very same fire that descended from the heavens to consume the Israelites’ offerings also descended to take the lives of Aharon’s two sons Nadav and Avihu. These two young men were the rising stars of the nation, future leaders, brilliant and inspired, motivated and charismatic. Didn’t they know that this traveling Temple whose boundaries they trespassed was a living monument and testament to things done right and in the right order, a place with limits and walls and rules, where things must be done in their proper time by the right people in the right way with the right thoughts? Why would these two spiritual geniuses think it’s a good idea to cut through all that and walk into the holiest of all places with an offering that was out of place, out of order, at the wrong time, unbidden and unwanted?
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the Torah does not tell us anything about what Nadav and Avihu were actually thinking. And in this gap where such important information would reside, the many voices of our tradition pile in and offer an abundance of suggestions, all of them based in the text itself but none of them compelling enough to outweigh all the others: they were drunk. They were unmarried and unwilling to change that. They didn’t work together. They weren’t wearing the requisite priestly garments. They used the wrong fire. They didn’t ask advice from their teachers. They spoke out of turn. They told everyone they couldn’t wait until Aharon (their father) and Moshe (their uncle) would die so they could take over. They were never meant for this world. They were a sacrifice to that generation’s short-sightedness. They came to teach about the dangers of the very boundaries and limits they violated. They were punished for their father’s role in the gold cow incident. There are more.
In a sense, this gap in the text, and all the opinions that fill that gap, sounds a lot like a ‘what’s the matter with kids today?’ conversation. They are getting drunk! They’re not thinking about their future! They’re not communicating with each other! They don’t respect limits! They think they can do whatever they want! They lack basic respect! They think they can run the world! Why don’t they get married already?
This is important information - not because it’s always true about ‘kids these days’ but because it expresses something true about the seemingly-infinitely-deep and apparently ancient gap between generations across which, from one side, there are anxieties about behavior and respect and foresightedness, and from the other side, there are frustrations about unfair limits, rules, demands, pecking orders, disempowerment, old-fashioned and outdated ideals about family and career, dress codes, and the necessity of bearing the brunt of mistakes made by previous generations. And as such, the voices that are echoing through this gap, from both sides, should be heard, honored, and understood, even as their implications are mourned.
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Perhaps the most painful of the reasons given for Nadav and Avihu’s misstep and subsequent demise is their lack of interest in learning from their teachers, Moshe and Aharon. Here we find an inability of members of two different generations to communicate with one another. We have elders, deep with experience and knowledge, unable to successfully impart their hard-earned knowledge to their children and students. And we have younger people, unable and unwilling to receive and absorb knowledge from those elders.
Of course, it is easy to look at Nadav and Avihu and the list of charges brought against them and to conclude that the whole problem can be summed up in their impatience, arrogance, ignorance, and a complete misunderstanding of why it’s so essential to learn and listen. But maybe, in some way, they were right. Maybe they picked up on some indication, real or almost-real, that their elders saw themselves as eternal, and that those elders figured they’d lead this nation all the way to the end. Maybe Nadav and Avihu intuited that it would never be their turn, and this was frustrating.
And, interestingly enough, they were essentially right. We know that Plan A in fact called for Moshe and Aharon to lead this nation all the way into the land of Israel, to conquer all the nations there, defeat Amalek, build the Temple, and usher in the messianic age. Plan A doesn’t call for them to hand over the mantle of leadership to the next generation, no matter how holy or visionary those younger people might be, and maybe Nadav and Avihu felt the need to cut through that Plan A assumption.
Plan A only gave way to Plan B when Moshe hit the rock. At that point, matter-of-factly, God told them that they would die before bringing the people into the land. Granted, Nadav and Avihu were not alive to benefit from this transition, but, in a sense, their point was taken just the same. Maybe Moshe and Aharon, at that moment, understood Plan B was actually a better plan all along.
Every one of us has, definitionally, stood on one, if not both, sides of a generation gap. It is quite likely that we, too, wondered about our parents’ generation and their ability to see past their own fantasies of omniscience and immortality long enough to understand who we are, what we need and what, and what we are capable of doing. And many of us have stood on the other side of the generation gap, looking over at some kids we consider ill-equipped, uninformed, self-absorbed, and insufficiently respectful of the wisdom our generation holds.
So, what to do? Generation gaps are likely to persist as long as there are generations - and may there be many, many generations to come. Somehow, each of us must find a way to stand proud in what we know and have accomplished, and also stand in humble awareness of the person or people standing across the gap. Us old people must look across at the next generation and, our judgments notwithstanding, figure out ways to humbly share what we know. And you young people - you are invited to recognize that there has been wisdom before you came to be, and it would be wise to open to it.
We all must take our place in the chain of transmission, no more but no less, aware of the incredible resources that are held but those who came before us and as aware as possible of that which comes after us.