44 | APRIL 4 • 2024 

E

xcavating the 
history of words 
can sometimes be 
as revealing as excavating 
the ruins of an ancient 
city. Take the 
English word 
“enthusiasm.” 
Today we 
see this as 
something 
positive. 
 One 
dictionary 
defines it as “a feeling of 
energetic interest in a 
particular subject or activity 
and an eagerness to be 
involved in it.” People with 
enthusiasm have passion, 
zest and excitement, and 
this can be contagious. It 
is one of the gifts of a great 
teacher or leader. People 
follow people of passion. If 
you want to influence others, 
cultivate enthusiasm.
But the word did not 
always have a favorable 
connotation. Originally, 
it referred to someone 
possessed by a spirit or 
demon. In 17th-century 

England, it came to refer to 
extreme and revolutionary 
Protestant sects, and more 
generally to the Puritans who 
fought the English Civil War. 
It became a synonym for 
religious extremism, zealotry 
and fanaticism. It was looked 
on as irrational, volatile and 
dangerous.
David Hume (1711-1776), 
the Scottish philosopher, 
wrote a fascinating essay on 
the subject. He begins by 
noting that “the corruption 
of the best things produces 
the worst,” and that is 
especially true of religion. 
There are, he says, two ways 
in which religion can go 
wrong: through superstition 
and through enthusiasm. 
These are quite different 
phenomena.
Superstition is driven by 
ignorance and fear. We can 
sometimes have irrational 
anxieties and terrors, and we 
deal with them by resorting 
to equally irrational 
remedies. 
Enthusiasm is the opposite. 
It is the result of over-

confidence. The enthusiast, 
in a state of high religious 
rapture, comes to believe 
that he is being inspired by 
God himself, and is thus 
empowered to disregard 
reason and restraint.
Enthusiasm “thinks 
itself sufficiently qualified 
to approach the Divinity, 
without any human 
mediator.” The person 
in its grip is so full of 
what he takes to be holy 
rapture that he feels able to 
override the rules by which 
priestly conduct is normally 
governed. 
“The fanatic consecrates 
himself and bestows on 
his own person a sacred 
character, much superior to 
what forms and ceremonious 
institutions can confer 
on any other.” Rules and 
regulations, thinks the 
enthusiast, are for ordinary 
people, not for us. We, 
inspired by God, know 
better. That, said Hume, can 
be very dangerous indeed.
We now have a precise 
description of the sin for 

which Nadav and Avihu, 
the two elder sons of Aaron, 
died. Clearly, the Torah 
regards their death as 
highly significant because it 
refers to it on no less than 
four occasions (Lev. 10:1-
2, 16:1, Num. 3:4, 26:61). 
It was a shocking tragedy, 
occurring as it did on the 
day of the inauguration of 
the service of the Mishkan, 
a moment that should 
have been one of the great 
celebrations in Jewish 
history.
The Sages themselves were 
puzzled by the episode. The 
text itself merely says that 
“they offered unauthorized 
fire [esh zarah] before 
the Lord, that He had not 
commanded. So, fire came 
out from the presence of 
the Lord and consumed 
them, and they died before 
the Lord.” 
Evidently, the Sages felt 
that there must have been 
something else, some further 
sin or character flaw, to 
justify so dire and drastic a 
punishment.

Dangers of 
 ‘Enthusiasm’

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH