The Daily Ma’amar by our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a, courtesy of the “Hashem Hu HaElokim” leaflet:
Nadav and Avihu, who are from the outer aspect of Netzach Hod, as is brought [Sha’ar Pesukim, Parashat Shemini], all the House of Israel wept for them, as the Holy Ari explains, that Moshe and Aharon are the inner aspect of Yesod [Foundation], Moshe is Yesod of Ema [the Divine aspect of Binah/Understanding] and the Yesod of Aba [the Divine aspect of Chochmah/Wisdom] – KaSA (161) plus KaPad (184) = Moshe (345). And Aharon is totally Yesod of Aba – AV (72) plus KaPaD (184) = Aharon [=256]. And therefore Moshe said to Aharon: “[They were] greater than me and you.”
Because Haran sacrificed himself for the sanctification of Hashem’s name, and jumped into the fire, but because he thought to be saved – he was burned; but he merited that his daughter Sarah, his great-granddaughter Rivka [through Milca, his other daughter, who married Avraham’s brother Nachor], and his [great-]great granddaughters Rachel and Leah, merited to be included in the Jewish people and to be the mothers of the nation.
However, he came in reincarnation in Aharon HaKohen, the letters A-HaRaN, and he needed to sacrifice himself at the sin of the calf and to be killed – like Chur – for the sanctification of Hashem’s name, and then his blemish from when he was Haran and thought to be saved would have been rectified.
Because Avraham Avinu did not think to be saved and wanted to be burned, and was very upset that he was not burned for the sanctification of Hashem’s name, and thought that someone had performed sorcery on the fire so that it would not burn him.
And he had needed to rectify this blemish in his sacrificing himself over the sin of the calf, and to agree to be killed like Chur, and then there would have been the building of the Temple of fire and the revival of the dead immediately, as the Rama of Pano said about the prophecy “Moshe dies and Yehoshua brings in [the people to the Land of Israel]” – that no one understood this word of prophecy, and the intention was that immediately after Moshe would die in his entering the Land, there would immediately be the revival of the dead. And no one understood this word of prophecy, because they had needed to simply enter the Land and rely on Hashem, and instead of this, they said “He [the enemy] is stronger than us” – as it were, also the head of the household could take out his wares, as if to say, that the iniquity of the Emorite still was not full, and there is no possibility of conquering the Land of Israel. However, if they had fulfilled the words of Moshe literally, Moshe would have died and there would have immediately been the revival of the dead, and a Temple of fire would have descended.
And this was the intention of Nadav and Avihu in their drawing close before Hashem on the day of the erection of the Tabernacle – 1 Nisan, that it was like the day that the heavens and the earth were created: to bring close the redemption and to bring about the revival of the dead and the building of a Temple of fire, as Moshe said, “For today Hashem will appear to you” (Vayikra 9:4).
To download the original Hebrew, click here
