Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before HaShem alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. 2 And fire came forth from HaShem and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of HaShem. [Vayikra 10:1-3]

This weeks Torah reading deals in part with the death of Aaron’s two sons Nadab & Abihu after they disobeyed the commandment of HaShem and offered a strange fire to Him.  It also deals with the Laws of Kashrut, this is which animals were and were not to be eaten.

The Torah is truth and the fact is Hashem wants us to obey all of his commandments (Mitzvot).  What does one have to do with the other?

We can see that God was so angry at Aaron’s sons that He killed them. Why?  This is because they were in a position of Leadership. When one is in a position of leadership one is expected to follow God.  Think about this if the leaders were not taking HaShem seriously why would anyone else.

This leads me to another point Vayikra Chapter 11:1-8 begins the dietary laws “HaShem spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: Speak to the Israelite people thus: These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the land animals: any animal that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chews the cud — such you may eat. The following, however, of those that either chew the cud or have true hoofs, you shall not eat: the camel — although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is unclean for you; the daman — although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is unclean for you; the hare — although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is unclean for you; and the swine — although it has true hoofs, with the hoofs cleft through, it does not chew the cud: it is unclean for you. You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.” [Emphasis Mine]

As I said before HaShem wants us to obey all mitzvot (commandments) because He loves us and has our best interests at heart.  This is for everyone including leaders. 

So when I hear someone say that they can eat Pork or worship on Sunday, the fact is you cannot do so without breaking the mitzvot of Hashem. 

People think they can get away with picking and choosing which parts of the Torah to keep, or worse they feel they can offer strange fire to HaShem by eating whatever they want or by violating the Shabbat (Sabbath).

Remember the old saying if you play with fire you’re going to get burned.