Dreadful God as a ‘Reality-Check’

Thoughts on Parashat Shemini

Menachem Mirski

POLSKĄ WERSJĘ What is God? Who is God? One way to answer these questions is to try to draw the boundaries of the so-called divine reality, as something that goes beyond the reality perceived by our senses, as something whose existence we only intuitively sense and which explains and gives meaning to our experiences. We can start from there. We can also do a contextual analysis of the concept of God in the various scriptures in which it occurs and thus try to approximate who God is. Even though the second approach seems more ‘objective’ it is not: we would always have to choose some texts and dismiss some other, since God has been perceived in so many ways throughout history, even in our tradition alone, that it would be impossible to come up with a clear and coherent image of God on the basis of ‘what people thought about God’. But this intellectual exercise gives us at least a sense of totality and depth of the problem, which may result in some kind of intellectual humility, which is never bad.

One of the images of God emerges from the story contained in our Torah portion for this week – a mysterious story of the death of the sons of Aaron:

Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before יהוה alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from יהוה and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of יהוה. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what יהוה meant by saying: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, And gain glory before all the people.” And Aaron was silent. […] And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not bare your heads and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community. But your kin, all the house of Israel, shall bewail the burning that יהוה has wrought. (Leviticus 10:1-3;6)

Our ‘natural instinct’ forces us to say that definitely a tragedy happened here. Therefore, Moses’ immediate response seems bizarre or even incomprehensible in this context. What do these words actually mean? Does Moses praise God immediately after this tragic, monstrous event? If so, why, what is the rationale behind this quick reaction?

Ibn Ezra seems to suggest that this is yet another manifestation of the Divine holiness – through those who are close to Him: I will be exalted when I show My sanctity through those who are close to Me. I will then be glorified before all the people, and they will fear me, says Ibn Ezra. But besides the aspect of scaring people, which is not particularly appealing to us today (it rather looks like a means of tyranny or terror), it is still difficult to comprehend how that kind of ‘expression of holiness’ may work for anybody, including God. It seems like a bizarre, meaningless human sacrifice. Midrash seems to double down on Moses’ praise:

Moses here said to Aaron: “My brother, Aaron! I knew that this House was to be sanctified by those who are beloved of the Omnipresent God and I thought it would be either through me or through thee; now I see that these (thy sons who have died) are greater than me and than thee!” (Leviticus Rabbah 12:2)

Ramban, as well as a few other commentators reiterate themes of holiness and fear; therefore it seems that historically it was the way this story was understood, in line with Job’s famous statement:

​​Should we accept only good from God and not accept evil? (Job 2:10)

It seems that God ‘who occasionally did some dreadful things’ was historically more convincing to people, given the harshness and brutality of the reality of the pre-modern era. It was easier to believe that a God like that was in charge of real events; an only-gentle and only-loving God might have seemed more ‘otherworldly’ for some people. God was perceived differently in different times but this does not necessarily make theology a self-contradictory venture: we can always say that God has an infinite amount of qualities and manifests differently and ‘speaks a different language’ in different, historical circumstances. We can simplify the answer and say that the ancients needed a God who inspired fear; modern people cling to God who is merciful. However, there is no good answer to the question of which attitude is wiser. It seems that belief in a “dreadful God” provided our ancestors with a constant ‘reality-check’; something we need more and more in our weird ‘Twilight Zone times’ when it is becoming easier for us to indulge in all sorts of illusions, when we can openly believe in fiction and not suffer any consequences for a very long time.

Shabbat shalom!