Parashat Acharei starts with the word that Hashem spoke to Moshe: אחרי מות שני בני אהרן, after the death of the two sons of אהרן, בקרבתם לפני השם, when they got close to Hashem, וימתו, and they died. So there is the famous kushya the meforshim ask: Why does the pasuk have to add the word וימתו, that they died? The Torah says in the beginning already, אחרי מות שני בני אהרן, after the death of the two sons of Aharon. So the Torah should have said that Hashem spoke to Moshe: אחרי מות שני בני אהרן בקרבתם לפני השם, after the death of the two sons of Aharon when they got close to Hashem. Why does the pasuk have to add the words וימתו, that they died, when the Torah already says before that this was אחרי מות שני בני אהרן, after the death of the two sons of Aharon? Then also, we find different peshtim in the Chazal what was the reason why the two sons of Aharon died. One peshat is that we find in the Torat Kohanim on the pasuk in the beginning of Acharei, and also brought down in Vayikra Rabbah פרשה כ״ח, and Bamidbar Rabbah פרשה ב׳ כ״ג, and in Tanchuma Acharei ו׳, that what the problem was that נכנסו לפני ולפנים. They went inside the קדש הקדשים, which they weren't allowed to, because we know that a person is not allowed to enter the קדש הקדשים, and they did enter the קדש הקדשים. Another peshat is that מחוסרי בגדים. They did the avodah with missing the proper begadim. We know that a kohen is supposed to wear the proper clothes when he does the avodah, and they did the avodah missing some of the clothes. This is the way it says in Vayikra Rabbah there, ט׳, and in Tanchuma. Another peshat that's brought in the Vayikra Rabbah is that לא היו להם בנים, they didn't have any children. Another peshat, לא היו להם נשים, they didn't have wives, they didn't get married. And then there's the other peshat that's in Vayikra Rabbah פרשה י״ב א׳, brought down in Rashi in פרשה שמיני, קאפיטל י׳ פסוק ב׳, that שתויי יין נכנסו למקדש, that they went into the Beit HaMikdash when they were drunk. They drank wine, and that's how they went into the Beit HaMikdash. And that is the reason that later on, Hashem spoke to Aharon and He said to him, יין ושכר אל תשת, do not drink wine and enter into the Beit HaMikdash drunk, because the chet, the sin that they did, was that they entered the Beit HaMikdash drunk. Now it seems like these different peshatim have no connection one to another. There are different reasons why they died, which means different opinions in what the aveirah of the שני בני אהרן was. But in truth, when we start thinking about it, we will see that the essence of all the things mentioned in the Chazal really lead up to one thing. And this is based on another kushya: לכאורה, how can we say that the two sons of Aharon, Nadav va'Avihu, did aveirot? After all, they were such great tzadikim, as the pasuk says in שמיני, קאפיטל י׳ פסוק ג׳, that Moshe Rabbeinu said to Aharon that הוא אשר דבר השם לאמר בקרבי אקדש. This is what Hashem said, that in My close ones I will get holy. And Rashi explains: עכשיו רואה אני שהם גדולים ממני וממך. Now I see that they are greater than me and you. So it comes out that Nadav va'Avihu were even greater in a certain way than Moshe and Aharon. So how can we say that they pashut did these aveirot?

So the answer to this is understood from what the Ohr HaChaim on the pasuk says. He comes to answer the kushya: Why does the pasuk have to add וימתו, that they died? After all, as we asked before, the pasuk starts off with the words אחרי מות. And he says that this is a pasuk telling us what was the sin of the שני בני אהרן. Their aveirah was that they got so close, he says, לפני אור העליון, to the light of above, בחיבת הקדש, with the love for the קדושה, ובזה מתו, and that's how they died. Which means that the reason they died was because they got so close to Hashem, as the expression is in other sefarim, they got such a great hishtokekut, such a great desire and such a great feeling to Hashem, till they came to a point of הפשטות הגשמיות, that they became unclothed of גשמיות, and they got so close till actually their neshamah left their body. And this is the peshat in the pasuk that Hashem spoke to משה אחרי מות שני בני אהרן, after the death of the two sons of Aharon. And the pasuk explains what brought about the death of the two sons of Aharon: בקרבתם לפני השם וימתו, that they got so close to Hashem till they actually died. So the וימתו is not telling us that they died, but it's telling us why they died: because they got so close till they died and neshamah left their body. And this is considered a chet. But this is a kind of chet that we could understand that this is no contradiction to the fact that Nadav va-Avihu were such great tzadikim, because the chet, the sin that's involved here, is the sin in getting too close to Hashem, Hashem in such a way that you can't go back. Because really what's supposed to happen is, a yid is always expected to get close to Hashem, a yid is expected to reach a point of התפשטות הגשמיות, as it's even brought down in Shulchan Aruch concerning davenen, that the חסידים הראשונים that used to think an hour before davenen, and the davenen itself took them an hour, an hour after davenen, they would reach a point of התפשטות הגשמיות. And every person, every yid is expected to try to reach such a point. But nevertheless, at the same time, you're supposed to remember that you're supposed to reach a point almost, but then you're supposed to come back. Using the terms, the lashon of the Sefer Yetzirah, it says, אם רץ לבך שוב לאחד or שוב לאחור, if your heart runs, which means your heart should run, you should have what is called a ratzoh, a running, a getting close to Hashem, but you have to have what is called the שוב, you have to return. Because Hashem wants that a person should be a נשמה בגוף, the neshamah should stay in the body, and in this physical world he should fulfill the ratzon, the will of Hashem, by doing mitzvot and learning Torah. So even though it's a very high מדרגה to reach the level of התפשטות הגשמיות, or what we call it a level of כלות הנפש, where the nefesh, the soul, the neshamah goes out to Hashem and wants to get close to Hashem, so that is a very high מדרגה, but at the same time you have to remember that the כוונה is, the whole goal and what Hashem wants is that after you reach that מדרגה, you turn back. And the מעלה is that when you turn back after you have reached that מדרגה, later on when you're back in the world, you have a stronger כח to overcome the world and to bring kedushah into the world, because after all you reached a very high מדרגה, so when you come back you take along from that high מדרגה with you when you come back. And this was considered the חטא, the sin of the two sons of Aharon.

And this fits to all the פירושים that the Chazal say in what the sin was. There's one peshat that the sin was that נכנסו לפני ולפנים, that they went into the קודש הקדשים, we see the connection. The peshat is they went into the Holy of Holies, the reason they went in because they wanted to get close to Hashem, and the closest place you could get to Hashem is in the קודש הקדשים, and that's what they did. So this fits with the idea that they got very close to Hashem, and this is a חטא because they got too close, and therefore they died, and they shouldn't have done it, they shouldn't have gotten that close. The other peshat that they didn't get married, they didn't have children, it all shows that they did not get involved, so to speak, in staying in this world, bringing kedushah into the world, they rather was were involved in getting themselves out of the world, getting closer to Hashem, getting away, and therefore they didn't get married, and they didn't have any children, because all that would show would be their connection, their involvement in the גשמיות of this world, and their avodah was to get away from the גשמיות of this world. And it also fits to the other peshat where it says מחוסרי בגדים they were missing בגדים. Now we know that בגדים represent גשמיות, and that's why we know it says that when a navi would hear a nevuah, would hear a prophecy, he would have to get undressed because the gashmiyus of the begadim, the gashmiyus, the physicality of his clothes would be mevalbel, would be stand in his way of receiving the nevuah, the prophecy. The only exception was Moshe Rabbeinu, that he was עומד על עמדו, he was able to stand, and he didn't get have to get undressed, etc., etc. But other nevi'im had to get rid of their begadim, of their clothes, in order to receive the high level of kedushah. And this is what it means that מחוסרי בגדים נכנסו, they went in without the proper begadim, which means that their way was to be התפשטות הגשמיות, to get away from gashmiyus, to undress themselves of the begadim. So this all fits to the pshat of the Or Hachaim. And also the other peirush, that שתויי יין נכנסו למקדש, that they went into the Beit Hamikdash when they were drunk, also fits to this. Because the inyan of yayin, the inyan of wine represents סודות ופנימיות התורה, the hidden parts of the Torah, the inner parts of the Torah. Because we know what the Gemara says in Eruvin דף ס״ה עמוד א׳, and also in Sanhedrin, that נכנס יין יצא סוד, that when wine goes in, the secrets come out. So just like the physical wine takes the secrets which are hidden in the person and brings it out into the open, which is similar to wine itself, that originally it was hidden in the grapes and then it comes out, but just like בגשמיות the wine brings out what is hidden inside the person, so יינה של תורה, we call it, the wine of Torah is the revelation of the hidden parts of the Torah. And this is the פשט, ששתויי יין נכנסו למקדש, that they went into the mikdash, into the Mishkan, drunk, which means they were completely פארשיכורט, drunk in the inyan of yayin, which is יינה של תורה, which is the hidden parts of the Torah, which brought them to the level of כלות of כלות הנפש, of completely going out to Hashem. And this is the reason why after this happened, Hashem warned, \"יין ושכר אל תשת\", do not drink it, which means that you're not allowed to drink wine דרך שכרות. This comes to tell us that a person should not be that he could be completely drunk in the spiritual way till he gets close to Hashem in a form of כלות הנפש, but rather he should have the התפשטות הגשמיות, get undressed of gashmiyut, but only to a point where he's able to come back and take along that high madregah and bring it down into this world. Which is similar to what the Chazal say in the end of פרק ד' of Pirkei Avot, that \"על כרחך אתה חי\". That a person lives by force, even though he would rather want his neshamah would rather want to go out to be close to Hashem, but he is forced. Hashem wants him to stay down here. It says \"על כרחך אתה מת\" also, because since Hashem wants the person to do it, then the neshamah does not want to leave. But be'etzem the neshamah would want to leave and get close to Hashem. And therefore, it says \"על כרחך אתה חי\", a person is forced to live. The Eibershter, Hashem wants him to live and stay in this world. Which means, as we said before from the Sefer Yetzirah, that you have to have the ratzo, but you have to have the shov. You have to go and get close, but you have to come back. But the question is, concerning all the other peshatim, except the one that they were drunk, we could even see how this peshat fits to the gashmiyut, which means, as the Ohr HaChaim explains, that their chet was א רוחניות'דיקע חטא. But we could also see how אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, that the pasuk doesn't go out from its pashut peshat, that bagashmiyut they did these things, and it fits to the רוחניות'דיקע meaning. That bagashmiyut they went in without begadim, and the chet was a physical chet, but it came as a result because they didn't want to have the gashmiyut. They physically went into the קודש הקודשים because they wanted to get close to Hashem. They physically were not married, they physically did not have any children, etc., etc. But how does this peshat fit to this that the physically they were drunk? According to the peshat we said, it means that they were drunk in ruchniyut in the סודות התורה, in the יינה של תורה. But אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו. So, mimela it comes out that they were physically drunk also. Now, how does the physical drunkenness have a connection to the spiritual meaning of them being drunk? But this will also be understood based on what it says in the Shelah. The Shelah in Sha'ar HaOtiyot, in the print, it's on page פ\"ד ע\"ב, he says that we find that there were certain קדושים אשר בארץ, certain holy people, and he says, ששתו לפעמים הרבה יותר מדאי בסעודת גדולות, that they would drink a lot by big parties. And he explains, היתה כוונתם בזה לשם שמים. Their kavana, their intentions were l'shem shamayim. And he explains why, כי מתוך שמחה משתה היין, because by drinking the wine, הרי מבדחת טובא, they were very happy, ומתוך כך אומרים דברי תורה על השולחן הרבה מאוד, וכפליים לתושייה, because of that they would say a lot of דברי תורה, double, much more than the regular, because המתוך שמחה מגלה החכם רזי התורה, he says, because through simcha, the chacham, the scholar, reveals the hidden parts of the Torah. And he goes further, and he says, כי ברבות השמחה יתקשר כח השכלי שיש בנפש, because when you're very simcha, then the intellectual כח of the person that you have in the נפש gets stronger, ואז הוא יותר מוכן לגלות תעלומות חכמה, then he is more prepared to reveal the hidden parts of the חכמה. And he quotes the Gemara \"נכנס ייין יצא סוד\", and he says, שע\"י משתה היין, because through drinking wine, יצאו דברי תורה הנקרא סוד, the words of Torah which are called the secret will come out. So, we see from the Shelah that drinking wine gashmiyut, and sometimes even getting drunk gashmiyut if it's done in the proper way through tzadikim, this actually brings about that the person should be able to understand and reveal and reach more סודות התורה, more hidden parts of the Torah. So, now here we see the connection between the simple peshat in שתויי יין נכנסו to the deeper peshat based on the Or HaChaim, because the two come together. They actually physically drank wine and were drunk. But the reason they drank wine was not because they enjoyed wine chas veshalom, or they wanted to be drunk, but because this was one of the ways that would bring them to get involved more in the סודות התורה, in the hidden parts of the Torah, which would bring the neshama closer to Hashem. And mimela that brought them to a כלות הנפש, that brought them to the רצוא. And now we see how all the peshatim that the Chazal say concerning the chet of Shnei Bnei Aharon even if we're going to learn them in a pshuteh way, in a simple way.

A similar thing to this we find. The Gemara tells us in Chagigah דף י״ד עמוד ב׳ that ארבעה נכנסו לפרדס. There were four Tannaim that went into the פרדס. That means that they went into this high level of כלות הנפש. And what happened? It says Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma, and then Elisha ben Avuya, the results were not good. The only one that was good, it says רבי עקיבא עלה בשלום וירד בשלום. He went up in peace and came down in peace. Or as the girsa is in Yerushalmi Chagigah פרק ב׳ הלכה א׳ and in the Ein Yaakov, נכנס בשלום ויצא בשלום. He went in in peace and came out in peace. And this is actually what it means. The other three, they followed and did the same as Nadav va-Avihu. And by them it was worse. Because Nadav va-Avihu, it was before the commandment of Hashem yet יין ושכר אל תשת, you shouldn't drink wine, which means, as we said before, you shouldn't get involved in the ratzoh without the shov. But by them it was worse. And that's what happened, they had the ratzoh without a shov. The only one that had the shov was Rabbi Akiva. And that's the פשט נכנס בשלום ויצא בשלום. He went in in peace and came out in peace. He came out in peace, he came down, and he brought back the high level that he had into this world, and continued working with that high level of kedushah in this world. What was the difference between them? So that is hinted in the lashon of the חז״ל, נכנס בשלום ויצא בשלום, that he went in in peace and came out in peace. Likhora, the difference between him and the others was only concerning coming out. They didn't get out properly b'shalom, and he came out b'shalom. But the going in, there were ארבעה נכנסו לפרדס. They all four went in, likhora, seemingly the same. But the Gemara is telling us that the difference was in how they went in. He went in b'shalom, so he came out b'shalom. When he came in and he went to reach this high madregah of closeness to השם, נכנס לפרדס, he lechatchilah came in in peace knowing that he's going in with the condition and with the intentions that he will reach a point where he will start returning. And that's why he came out b'shalom, because it was נכנס בשלום. The others were nichnas, but not b'shalom. And based on this we can understand why Moshe Rabbeinu was able to say שהם גדולים ממני וממך, they're greater than me and you, and still we say they did a chet. Because their chet was this type of chet, that they got too close to Hashem.