SHEMINI

For seven days, like the first week of creation,
Aharon and his sons remained sequestered
And then stood up to do before the nation
The sacrificial acts which they had mastered.
Lamb, ram and calf were slaughtered, parts of them
Arrayed upon the altar as the law
Provided, and G-d sent a holy flame,
Consuming them, to the people’s joyful awe.
Amid that joy Nadav and Avihu
Were somehow moved to offer up strange fire,
Which G-d had not commanded them to do.
At that one slip the incalculable power
Was loosed against them, burning them away.
Thus joy was mixed with grief on the eighth day.