Is Incense Deadly?

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In Memory of
Linda Basch
on her 6th Yahrzeit*

B’nai Yisrael were wary of the Ktoret (incense) for a few reasons:

Aharon’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu died because of the incense as we see
in Parshat Shmini, Vayikra 10:1-2:
“The
sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan, they put fire in them
and placed incense upon it; and they brought before God an alien fire that He
had not commanded them. A fire came forth from before God and consumed them,
and they died before God.”

What did they do that was so bad?

According to Sifra, they erred by
bringing their own incense into the Kodesh HaKodashim (Holy of Holies) which
was off limits to everyone except for the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) on Yom
Kippur.

Rabbeinu Bachya says that they didn’t
go into the Kodesh HaKodashim, rather they offered the daily incense on the
inner altar without being commanded.

According to Rabbi Eliezer, the
problem was that they were guilty of making a Halachic decision without
consulting their teacher, Moshe.

In this case, the incense itself
wasn’t the problem. The issue was that Nadav and Avihu took it upon themselves
to decide when and where to bring it.   

In Parshat Korach (Bamidbar 16:6-7),
Moshe offered Korach and his followers a challenge: “Do this: Take for
yourselves fire-pans- Korach and his assembly- and put fire in them and place
incense upon them before God tomorrow. Then the man that God will choose- he is
the holy one…”

Korach and his followers would prove
themselves if their incense was accepted, but if not they would die. Moshe was
hoping that Korach and his men would withdraw from their rebellion rather than
take a chance. Unfortunately, they went through with it and we see in Bamidbar
16:35 “A flame came forth from God and consumed the 250 men who were offering
the incense.”

We see from these two cases why B’nai
Yisrael thought that incense was deadly. However, Rashi points out (17:13) that
incense in itself does not kill, it is sinfulness that kills. To show them that
incense can also have a positive effect and save lives, Moshe instructed Aharon
during the plague (Bamidbar 17:11-12):

“Take the fire pan and put fire from
atop the altar on it and place incense on it, and go quickly to the
congregation and atone for them for anger has come forth from before God; the
plague has commenced.” Aharon took as Moshe had spoken and ran to the midst of
the congregation and behold! The plague had begun among the people. He placed
the incense and provided atonement for the people.

Here the incense was used for a
positive reason. In verse 13 the plague stopped. In verse 14 the final death
toll of the plague was totaled at 14,700 (not counting the 250 people who died
due to Korach’s rebellion) and in verse 15 Aharon returned to Moshe, to the entrance
of Ohel Moed and the plague stopped.

Why does the Torah list twice (verses
13 and 15) that the plague stopped?

According to Sforno, the first time
that it says that the plague stopped (verse 13) refers to the fact that nobody
else got sick. The second time that it says that the plague stopped (verse 15)
indicates that all those who were ill were cured.

May all who are infected be healed
and may we see no new cases of the plague of Covid-19.

*Sponsor Torat Reva Yerushalayim’s Women in Judaism class in memory of Linda Basch z”l

Linda Basch z”l was a teacher, mentor and friend. Torat Reva Yerushalayim’s Women in Judaism class at Neve Amit senior residence in Jerusalem has been sponsored in memory of Linda for the past six years. Please help us continue to sponsor the class in memory of Linda z”l by dedicating one class, one month, one semester or  a full year. Please see the dedication opportunities below. Thank you for your support!

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