Musar su Genesi 9:21

And there is yet another confusing joy that casts smoke over all the Commandments and causes reverence for the Lord, may He be Blessed, to be forgotten from the hearts of men, for instance — those who get themselves drunk and rejoice in the banquet houses. And after this type of joy comes sorrow, for much hurt comes from drinking feasts. And who in wisdom was as wise as Solomon, the son of David, who said: "Who cries 'Woe!' Who cries 'Alas!' Who has quarrels? Who has ravings? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that constantly try mixed drinks" (Ibid. 23:29, 30). Also the prophet said: 'Woe unto them that rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink. They tarry late into the night till the wine inflames them" (Is. 5:11). And he said further: "And the harp and the psaltery, the tabret and the pipe and wine are in their feasts, but the work of the Lord they do not regard and the work of His hands they have not seen" (Ibid. : 12). And he said : "Therefore, my people are gone into captivity for want of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished and their multitude are parched with thirst" (Ibid.: 13). And he said : "Therefore, has the netherworld enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure and down go their glory and their tumult and their uproar and he that rejoices, among them" (Ibid. : 14). And he said: "But these also reel through wine and stagger through strong drink, the priest and the prophet reel through strong drink; they are confused because of wine, they stagger because of strong drink, they reel in vision; they totter in judgment" (Ibid. 28:7). See how much harm comes from the wine! And it is written : "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous and whoever reels thereby is not wise" (Prov. 20:1).

לא תגנובו, "Do not steal," alludes to Adam who was a thief. נטע רבעי, the legislation of sanctifying the fruit of a tree in its fourth year, alludes to Noach who was drunk on a Wednesday. When a stranger (convert to Judaism) takes up residence among you, etc.," is an allusion to the first convert, Abraham. The prohibition of offering one's children as a sacrifice to the Moloch (20,2) is not part of the general prohibition to worship idols, but concerns itself specifically with the worship of fire. There are two kinds of fire. There is the fire described by the prophet Ovadiah 1,18 in the words: והיה בית יעקב אש, "The house of Jacob will turn into fire." This is a sacred fire, because the Lord your G–d is also called "fire." Also the fire in the Temple (Deut. 4,24) was sacred fire. However, there is another kind of fire, the fire of Esau, the fire of purgatory, a destructive fire emanating from the קליפה. When discussing the Moloch, the Torah adds (20,3) למען טמא את מקדשי ולחלל את שם קדשי, "and he so defiled My Temple and profaned My holy Name." How does the Temple feature in this paragraph? What does a fire-offering to the Moloch have to do with the Temple? The Torah wishes to point out that though fire-offerings to the Moloch are an abomination, there are fire- offerings such as the ones brought by Jacob which reflect the highest level of sanctity. When the Torah writes: והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים, it is an instruction to sanctify את קדוש יעקב, the G–d considered as the personification of holiness by Jacob. This is merely another way of saying: קודש ישראל לה', or that His name is called ישראל, the concept known as ישראל סבא, the first manifestation of G–d when He commenced creating the universe as a יש מאין by means of the first נקודה, as we explained above.

This is why the Torah in 16,1 did not write בהקריבם, "when they brought close (their offering)" but בקרבתם לפני ה', when they came close to G–d. This "coming close" was of a spiritual, conceptual nature. Their death was an example of what the Psalmist meant when he said: "The death of His pious ones is something very precious to the Lord" (Psalms 116,15). Rabbi Abraham Saba, author of the Tzror Hamor, in his commentary on Genesis 13,5 already wrote that the experience of Nadav and Avihu paralleled the four sages – of whom Rabbi Akiva was one – who נכנסו לפרדס, entered the orchard, [euphemism for study of the mystical aspects of Torah. Ed]. The four were Rabbi Akiva, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma and Elisha ben Avuyah (who emerged as an heretic). These four sages had already been preceded by Adam, Noach, Abraham and now the two sons of Aaron in their desire to probe the mysteries of the מעשה מרכבה. The word פרדס used in this story related in Chagigah 14 means a place in which grapes and pomegranates grow. Adam sinned regarding both the נגלה, revealed aspect of Torah legislation, as well as against the נסתר, hidden aspect of G–d's commandments. The Talmud describes him as קצץ בנטיעות, having mutilated the young saplings in the garden of religion, and having turned into an heretic. The same thing happened to his counterpart Elisha ben Avuyah. Noach too drank from the wine, became drunk, and as a result temporarily of unsound mind. Ben Zoma reportedly beheld something he was not spiritually prepared to understand and as a result suffered insanity.