Tafsiran Imamat 10:12: Rashi, Rabbeinu Bahya, Siftei Chakhamim & Rav Hirsch

הנותרים WHO WERE LEFT from death. This teaches us that upon them, also, death had been pronounced in punishment for the sin of the golden calf. This is what is meant by the words (Deuteronomy 9:20) “And with Aaron the Lord was very angry to destroy him”, for the expression “destruction” means the extirpation of offspring, as it is said (Amos 2:9) “And I destroyed its fruit above”. Moses’ prayer, however, made half the sentence of none effect, (so that only two of Aaron’s four sons died) as it is said (Deuteronomy 9:20) “And I prayed also on behalf of Aaron at that time” (cf. Rashi on that passage).

וידבר משה אל אהרן ואל אלעזר ואל איתמר בניו הנותרים, “Moses spoke to Aaron, to Eleazar and Itamar his surviving sons;” Seeing that we already had a similar line in verse 6 of our chapter, why did the Torah not report what Moses said on this occasion immediately following verse 6? The reason that the Torah interposed the legislation about not entering the Sanctuary while in a state of intoxication was to teach that it is good form to offer one’s condolences to the bereaved. Aaron was a mourner; the Torah therefore displays its manner of comforting him in his bereavement, by speaking to him exclusively about rites to be observed by mourners. He was not to drink wine while in mourning. This is why in verse 29 only Aaron is addressed. The idea that G’d personally observes such good form has already been demonstrated in Genesis 18, where G’d appeared to Avraham in order to fulfill the custom of visiting the sick, seeing Avraham was recuperating from his circumcision at the time.
Our sages, who have taught us to emulate characteristics observed in the way G’d acts (Sifri end of Eykev), derive the law that one is to visit the sick and comfort the bereaved from these verses. If G’d Himself went to the trouble to observe these customs, we must emulate Him and not consider it below our dignity. The same applies to the commandment to bury the dead. G’d had buried Moses, (Deut. 34,6). If G’d Himself takes the trouble to bury a mortal, how much more must mortals bury their peers!

Such considerations prompted Solomon to write in Kohelet 7:2: “it is better to go to the house of a mourner than to go to the house where a feast is in progress.” According to Midrash Kohelet, what Solomon meant is that it is preferable to be in the company of people who are concerned both with the living and the dead than to keep the company of people who are only concerned with the living. [By visiting the mourners one pays his respects both to the departed and to those surviving him. Ed.] G’d conveyed the thought that we are to learn from Him, Who had temporarily interrupted sharing the joy of His children on the occasion of the inauguration of the Tabernacle and had comforted Aaron instead, displaying His sorrow that Nadav and Avihu had had to die. Our sages (Sotah 14) find yet another source proving that G’d comforts the mourners, quoting Genesis 25,11 “It was after the death of Avraham that G’d blessed his son Yitzchak.” According to the understanding of the Talmud the “blessing” described there was the comfort expressed to the bereaved over their loss, in that instance over Yitzchak having lost his father.

קחו את המנחה TAKE THE MEAL OFFERING, although ye are אוננים and the holy things are forbidden to an אונן (Zevachim 101a).