Elijah the Prophet is Pinchas, (Zohar)
who had the nefesh zehira ila’a of Adam. Therefore, Nadab and
Abihu came into him in ibur in the incident with Zimri, since they were
also the level of the nefesh of Adam from the aspect of the nefesh
of Asiya, as mentioned earlier.
Likes attract and aid each other to rectify.
Nadab and Abihu had
to die through burning.
Now, had the Jewish people not sinned with the
[golden] calf, the zuhama would have been completely
removed from them.1 Had that been the case, then even though Nadab and Abihu
sinned with the incense, they could have simply died a normal death. However,
since Israel did commit the sin with the calf, they caused the zuhama to
adhere once again to the nefesh of Adam. As a result, Nadab and Abihu had
to die through burning.
Before the sin, Adam’s body was from the world of
Yetzira. The sin caused a great fall to the lowly, earthy realm of
Asiya and the body assumed a base, physical attire. (Likutei
Torah, Bereishit) This is what the snake has a hold on.
Physically, man is not that much different than beast.2
Fire destroys the substantiality of the material.
It is therefore one method of destroying the evil energy of the snake
intermingled with the body. Cremation is forbidden as G-d in His
infinite wisdom sees that the best rectification for the body after death is to
let it deteriorate. Therefore, only their souls were burned while their bodies
were left unscathed, for the negative energy was primarily attached to their
souls and from there was burned away. Their bodies were buried and left to
natural designs.
This is the reason for, "And all your
brothers the entire House of Israel shall cry over the burning." (Lev. 10:6)
Their sin of the [golden] calf caused the burning of the nefesh of
Adam, the father of the entire world. This is the reason why Nadab and Abihu
were considered equal to the entire Jewish people, like Moses and Aaron, because
they possessed the nefesh of Adam itself.
Rashi states that Moses remarked to Aaron that
he knew the consecration of the Tabernacle would involve the death of great
tzadikim. He had thought that it would be himself or Aaron. After Nadab and
Abihu were taken, he saw that they were greater.
Even though we explained that in order to draw down
the tremendous Shechinah concentration in the Tabernacle, it was
necessary to create an extreme awakening from below, which was to come through
tzadikim dying for the Divine honor. Still, if they had not sinned with
the golden calf, it would have been possible to make this awakening by means of
the offerings without anyone having to die.3
After the golden calf, only the choicest were
powerful enough...
After the golden calf, only the choicest were
powerful enough to propel a strong enough ascent from below to bring down the
highest light. This shows the greatness of Nadab and Abihu. The secret is here
revealed – that they are from the nefesh of Adam himself.
Adam’s mistake took the Shechinah out of the
universe, he himself is accordingly the one to sacrifice and give up life for
its return.
Regarding the ibur into Pinchas it is
written, "Remember NA/na [please] which NKI/naki
[innocent] person ever perished," (Job 4:7) as the Zohar says.
(Pinchas 217a) For the first letters of Nadab and Abihu are
NA/nun-aleph, and they are from the root of KYN/Cain, whose letters spell
NKY/naki. In other words, they never perished but went into Pinchas, who
was also from Cain. However, as we explained earlier, (Chapter 32)
when Pinchas sinned with the incident of the daughter of Yiftach, the ibur
of Nadab and Abihu was removed from him and it went to Samuel the Prophet.
Above, the Ari'Zl taught us that NA/na hints
to Nadav and Abihu, when this word of supplication was used by Elisha to receive
double the spirit of Elijah. It again comes into play here by the verse speaking
of Pinchas/Elijah receiving these souls to fix them.
Above we explained that na ['please'] fixes
the forceful taking of light found in the Cain root in Tohu. Two na’s
are necessary to fully repair this: one at the stage of Pinchas himself
receiving the souls and one when he passed them on as Elijah to Elisha.4
As a result of Israelites sinning with the Moabite
women, a plague was sent and they were dying like flies. Pinchas got up, was
vengeful on behalf of G-d, killed the main offenders, and the plague ceased.
(Num. 25:1-9) His jealousy for the Divine honor fixed Cain's selfish
jealousy. By saving his brethren from deserved death, Pinchas fixed Cain’s
killing his brother undeservedly. His care about his brothers fixed Cain’s "Am
I my brother’s keeper?"(Gen. 4:9)
Pinchas thus rectified the separateness and
lack of relation of the sefirot of Tohu...
At first the sefirot of Tohu were
selfish in that each one received directly from Ein Sof, without giving
to each other. Then the vessels tried to obtain too much light. (Eitz
Chayim, Shaar Shevirat HaKeilim) Pinchas thus rectified the separateness and
lack of relation of the sefirot of Tohu, source of the Cain
mechanics. This gave into Pinchas’ jurisdiction the choice souls of Cain.
Korach the son of Yitzhar was from the level of
the ruach of Cain from the side of evil, as the verse indicates, "And
Korach took" (Num. 16:1) - see the Targum there.5 This evil ruach
of Cain was enclothed within him [Korach], and therefore he accused Abel his
brother, [who was enclothed in] Moses. However Jethro, though he too is from
Cain, as it says, "Heber the Kenite separated from KYN/Kenites," (Judges
4:11) is from the level of good of Cain. Therefore, he gave his daughter
Tziporah to Moses, was good to him, and fed him bread.
This greatly fixed the Cain root. Empowered by it,
Jethro ’s recognizing one G-d and His power was actually
the local catalyst for the giving of the Torah. (Zohar, see
Likutei Moharan 10) The crown of Torah goes together with the
others, which belong to Cain the firstborn.
Korach thought he had rectified Cain the
firstborn, and therefore he tried to overcome Moses, who was Abel. However, he
had erred in this because the tikun of Cain could not have come through
Korach, since he was from his evil side. Rather, it could only come through his
descendant, Samuel the Prophet, who was also from the good side of Cain. The
Sages have said that Korach prophesized but did not know [what he was
prophesying], because he saw a fire go out from his [reproductive]
organ [making him think that since his descendents were to be rulers,6 he
would be successful in usurping Moses7]. Understand this.
[Translation and commentary by Perets Auerbach.]
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