THE
MYSTERY

Nadav and
Avihu, sons of
Aaron, offered
"strange fire" to
God, then were
killed for doing
so (Leviticus
10:1-2). What
was this fire, and
what offense did
Nadav and Avihu
commit to
deserve death?

THE
MYSTERY

What shade of blue was the one
strand of the tzitzit and how was
the dye obtained?

T

his passage has
plagued scholars for
decades,. said Rabbi
Aaron Bergman, assistant
rabbi of Congregation Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses. The
curiosity is not so much the
"strange fire" — which the
rabbis say was incense — but
why the two were put to
death.

The incident is mentioned
several times in the Torah.
• First, it appears in
Leviticus 10.
• Next, it is mentioned in
Leviticus 16:1, which recalls
only that Nadav and Avihu
died, but does not speak of
the "strange fire."
• Third, the incident is
cited in Numbers 3:4, which
also adds that Nadav and
Avihu had no children.
• The final mention is in
Numbers 26:61, in a list of
genealogies.
Rabbis have offered dozens
of rationales for Nadav's and
Avihu's death, Rabbi
Bergman said. "And
whenever rabbis come up
with a lot of different
reasons for something, it
means there is no real one,
good answer."
The question is especially
perplexing because the
punishment of death gen-
erally results from a terrible
crime, he said.
One opinion in the Talmud
holds that Nadav and Avihu

24

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1992

In Numbers 15:38-39, God
commands the Jews to
"make fringes in the corners
of their garments" and "put
with the fringe of each cor-
ner a thread of blue."

were instructing the people
without Moses' permission.
Another says the two had
entered the Holy of Holies in
the tabernacle, an honor ac-
corded only Moses. They
died either because God's
presence there was so over-
whelming, or they were
punished because this was a
privilege forbidden them.
Other suggestions include:
that the composition of the
incense was incorrect, mak-
ing for an improper sacrifice;
that Nadav and Avihu
offered the sacrifice when
they were drunk; and that
they were punished because
they did not have children.
"Because the fact that
they didn't have children is
mentioned (in Numbers 3:4),
some rabbis believe there
must be a correlation,"
Rabbi Bergman explained.
Halachah teaches that one
cannot be a great student
without a wife and children.
"Maybe they were so ar-
rogant they thought they
couldn't find wives worthy
enough."

Rabbis also have pos-
tulated that Nadav and
Avihu were eagerly
awaiting the deaths of Moses
and Aaron, so they could
take over as leaders; that the
two were improperly dress-
ed; that Nadav and Avihu
were not cooperating with
each other; and that they
offered sacrifices they were
not commanded to make.
The Torah specifically states
that man should do exactly
as God directs — no less, no
more, Rabbi Bergman said.
The man who tries to appear
more religious than
Halachah dictates is said to
be doing so simply to flatter
himself.
Rabbi Bergman said he
does not believe Nadav and
Avihu were evil or plotting
to take over as leaders. In-
stead, he thinks the two
were made examples.
"You could take it literally
to mean, 'Don't play with
fire,' " he said. "Or, 'Don't
get into things for which
you're not qualified.' "

S

cholars have offered a
variety of interpreta-
tions regarding the col-
or cited in the text, said Rab-
bi Martin Berman of Con-
gregation Beth Achim. One
calls it blue; another calls it
blue-purple; others call it "a
shade of sky blue." A fourth
translation holds the color is
"similar to the sea and the
sky," an almost indefinable
shade, just as the color of the
ocean can be blue or greenish
blue, depending on the posi-
tion from which one views it.
"It has always been
regarded a shade of blue,"
Rabbi Berman said of the
thread. "The question is,
what other colors are in that
shade?"
One midrash holds that
this very ambiguity is essen-
tial in understanding the
color, he added. The color is
said to remind one of God.
"And just as we can't really
see God," so the color of the
thread on the tzitzit remains
mysterious.
Jacob Milgrom, in a new
Jewish Publication Society
of America commentary,

suggests the strand was to
be colored violet, Rabbi
Berman said. The color was
to be extracted from the
murex snail.
The dye produced by the
murex snail was said to be
the color of royalty, a color
that would enhance the tzit-
zits' mark of nobility. Jews
are obligated to wear tzitzit
as a reminder of God's com-
mandments and to observe
the mitzvot.
According to Mr. Milgrom,
the snails were once plen-
tiful — and in fact still exist
but the amount of dye
each produced was
minuscule. It required
12,000 snails to produce 1.4
grams of pure dye. By
today's standards, one pound
of the dye would cost more
than $36,000.
Because of the expense,
rabbis decided to stop use of
the murex snail dye; subse-
quently, the fringes on vir-
tually all tzitzit today are
completely white. Jewish
law specifically forbids use
of any artificial dye on the
tzitzit.
In recent years, certain
groups have been resear-
ching the possibility of again
retrieving dye from the
murex snails, which are
found in the Mediterranean
near Tyre, Rabbi Berman
added.

